Dead even. Bucs WIN

	R	H	E	LOB
	6	9	0	5
	5	11	1	7

The end of this game is what I like to imagine playoff baseball is like.

The Bucs started out by taking a slow 3-0 lead through the 3rd, including an Aki Iwamura homer to left field.  How clutch has he been so far?  Very.

This lead was slowly eaten away by the Giants and by the end of the 6th the score was tied at 3.  The Pirates bats couldn't get anything from the 4th through the 7th.  The Pirates went down in order in 5 total innings (2nd, 4th-7th).  In 3 of those the batters were Andy LaRoche, Paul Maholm/Ryan Church, and Ronny Cedeno.  Hmm.

But then the Pirates were able to score one in the 8th to take the 4-3 lead thanks to a costly error by Edgar Renteria.  If that ball doesn't bounce out of his glove it was almost certainly an easy double play and the Bucs do not win this game.  Brendan Donnelly (who has been pretty clutch so far) gets things done in the bottom of the 8th by taking the Giants' bats down in order.

So, top of the 9th, Pirates up 4-3.  Bobby Crosby strikes out.  And Andy LaRoche is up to bat.  Oh boy, here we go.

What? A home run? Andy LaRoche?

Yes, it's true.  He blasts it out of the park to center.

5-3.

Then Ryan Church, who struck out in the 7th, hits a triple because some jobber on the Giants misplays the ball.  Aki Iwamura hits a clutch single to score Church.

6-3.

Ok, so the Bucs are up 6-3 in the bottom of the ninth, a comfortable lead for solid closer Octavio Dotel, right?

Wrong.

Pinch-hitter Eugenio Velez hits a two-run homer to deep right.  Suddenly, it's 6-5, and the Giants are at the top of their order.

But Dotel calms down and gets it together.  He takes the next three down, including a panda, which I guess must've escaped from the zoo or something.  Only in San Francisco.

GAME.

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Miscellaneous shit

Paul Maholm made an amazing rolling scoop glove throw in the 3rd.  You can watch it here (the #1 play).

Garrett Jones made a nice reaching catch to end the game.  He had a nice game in other areas too, with 3 hits and 2 RBIs.

Ryan Doumit had a nice hit in the 3rd, scoring McCutch,  but got a little greedy trying to stretch it into a double.

Speaking of McCutchen, he appears to be getting into stride as he had a hit, scored 3 runs, and stole 2 bases.

Pirates now lead the NL in stolen bases with 8 (tied with Dodgers).  Their basestealing percentage is still 100%.

The Pirates pitchers, not normally known for strikeouts, had a nice outing with 8 combined.  Maholm had 3 over 5, Meek had 3 over 2, and Donnelly had 2 over 1 inning.

Bucs try to win the series in about 2.5 hours.