THE BULLPEN

     One, two, three strikes, you're out! Your Pittsburgh Pirates continue their series with the Philly Sillies this afternoon at PNC Park. These are your keys for today's game. 1)Mrs. Black-N-Gold has some good news and some bad news following last night's (this morning's?) 13-inning, walk-off 1-0 win over Philly. The good news is Pirates pitchers have not allowed a run to score in the past 22 innings. They'll look to continue that trend today as Philly sends RH Sean O'Sullivan, 1-4, 4.96 ERA to face Buccos RH Gerrit Cole 9-2, 1.73 ERA. Cole looks to become the first 10-game winner in the Majors. He leads MLB with his 1.73 ERA. Keep us rollin', Cole Train! 2)The bad news is that during the Pirates modest 2-game winning streak, they've only managed to score 3 total runs against 2 of the worst teams in baseball, Milwaukee and Philly. The Bucs bats are, indeed, in a funk. Last night, against the not-so-impressive, Kevin Correia, the Pirates pounded out 13 hits but needed Starling Marte's walk-off single in the bottom of the 13th to push Chris Stewart across the plate for the win. They stranded 17 runners and were a putrid 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. Don't waste good pitching with crummy hitting, especially against lousy teams. Hit, Run, & Score, Oh my! 3)At PNC, the Pirates have beaten Philly in 4 straight. #5 would be great! Let's Go Bucs!!!!!