Pirates Sweep Giants

Rays at the head of the class—Rockies, Marlins at the back

(NEWSER) - Report card time! Here’s how the rambunctious kids of MLB are doing so far, in Yahoo Sports’ Steven Henson’s estimation. A students—Rays, Red Sox, Cubs, Angels, White Sox Particular kudos go to the Rays, the poor kid who went to the head of the class. B students—Cardinals, Brewers, Twins, Phillies, Yankees, Athletics, Marlins, Orioles The Cardinals have a slight edge in the wildcard race. The Yankees, meanwhile, barely scrape together a B. More»

(NEWSER) - Matt Cain provided his own insurance run and limited Lance Berkman to only a base hit. Cain hit a solo home run and earned his first victory in three starts, and the San Francisco Giants snapped the Houston Astros' four-game winning streak 4-2 on Tuesday night. It was the fourth career homer and second this season for Cain (2-3). More»

Hudson quiets Pittsburgh to end Atlanta's road skid

(NEWSER) - Tim Hudson limited Pittsburgh to two hits and an unearned run over seven innings and the Atlanta Braves halted their seven-game road losing slide with an 8-1 victory that concluded Monday's doubleheader. In the opener, Freddy Sanchez hit a three-run double and Zach Duke pitched six shutout innings as the Pirates won 5-0, their sixth consecutive win. More»

Pirates rally to snap Atlanta's six-game win streak

(NEWSER) - Freddy Sanchez singled home Brian Bixler with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Pittsburgh Pirates a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves tonight. Sanchez went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and is 9-for-17 in four games since being moved to the top of the Pirates' lineup. John Grabow (2-1) struck out one in a scoreless ninth to earn the win. More»

(NEWSER) - Xavier Nady hit a two-run homer to spoil Barry Zito's mostly effective return to the Giants rotation and Pittsburgh's Phil Dumatrait pitched 5 2-3 scoreless innings for his first career win, leading the Pirates to a 3-1 victory Wednesday night. Zito's pitching line of five innings, three hits, two runs, two walks and five strikeouts was easily his best of the season. More»