Nationals 1, Pirates 3: Aw, Hell, Let’s Use Capps Again
By
Zeldink
Posted at 8:10 am
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationals (26-41) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| Pirates (32-34) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | 3 | 10 | 0 |
The Pirates won thanks to a great start from Ian Snell and a gutsy performance from close Matt Capps. The win brings Pittsburgh back to 2 games below .500.
Capps had been used on three consecutive nights–blowing the save and losing the game the previous day–and was told by manager John Russell that he wouldn’t be pitching. Capps disagreed and requested to be considered.
Whether it was a good decision or not is hard to say. Obviously, the Pirates won, but how will Capps rebound later? Four consecutive appearances rarely turn out as a good thing for pitchers, but then again, Capps was hitting the mid-90s with his fastball. We’ll see. He’s one of the few bright spots on the Pirates team, and I’d hate to see him broken just to get a win here and there. However, since it is the Pirates, maybe that’s worth quite a bit, since they do usually only get a win here and there.
An afternoon game wraps up the series today as Jason Bergmann starts against Tom Gorzelanny at 12:35pm EDT.