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PITTSBURGH -- Eight apparently wasn't
enough for the Pirates.
The Bucs ran their streak of home wins against the Marlins
to nine games with a 9-1 victory on Wednesday night at
PNC Park.
Pittsburgh was led by an outstanding
all-around game from Jack Wilson. The All-Star shortstop,
who has been mired in a season-long slump, went 4-for-4
at the plate and earned a standing ovation from the crowd
of 15,487 for his defensive efforts.
"It's a start," said Wilson.
"Every day you've got to go to the yard and forget
what you did the day before, just stay confident and hopefully
it keeps going.
"You let down the team for the first
two months of the season. You've got two months to make
it up to them."
Wilson's triple in the seventh inning
gave him six consecutive hits. His batting average has
jumped from .199 to .234 since Monday.
"The last week, Jack is starting
to come out of it," said Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon.
"He's a little bit more patient at the plate, working
the count. He's using the entire field to hit."
With an eight-run lead and the game already
well in hand, Wilson made a pair of defensive gems that
brought the crowd to its feet. On back-to-back plays,
Wilson robbed Jeff Conine of a hit and almost made a play
for the ages when he laid out to stop Miguel Cabrera's
hard-hit grounder deep in the hole and nearly threw the
Marlins' outfielder out at first base.
"Just when you think he is good,
he always surprises you even more," said Salomon
Torres, who threw three shutout innings to earn his first
save of the season. "Every time they hit the ball
to him, you've got to stop what you are doing and watch
him, because you might witness something great. That's
how good he is."
Wilson was just one of many standout
performers for the Pirates in what was perhaps their most
well-played game of the season. Matt Lawton and Tike Redman
came through with hits in the clutch when the game was
still close, starter Josh Fogg held the Marlins to one
run in six innings and Rob Mackowiak capped a five-RBI
night with his second career grand slam in the seventh
inning.
"Today was an overall great win,"
said Lawton. "We're playing against a great team,
and it was good to be so dominant, especially at home."
With the game tied at 1 in the fifth
inning, Lawton singled to right field off Marlins starter
Brian Moehler (2-3) to chase home Humberto Cota and Wilson
with the go-ahead runs.
"[Moehler] got a changeup over the
plate and I was able to get it over the second baseman's
head," said Lawton.
"The previous times they kind
of pitched around me to set up the double play. It worked
early in the game, so I was really telling myself not
to swing at a ball. I knew he was going to throw me something
offspeed, but I didn't think he was going to throw it
over the plate."
Fogg (4-3) limited Florida to one run
on five hits and two walks to earn his first home win
of the season. His best work came in the sixth inning,
when he retired the Marlins in order on 10 pitches.
"If we get some runs, you want to
keep the momentum going," said Fogg. "To go
out there and have a [quick] inning is always going to
be big. You've got the offense feeling good about themselves.
They want to get back out there."
In the bottom of the sixth, Redman's
pinch-hit single to right field scored Mackowiak and Wilson
with a pair of insurance runs. Mackowiak's grand slam
an inning later put the game out of reach and drew a curtain
call from the crowd.
"You never expect that as a player,"
said Mackowiak. "The fans have always supported us
greatly over the last couple of years, even being a losing
team. Something like that kind of chokes you up a little
bit."
After watching the Pirates earn their
ninth consecutive home win against Florida, dating back
to Sept. 8, 2002, McClendon was unable to come up with
an explanation for his team's dominance against one of
the best clubs in baseball.
"I couldn't tell you why,"
said McClendon. "I wish we could bottle it and do
it every night against the rest of the league. We've played
some tremendous baseball in this series."
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