Neil Walker Saves Pirates from Anibal Sanchez No Hitter

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Anibal Sanchez was filthy.

There is no other way to describe what happened last night along with the fact that the Miami Marlins own the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Sanchez struckout 11 Buccos in a 3-0 Marlins win.

It was the 26th time the Pirates struckout at least eight times this season.  Yeh, 26.  Happy 26th birthday to Neil Walker too.

The Marlins had little support for their pitcher with Mike Stantaon and Mike Cameron out of the lineup.  It didn’t matter as the Pirates were in whiff city mode as Sanchez got his second victory in his past 16 starts, yeh 16.  (So, it was a little bit like Ross Ohlendorf getting a dominant win.  Yeh, imagine that happening.)

Birthday boy Neil Walker kept Sanchez from a no-no with a third inning knock.  Walker was reportedly in discussions with the Pirates about a contract extension a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately, much like the Pirates bats were silenced in front of the first PNC Park non-sellout Saturday in months, it’s been all crickets lately.

Miami scored all of their runs in the third inning off Bucs rookie Jeff Locke.  The lefty gave up five hits over five innings in his major league debut.  The 23-year-old Locke allowed an uncharacteristic four walks.

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