Sunday, August 19, 2007

Game 122: Pirates 8 Phillies 4

The Pirates are certainly feeling dramatic lately. After spending seven innings making everyone think that another decent Ian Snell effort would be wasted, the offense erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the seventh and threw one more on top in the eighth and had themselves a fairly easy-looking four-run win this afternoon. The seven run explosion was keyed by three straight doubles from Matt Kata, Nate McLouth, and Freddy Sanchez. Kata's double was a pinch hit coming with the bases loaded and the Phillies still up 4-0, so it was pretty much the key hit of the game.

Snell is still having homer troubles, but other than that he was good today. He struck out ten in seven innings and didn't give up any runs besides Rollins' leadoff solo homer in the first and Russ Branyan's three run job in the sixth. Still, it looked like he was headed for another loss before the run bonanza took place. Maybe he didn't pitch his best game of the year today, but he's suffered so many hard-luck losses, it doesn't hurt for him to sneak one out today.