The Pirates clinched a playoff spot Tuesday night beating the Braves 3-2 in Atlanta. Second time this season a team has clinched in Atlanta. The Brewers lost to Cincinnati and where eliminated after the Pirates win. The Pirates have won 11 of 13 and are 1 1/2 back of the Cardinals with five games left in the season.
Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole was trailing 2-0 in the 2nd inning, but didn’t allow another run in his seven inning outing. Andrew McCutchen scored two of the Pirates run, and Travis Synder hit a home run. The Pirates didn’t have much of a celebration on the field, but I bet that changed once they go into the clubhouse. Jared Hughes pitched a great scoreless eight inning for the Pirates. Tony Watson came into close the door, but not without running into a little trouble first. He gave up a one-out single to Phil Gosselin, but then Freddie Freeman grounded into a double play to end the game.
The Braves had their opportunities as usual, with the bases loaded and no outs in the second inning, and they only scored one run. Alex Wood pitched another great game, but was unable to get any run support. Wood is 11-11 on the season with a 2.78 era.
The Pirates are definitely a threat in the playoffs and I think might surprise some people, they need to wrap up their division so they don’t have to play in the wild card game.
