[Operation Shutdown]

Week 15
This week the Pirates travel to Milwaukee for a four-game series. The Brewers are 25-62 this season, and the Pirates are 0-3 against the Brewers. The Pirates then travel to Houston to face the Astros who are currently 41-46. The Pirates have had the Astros number this year, going 7-4 against them.

Game 87: Pirates 10 Brewers 6
Oliver Perez pitched a pretty good game today giving up two runs in 6 innings of work, and picking up his first win as a Pirate. Brewers starter Ben Sheets didn't fare as well, giving up 5 runs, 4 of which were earned, in 6 2/3 innings of work. The Pirates scored five insurance runs in the top of the ninth, which proved to be very necessary, as the Brewers scored four runs in the bottom of the inning off of Dennys Reyes by a grand slam by Keith Ginter. Rob Mackowiak had a career day, from the leadoff spot in the order, he went 4-5, hitting three homeruns and picking up 6 RBI's.

Game 88: Pirates 4 Brewers 2
In his first start for the major league club this season, Brian Meadows pitched a great game giving up just two runs in six innings of work and picking up the win. The Pirates meanwhile scored four runs, three of which were earned, off of Brewers starter Ruben Quevedo, earning him the loss. Mann pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his 14th save of the year.

Game 89: Pirates 9 Brewers 5 Baseball Cap Day at Miller Park
Pirates starter Jeff Suppan had a decent game, giving up five runs in 8 1/3 innings, picking up his 6th win of the year. Pirates bats were definitely alive again today, scoring 7 runs in 5 2/3 innings off of starter Francisco Campos, handing him his 12th loss of the season. Torres picked up the save getting Keith Ginter to ground into a double play with two men on and one out in the bottom of the ninth.

Game 90: Pirates 2 Brewers 3
The Pirates came close to sweeping the Brewers but lost the game in the bottom of the tenth. Both D'Amico and Mlicki lasted 7 2/3 innings and each gave up two runs. In fact, they also both gave up three hits and walked three. The only difference was D'Amico struck out 7 and Mlicki struck out just 4 hitters. The winning run came off of Mark Corey in the bottom of the ninth when with one out and a runner on third, Bill Hall singled through a drawn in infield to bring home Alex Sanchez. Corey got the loss and Vizcaino picked up the win for the Brewers.

Series Recap: It would have been nice to sweep the Brewers, but 3 out of 4 isn't bad. The Brewers snapped an 8 game losing streak with the win in the last game of the series.

Game 91: Pirates 2 Astros 1
Both Benson and Tim Redding pitched 7 innings, giving up one run, walking 1, and striking out 3. The only difference was that Benson gave up 5 hits, while Redding gave up 3 hits. Benson also picked up the win as the Pirates scored in the top of the eighth off of Astros reliever Bruce Chen when Mackowiak was walked with the bases loaded. The run and the loss were charged to Brandon Puffer, who gave the lead off walk to Matt Stairs. The Astros almost came back to tie it in the ninth, but with two outs and runners at the corners, Jim Mann got Vizcaino to ground out to second base to end the rally, and pick up his 15th save.

Game 92: Pirates 0 Astros 1
Another classic pitcher duel, as Perez gave up just one run in seven innings of work. His counterpart Peter Munro went 7 1/3 innings of shut-out work however, to pick up the win. The Pirates tried to mount a comeback in the ninth, but ended up just short. Kotsay lead off with a walk. After Reggie Sanders struck out, Kotsay was picked off at first base with Ramirez at the plate. Ramirez ended up reaching base on an error by the shortstop. Matt Stairs then singled and Ramirez moved to third. Wagner stopped the rally by getting Nady to strike out, picking up his 20th save of the season.

Oliver Perez was injured in the seventh inning after striking out the side. He has a strained elbow ligament, and will be out for 1-2 weeks. It is not sure whether he will miss any starts or not, since the all-star break is coming up next week.

Game 93: Pirates 4 Astros 5
The Pirates scored three runs off of starter Talbot, who pitched five innings. The Pirates also scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth off of Ricky Stone. Meadows had another real strong performance giving up just one run, a solo homer to Jeff Kent, in eight innings of work. However, the Pirate defense and bullpen blew up on themselves in the ninth. Jason Lane started the inning off by reaching on a throwing error by Ramirez. Jim Mann then walked Stanley, to put two runners on. Mann seemed to about out of the jam when he got Vizcaino to fly out to short right-center, and Brian Hunter to strike out swinging. Mann then gave up a single to Jeff Bagwell that scored Lane and moved Stanley to second. Boehringer then came in and gave up a three run homerun to Jeff Kent, to score the winning run. Boehringer got the loss for the Pirates while Stone got the win.

Series Recap: This was one close series, with each game decided by just one run.

The only other news this week in the league was that Twins right fielder Bobby Kielty will miss the rest of the season with a broken wrist, suffered when he was hit by a pitch by Rangers' Ismael Valdes.