The Pirates had a lot going for them on Saturday. They were off to a great start in the series, had Burnett and Cole set to go for a sweep, Aramis Ramirez was arriving, the offense seemed to be clicking, it was a beautiful day, and they’ve been great in front of huge crowds at PNC (previously undefeated in Saturday home games).
Well, sometimes you get an unexpected result, kind of like on Friday. Although hopefully this isn’t too much of a negative trend for A.J. Burnett…some regression from his brilliant first half is to be expected, sure, but he was pretty ineffective in this one despite eight strikeouts.