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Pirates rally past Giants, complete series sweep

May 8, 2008 - 9:51 PM By Dave Assad PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- If the Pittsburgh Pirates played the San Francisco Giants every game, perhaps they would not be working on a 16th straight losing season.

The Pirates' mastery of the Giants continued Thursday afternoon at PNC Park with a 5-4 come-from-behind victory.

Pittsburgh has beaten San Francisco 15 times in the past 18 meetings, starting in May 10, 2005. This includes a three-game series sweep of the Giants this week.

"To win three games in a row and sweep a team, that's a nice accomplishment for us," Pirates manager John Russell said. "We've pitched better, that's the biggest thing. Our offense was fine, we gave ourselves a chance."

The Pirates rallied to take a 5-4 lead Thursday courtesy of a three-run seventh inning.

Pinch-hitter Nyjer Morgan led off with a bunt single and Freddy Sanchez followed with his third hit, a ground-rule double that bounced off the warning track and into the left field seats.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy was not happy with Morgan being called safe on a close play at first base.

"I had a great view of it, and there was no doubt in my mind that he was out," Bochy said. "(It was) a huge call. Instead of getting the first out there, now they have a rally going."

Losing pitcher Matt Cain agreed with his manager about the safe call on Morgan, who was optioned by the Pirates to Class AAA Indianapolis after the game.

"When we watched the replay, it looked like he was out to us," Cain said. "And then Sanchez did a good job of (hitting) what I thought was a good pitch."

After Sanchez's double, Nate McLouth hit a sacrifice fly to left before Jason Bay plated Sanchez and forged a 4-4 tie with a double toward the left field corner. Bay moved to second when Xavier Nady was intentionally walked by reliever Jack Taschner, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch.

That set the stage for Adam LaRoche, who drove home Bay with the go-ahead run on an RBI single to right field. It was the first time Taschner had allowed an inherited baserunner to score.

"I battled with Bay, but I ended up making a bad pitch," Cain said. "I just hung a curveball to him where he did his job."

LaRoche batted .163 in April and only drove in five runs. Over the past week, LaRoche has raised his average to .208 while collecting two home runs with six RBI over the past five games.

"It feels good," LaRoche said. "A couple weeks ago, I couldn't buy a hit. The hits still aren't showing up like I want them to, but it's a lot better."

"It was big hit for us obviously," Russell added. "He's been seeing the ball better lately, laying off some breaking balls. It was a big lift for us."

The Pirates got on the board first when Ryan Doumit hit a two-run single in the third inning with the bases loaded for a 2-0 lead.

The Giants responded in the top of the fourth with four runs, all coming with two outs from the bottom of the batting order. The big hit was Steve Holm's double to deep center field for the first two RBIs of his major league career.

Cain also got into the act with an RBI single to drive in Holm. Cain would later double in the seventh inning.

Pirates starting pitcher Paul Maholm had his poorest home outing of the season, allowing four runs and six hits in six innings.

But Maholm avoided being charged with the loss when the Pirates rallied for the three runs in the seventh.

Pittsburgh righthander Franquelis Osoria (2-1) tossed a scoreless seventh inning to record the win while Matt Capps worked around a two-out walk in the ninth to notch his eighth save.

Cain (1-3) was charged with his third loss in four decisions, yielding five runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings.

"(Cain) pitched a good ballgame, but there at the end he just made a couple mistakes," Bochy said. "But overall he played a good game and swung the bat well. He just made a mistake to LaRoche."

Pittsburgh third baseman Jose Bautista made a spectacular play of pinch-hitter Bengie Molina's hard grounder down the line with runners on first and second and two outs in the eighth inning to maintain the lead.