Recap: Up and Over. BUCS WIN.

A little luck never hurts. Jose Tabata wouldn't admit it, but the replay on his catch in the 8th inning clearly showed that his "catch" hit the ground before it went in his glove, a reversal of the catch which was called dropped on Andrew McCutchen yesterday. Tabata's "catch," and the resulting double play it created, the second outfield-assisted double play of the game (Cutch had one in the 3rd which led to a Jones RBI single in the bottom), was the turning point of this game. The Pirates seemed to gain confidence going into the bottom of the 8th, while the Dodgers collapsed. Another controversial play had happened earlier in the game when a home run was taken away from Garrett Jones when after replay it was ruled fan interference. Baseball is called a game of inches, but it's also a game of moments. Had either of those calls gone the other way, who knows how this game ends up. But as it is, some big bats by Ryan Doumit, Lyle Overbay, and Neil Walker pushed the Pirates over .500 on May 9th for the first time since Brant Brown hit a 3-run homer against the Cards to put the Pirates at 16-14 in 1999. The Pirates also obtained their first 3-game win streak of the season with the win tonight. Hopefully that increases to 4 games tomorrow night.

VFPH's 3 Stars of the Game

Doumit snags first star honors for the second game in a row. Karstens pitched well enough to win, so he gets my 3rd star.

1. PIT Ryan Doumit, C: 3 for 4, 1 RBI
2. PIT Neil Walker, 2B: 1 for 4, 1 RBI, GWRBI
3. PIT Jeff Karstens, SP: 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 2 K

Play of the Game: Neil Walker's RBI Double in the 8th