The trip got off to a banner start Monday night. Behind Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole, the Bucs rolled over their division foes, cruising to an 8-1 win.
The fun continued the next evening. The Pirates scored six runs in the first inning and never looked back, winning 7-3 and moving to within four games of first in the Central.
For a while, it looked like Wednesday would bring another Bucco victory. It was not to be. A combination of Clint Hurdle’s awful bullpen management, Jerry Layne’s horrendous strike zone and Orlando Arcia’s great defense brought Millawkue back from a 3-1 seventh inning deficit, and the crew pulled out a 4-3 win.