James Mcdonald continues to make a strong case for his name to be called at this year's all-star game. Mcdonald pitched 8 scoreless innings as the Pirates defeated the Reds 4-1 on Memorial Day to reach .500 on the season at 24-24.
Pedro Alvarez went 2-4 with 2 doubles and an RBI. Neil Walker also went 2-4 with a double and an RBI, as Garrett Jones and Rod Barajas added RBI singles to give the Bucs their first four game winning streak of the season. Mcdonald was the big story though. He now ranks 5th in the NL in strikeouts and 8th in ERA. He was able to work his way out of trouble early, and finished the game retiring his final 12 batters. Hurdle made the decision to not send Mcdonald out in the 9th with a pitch count of 101.
Twitter and Facebook erupted with various opinions on the move, but it all worked out for the Bucs as the Hammer would relieve Tony Watson in the 9th to pick up his 12th save of the season.
The win moved the Pirates to 3 games back of the Reds for the division lead with 2 more games in the series to follow. Charlie Morton will look to push the Bucs winning streak to 5 games as he faces Homer Bailey on Tuesday night.
Posted by Rick Bauer
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