Pirates 7 Reds 4

There were lots of good things happening last night. First off, the Pirates won and padded their fifth place lead to 1.5 games. Maholm gave the Buccos a strong start, Doumit homered for the second straight night, Bay homered and knocked in two more runs to give him 101 on the year (though knocking 100 two years in a row as a right handed batter doesn't put him in nearly as elite company as hitting 30 bombs from the right side two years in a row, instead of joining Ralph Kiner as the last Bucco to do it, this time Jay Bay joins Kevin Young), Paulino came up with a key RBI single in the eighth, and the Bucs knocked the Reds back to third in the central. The Bucs are now 3 over since the break, 27 under overall, and 30 under on the road. Damn those road games.