Pirates Weekly Update (April 30, 2012)

The Pittsburgh Pirates finished the week Sunday afternoon with a 4-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves. After the loss the Pirates were forced to settle with a 3-3 week in which they looked very impressive at times even in a loss. The starting pitching of the team continued to excel and stay in the top 5 of the MLB in team ERA. However, even after AJ Burnett went 6 innings with just  1 Earned Run, the bullpen gave up 4 to spoil the streak of not giving up or scoring more than 5 runs in a game. The Pirates now hold that record with 18 straight to start the season. The other huge bright spot to the week was the play of Pedro Alvarez. He went 7/18 this week with 2 homeruns, 4 doubles, 3 RBIs, 2 walks, and a batting average of .389 (to raise his season average to .200). The Pirates finish up a 4 game series with the Braves tonight as James McDonald (0-1 with a 2.78 ERA)  faces Braves Pitcher Mike Minor (2-1 with a 3.42 ERA)