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Two key hitters returning from the injured list, as well as an excellent weekend from the bullpen led to a series victory for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Miami Marlins
Quietly, the Pittsburgh Pirates have played some quality baseball in the last 10 days. Over the weekend the Pirates hosted the Miami Marlins at PNC Park for a four-game series. While the Pirates were unable to find a victory on Sunday afternoon to complete the four-game sweep, they were still able to take three of four and win the series.
With this series victory the Pittsburgh Pirates have now won two of their last three series played. This puts the Pirates at 5-4 in their last 9 games played. This has improve the team’s record on the season to 23-35 on the season.
While a 23-35 record is undoubtedly poor it is good enough to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a better record than the Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. It also puts them within striking distance of the Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins and Washington Nationals. Which, hey, in a rebuilding year things could certainly be worse.
All of that said, let’s examine what went well for the Pirates in their series victory against the Marlins. As two major factors carried the weekend for the Bucs.