The Pittsburgh Pirates were looking to keep from getting swept by the L.A. Dodgers entering Thursday afternoons game. Things weren't looking good for the Buccos as they were absolutely blown out the previous 2 games 11-0 and 9-3 respectively. Pirates right fielder Garrett Jones however promised reporters before the game that they would turn around their losing ways, 3-7 in their last 10, and that it would start tonight. With Pirates ace AJ Burnett taking the mound that seemed very possible, but would the Pittsburgh bats be able to compete with Dodgers pitching?
Enter Garrett Jones; 1st inning, 2 men on, 1 out, and a full count, pitcher Joe Blanton throws an 84 mph changeup and Jones took it yard to right field to open up the scoring. Later in the 5th inning with the Pirates up 5-4 Garret Jones again enters the batters box with 2 men on and this time on an 0-2 pitch takes it way deep to right-center field just feet from exiting the stadium for his 2nd 3 run homerun of the game. In this instance Garret Jones made good on his guarantee leading his team to a 10-6 victory going into the weekend series vs. rival St. Louis Cardinals. Certainly this was no Joe Namath Super Bowl victory guarantee but to the struggling Pirates and their win hungry fan base it was close.
One can only imagine the mayhem that would have taken place in the city of Pittsburgh if the Pirates were swept and dropped out of the wild-card race. Pittsburgh has been waiting 19 years for winning baseball and if their team slid out of contention again after doing just that the year before, many fans may have given up hope for good. All of the fans who were so ready to jump off the bandwagon entering this game can hold their horses for at least one more series as the Pirates hold on to their wild-card spot just ahead of the San Francisco Giants. So tonight all the Pirate fans out there can thank Garrett Jones and the rest of their beloved team for coming through and delivering on what seemed a far-fetched promise.
Zach Helbling is a senior writer for chatsports.com who writes about Pittsburgh teams including Pirates, Steelers and Penguins. He works full time as a contractor in the Pittsburgh area and can be reached directly at zhelbling@chatsports.com or follow him on twitter @DJZachyzach.
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