[Operation Shutdown]

Week 10
The Pirates are currently 21-35 and this week will travel back home to start interleague play with a three game series at home against the Red Sox, who are currently 37-19. The Pirates then travel to Atlanta for a 3-game series against the Braves, who are 29-27. The Pirates have also come out with their promotions for this month.
6/5 - Noddin Head Doll Day against the Red Sox
6/17 - Baseball Cap Day against the Expos
6/27 - Fireworks Night against the Rockies

The Pirates promoted LF Sean Garrett from AA Altoona to AAA Nashville. Garrett was hitting 0.292 with 3 HRs and 18 RBIs in 226 ABs with Altoona this year.

Game 57: Pirates 2 Red Sox 1
Oliver Perez pitched very well in his first start as a Pirate, giving up just one run in 7 2/3 innings. Unfortunately, Red Sox starter Chris Elmore pitched just as well giving up no runs in 6 innings of work. The Pirates finally got on the board in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 1. With one out, Ramirez walked and then moved to third base on a double by Craig Wilson. Embree then intentionally walked Matt Stairs. JR House hit a sac fly to left center field, scoring Aramis Ramirez and then Jack Wilson lined out to end the inning. The Pirates won the ball game in the bottom of the tenth, when after Mackowiak and Kotsay hit back-to-back singles, Cota hit a fly ball to deep left, which moved Mackowiak to third base. After Nady struck out swinging, Ramirez hit a fly ball to left field that should have been the last out of the inning, but leftfielder Manny Ramires dropped the ball and Mackowiak came home to score the winning run. Embree picked up the loss, and Mann picked up the win.

Game 58: Pirates 1 Red Sox 6
Pedro proved to be too much for the Pirates, giving up just one run off of five hits in 8 1/3 innings, while walking none and striking out 13 Pirate hittes. Josh Fogg pitched well up until the fifth inning, when he gave up five runs in the inning. He pitched a total of 4 1/3 innings, giving up the five runs. The other run came off of Torres, who pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief. Manny Ramirez had a big offensive day, partly making up for yesterday's error, hitting two homeruns and driving in 3 runs.

Game 59: Pirates 6 Red Sox 4 Noddin Head Doll Day at PNC Park
The Pirates' bats took out their frustration against Red sox starter Tim Wakefield today, scoring five runs, three of which were earned, in four innings off of him. Ramirez and Reggie Sanders each had homeruns off of Wakefield, with Reggies being a three run shot. Suppan pitched well enough to get the win, giving up four runs in 7 1/3 innings of work. Jim Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his 8th save of the year.

Series Recap: The Pirates continue to play pretty well against any team not named the Cardinals.

Game 60: Pirates 4 Braves 1
Joe Beimel made the start today for the still injured Jeff D'Amico and did quite well giving up just one run in 5 2/3 innings. He was pulled after walking a batter with two outs and the heart of the Braves order coming to bat in the sixth. Boehringer shut down the threat and then pitched another scoreless inning in the seventh. On the other side, Russ Ortiz was throwing a no-hitter until the seventh inning, and that's when things got messy. Kotsay lead off the inning, but then Matt Stairs flied out to to left-center. With Mackowiak up to bat, Kotsay was picked off at first base and it looked as if Kotsay would get out of the inning unscathed. However, later in the bat Mackowiak hit a solo homerun, and that seemed to rattle Ortiz. He then gave up a double to Ramirez, who moved to third on a wild pitch, and later in the same at-bat Wilson walked. With runners at the corners and two outs, Cox decided to pull Ortiz and bring in Gryboski. Gryboski gave up a triple to Reggie Sanders that scored Ramirez and Wilson, but then got House to ground out to third to end the inning. The Pirates then scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth off of Smoltz, but that proved to not be needed as Jim Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his ninth save of the year. Boehringer got the win for the Pirates, and Ortiz picked up the loss for the Braves.

Game 61: Pirates 8 Braves 6
The Pirates entered the bottom of the sixth inning with a 6-1 lead, but the Braves managed to mount a comeback. They scored one run in the sixth and two in the seventh off of Kris Benson. Marcus Giles then hit a solo homerun off of Sauerbeck in the bottom of the eighth, and then Chipper Jones also managed to get a solo homer off of Jim Mann in the ninth to tie the game at 6 a piece. The Pirates then regained the lead in the top of the tenth with a leadoff homer by Craig Wilson. The Pirates then provided an insurance run when Jack Wilson singled and then scored off of a double by Matt Stairs. It again proved to be unnecessary as Torres came in and pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth to pick up his fourth save of the year. Starters Benson went seven innings giving up four runs for the Pirates, and Paul Byrd went 5 2/3 innings giving up 6 runs, 3 of which were earned, for the Braves. Ray King was charged with the loss for the Braves and Biemel picked up the win for the Pirates.

Game 62: Pirates 6 Braves 8
This time the Pirates bullpen blew the lead, and blew it for good. The Pirates jumped out to a 6-2 lead through six innings, thanks in large part to a five run second inning. Starter Oliver Perez then lead off the seventh with a walk to Andruw Jones and then was pulled in favor of Torres. After getting DeRosa to strike out, Torres gave up a two run homer to Chipper Jones. Perez was charged with a total of three runs in six innings of work. Things just got worse for the Pirate bullpen. In the eighth, after Torres lead off with a walk against Estrada, Corey was brought in and walked PH Matt Franco. After getting Marcus Giles to strike out looking, Corey gave up a single to Furcal, but the runners held, leaving the bases loaded with one out. Corey then walked Andruw Jones scoring Estrada. Corey then got out of the jam by getting DeRosa to strike out and Chipper Jones to fly out to end the inning. Things got even worse in the bottom of the ninth. Reyes was brought in to try and close the game, but started the inning by walking Sheffield. Fick then grounded into a fielders choice, just beating out the throw that would have made it a double play. Reyes then walked Lopez and Gryboski, sacrificed Lopez and Fick into scoring position with two outs. Reyes then gave up a walk-off homerun to Marcus Giles to end the game. After starting pitcher Billy Sylvester gave up five runs in just 1 2/3 innings, Braves pitchers managed to hold the Pirates to just one more run off of Bong in the sixth inning. Gryboski picked up the win for the Braves, and Reyes was charged with a blown save and the loss.

Series Recap: The Pirates managed to mount comebacks in the first two games, but the final game of the series was Atlanta's turn to come back, and they did so with style. The Pirates continue to do fairly well in games outside their division, as they are 14-15 in those games. They are 11-22 against central division opponents.

A lot of other news happened this week. On Tuesday, Sammy Sosa smashed three homeruns off of Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitching. On Wednesday, Mariner's John Olerud collected his 2000th hit in the eigth inning off of Phillies pitcher Dave Coggin. On Saturday, A's hitter Darren McCarty broke up Phillies starter Terry Adams bid for a no-hitter with a two-out double in the ninth inning. Adams went on to get the next batter and finished the game with a one-hit shutout. On Sunday Marlins A.J. Burnett threw a two-hit shutout against the Angels, and Pedro Martinez also threw a two-hit shutout against the Brewers.