Pittsburgh Pirates: Regular season results – MLB September 2011 – Part 4
Pittsburgh Pirates had done a remarkable job to win two back to back series in September 2011. Clint Hurdle and his men had struggled to achieve their desired results in August 2011 as they managed to win only eight out of thirty one games. It was a disappointing
time for them considering the kind of position they were in a few weeks ago.
Early in July, the Pirates were sitting on a very healthy position on the wild card standings with their winning percentage well over the breakeven point. For the first time in almost 12 years, the Pirates had managed to win at least half of their games
in MLB season.
Thrashing Houston Astros 2-1 in a three match series, the Pirates had showed great character, fighting spirit and determination to improve their win-loss record 66-77. The NL Central team were now looking to produce similar performances in their next three
match series against St. Louis Cardinals.
In game one of the series, the Pirates showed great discipline and mental strength to emerge victorious in a thrilling encounter. Edging past their rivals 6-5, they handled the pressure brilliantly. Forcing errors from the Cardinals, the Pirates put themselves
in a great position and they capitalised on the psychological advantage to secure a narrow 6-5 win.
Pedro Ciriaco was the star of the show as he hit the tie breaking double to cap a three run rally in the eighth inning to help the Pirates rally past the Cardinals, snapping their five-game winning streak. Alex Presley had two hits and drove in two runs
and Neil Walker went 3 for 4 with an RBI for the Pirates, who were now only two defeats away from their 19th consecutive series loss.
"It's just a great feeling for him ... after all the challenges he's had this year," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said of Ciriaco, sent back and forth from the minors six times this season. "I think there was a point of time when he had more flights (to
Triple-A) than at-bats and we were trying to equal that out.
"It was a good feeling for me, especially to win the game," Ciriaco said. "When you're here, you want to stay here. You don't want to go down. I'm just trying to be more consistent and to be here and stay here."
However, the Pirates were unable to make the most of available opportunities in game two of the series and the Cardinals fought back to level the series. Clint Hurdle’s side put a decent fight but they were outplayed in finer details of the game by a better
team. With momentum on their side, the Cardinals secured another thrilling 3-2 win in third and final game to wrap up the series 2-1.
Continued in part 5
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