The Pirates Are Five Wins Away From The World Series

This single from Pedro Alvarez in the bottom of the eighth gave the Pirates a 4-3 lead in Game 3 of the NLDS and proved to be the game-winning run. Pittsburgh is now one win away from the NLCS. Four wins there would get them to the World Series for the first time since 1979.

Just a half-inning earlier, Carlos Beltran put a scare into the PNC Park crowd and continued his postseason whatever-you-want-to-call-it-now. The guy is out of his mind in the playoffs and launched a game-tying solo shot to right field. It was his 16h postseason home run. Yeah, yeah, there are more series played now, but he's still hit 16 fucking home runs in the playoffs. Sorry, Mets fans.

But the Pirates came right back in the home half of the eighth. Andrew McCutchen doubled to lead off the inning, but was out at third on Justin Morneau's fielder's choice. Josh Harrison pinch ran for Morneau and moved to second on Marlon Byrd's walk. Alvarez plated Harrison and Russell Martin added an insurance run with a single to left on a ball at his eyes, scoring Marlon Byrd. Pirates win, 5-3.

There's still a lot of baseball to play, but the Pirates can work down to four games away from the World Series, in front of the home crowd, with a win tomorrow.