Behind Karstens, Pirates even series against the Brewers

The Pittsburgh Pirates evened their series at a game apiece with the Milwaukee Brewers with a 4-0 victory on Saturday night, ending a four-game losing streak and pulling them within one game of St. Louis for the NL’s second wild card spot.

Pirates starter Jeff Karstens picked up his fifth win of the season by pitching seven strong innings while striking out four in front of the 15th sellout crowd of the season at PNC Park.

Early on it looked like it was going to be a pitchers’ duel between Karstens and Brewers starter Shaun Marcum. As each put up zeros in the first four innings. However, in the fifth, a combination of the Pirates bats and Brewers inability to field the ball cleanly allowed the Pirates to score four runs.

The inning started with Neil Walker hitting a fly ball to center field which Carlos Gomez was unable to catch as the ball tipped off the top of his glove. After a Pedro Alvarez flyout, catcher Michael McKenry would come up with the big hit the Pirates have seem to be lacking lately. He doubled in Walker, giving the Pirates the lead.

With two outs in the inning, Karstens helped himself out by delivering a single to center, scoring McKenry. Jose Tabata then doubled home Karstens and Travis Snider singled home Tabata, giving the Pirates a 4-0 lead.

The Pirates offense collected seven total hits, with Alvarez being the only Pirate with two. However not all news was good for the Pirates as Karstens had to leave the eighth inning with an apparent injury. At the time of this writing there is no additional news on him. Also, Tabata left the game with discomfort in his left groin.

The Pirates would receive help from the Cincinnati Reds as they beat the St Louis Cardinals making the Pirates only a game back in the National League wild card standings.