More: Barajas, Pitching Lead Bucs to win
In their first trip to new Marlins Park, the Pittsburgh Pirates opened their short two-game series with a 3-2 win over Miami. Brad Lincoln put in some excellent work in a spot start and the offense came through with timely hits against Anibal Sanchez to narrowly defeat a Marlins team that's been on fire all May. In his first start of the season, Lincoln allowed only four hits and two earned runs in six innings, and the bullpen took it from there to keep the Fish off the board and preserve the win.
It was the third straight win for the Bucs, building on the successful weekend against Houston. Andrew McCutchen put Pittsburgh on the board early, knocking in Jose Tabata with a sacrifice fly off Sanchez in the first inning. Sanchez is one of the league's best strikeout pitchers, a potential recipe for disaster heading into the game after last week's woes against Stephen Strasburg and Game 1 of the Astros series. The Bucs K'ed five times, but got the hits they needed at the right time.
After Miami evened it up in the bottom of the first on a Hanley Ramirez homer, Rod Barajas put Pittsburgh back in front with his second homer of the season, and second in a week. Pedro Alvarez doubled home McCutchen in the sixth inning to put the Bucs ahead for good.
Pittsburgh will go for the quick two-game sweep on Tuesday night, with Kevin Correia on the hill. Miami ace Josh Johnson will go for the Marlins.
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