Pittsburgh Pirates Play Arguably Best Series of the Season in St. Louis
By Marty Leap

Pirate bats bring the thunder, stay patient
A power surge from the offense played a big role in the Pittsburgh Pirates capturing an 8-2 victory in the opening game of the series. This would prove to be the start of a weekend long power surge for the Bucs.
In Thursday night’s victory Bryan Reynolds hit a 3-run home run, Adam Frazier hit a solo home run and Phillip Evans added a pinch-hit solo blast. While the Pirates did not hit any home runs in Friday night’s victory, their lone run in Saturday afternoon’s 3-1 loss came via a Gregory Polanco solo home run.
This was the first of a pair of weekend home runs by Polanco. El Coffee once again went yard with a solo shot, his 9th home run of the season, in Sunday’s victory over the Cardinals. Ben Gamel also hit a solo home run on Sunday afternoon.
The Pirate power did not just come from home runs. Throughout the season the Pittsburgh Pirates have been among the league leaders in doubles. Over the weekend, the Pirate offense also collected a trio of doubles. For the weekend the Pirate offense slugged a healthy .436.
Pirate batters were also patient over the weekend which helped spark their offense. Pirate batters got on base over the weekend at a .363 clip. The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to be the only team in the NL that has drawn a walk in every game this season. Over the weekend the team drew 17 walks.