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Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Central

Tigers rally past Pirates

DETROIT - Victor Martinez drove in three runs to help Detroit to a much-needed win, then offered a bit of a plea to Tigers fans who have been losing patience with the AL Central favorites."It's not fair when people out there are thinking that we've got to win this division by 10, 15, 20 games," Martinez said. "We're not playing Little League teams. We're trying. It's too long of a season. At some point you're going to struggle. Every team struggles at some point."As a fan, if you're going to be with us when we're doing good, we really need the fans when we're struggling too."Martinez had ...

Pirates can’t solve Scherzer in loss to Tigers

DETROIT - Clint Hurdle knows his team can give almost every pitcher in baseball a good challenge.Max Scherzer doesn't happen to be one of them, at least the way he was throwing the ball Thursday afternoon.Scherzer struck out 14 batters in eight shutout innings, leading the Tigers to a 5-2 victory over Hurdle's Pirates."He pitched like a Cy Young winner," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "The volume of pitches that he can throw and command is impressive. I think there's 29 teams in this league that could find a spot for him at the top of their rotation."Hurdle's counterpart in the ...

Pirates can’t complete comeback

WASHINGTON - Bryce Harper and Adam LaRoche each drove in two runs, leading the Washington Nationals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 Friday night for their fourth straight win.Denard Span added three hits as the NL-East leading Nationals opened a 10-game homestand.Tanner Roark (12-7) gave up three runs on five hits over 5 2-3 innings. He struck out four and walked two.Rafael Soriano allowed three hits in the ninth, including Pedro Alvarez's RBI single, but held on for his 29th save.Starling Marte hit a two-run homer and singled for the Pirates, who have lost three straight.Charlie Morton ...

Pirates blow one in Washington

WASHINGTON - Wilson Ramos' ground-rule double drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, after Adam LaRoche's two-run homer tied it in the eighth, and the Washington Nationals came back to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 Saturday night.The NL East-leading Nationals won their fifth game in a row. The Pirates dropped their fourth straight and have fallen to third place in the NL Central.Ramos' hit off Justin Wilson (3-3) sailed over right fielder Gregory Polanco's head and bounced into the home bullpen, scoring Bryce Harper from second base. Harper led off the ninth by ...

Not good

WASHINGTON - After giving up a three-run lead in the eighth inning in their previous game, the Pittsburgh Pirates found another tough way to lose Sunday night.The Pirates rallied from two runs down in the ninth to take the lead, then let Washington tie the score in the bottom of the inning before pinch-hitter Scott Hairston's sacrifice fly with one out in the 11th inning gave the Nationals a 6-5 victory to complete a three-game sweep.Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle insisted his team wouldn't be fazed by the second straight tough loss and sweep by Washington, much like it wasn't after the ...

Braves use 6-run 1st to beat Pirates 7-3

PITTSBURGH - Ervin Santana said "everything" was off when he took the mound Monday.No matter. His Atlanta Braves teammates gave him a six-run lead before he threw a pitch.Jason Heyward and Andrelton Simmons homered to begin a big first inning, and the Braves beat the sliding Pittsburgh Pirates 7-3 on Monday night for their fourth consecutive victory.The early outburst was enough for Santana, who allowed three solo homers among nine hits in 5 innings."I know I didn't have my stuff today, but for me it was one of my best games because I gave up three runs," said Santana (13-6), who ...