Game 10: Pirates 1 Reds 0

1-0? Really? Seems like that never happens any more, and when it does it's rarely in the favor of the Pirates. Still, that's what happened last night as the Pirates and Reds snuck a game in around the rain, managing to combine for 12 hits and 1 run between the two teams. The in-game delay probably came at the perfect time for the Pirates, as it seemed like Paul Maholm was about to hit the wall and the Reds were threatening with two runners on and one out in the sixth. When things came back from the delay, John Grabow put out the fire, Jason Bay hit a deeeeep bomb to left field (don't look now, but Bay's up to .281/.452/.500 after his ugly start), and then nothing happened the rest of the way out in terms of scoring and the Pirates managed to stop their losing streak at 3.

Other various notes from this one: I wasn't terribly impressed with Edinson Volquez in this one. We didn't hit much off of him, but he wasn't really putting much past us. Maybe it was the rain, or the fact that I spent most of the time watching the Pens' game. Marte came in and did a nice job shutting down the Reds over 1 and 1/3 and lowering his ERA to 10.80. He's going to feel that opening week disaster for a looong time. And finally, Nyjer Morgan is dangerous in center field. I don't know how many people saw the last out, but it was a shot by Griffey into right center that Morgan and McLouth (who played right in the stead of Xavier Nady last night) were both tracking with McLouth clearly calling the ball loudly. I don't know if Morgan called him off, but he went ahead and made a clumsy looking leaping catch that almost took him right into McLouth. He also got thrown out on a steal attempt at second in which he beat the throw from a pitchout to the bag, but overslid second and was tagged out. I still haven't figured out what he's offering the team beyond blinding speed that he doesn't know how to take advantage of. And oh yeah, Luis Rivas made an error and went 0-for-3. Hurry back, Jack.