PITTSBURGH -- Andrew McCutchen and the Pittsburgh Pirates hope theyve finally put an end to their hitting woes. cheap jerseys wholesale . McCutchen hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and drove in three runs to lead Pittsburgh past the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 on Friday night. The Pirates entered the game batting .153, the second-worst average for a major league team through nine games since 1921, according to STATS. The 2003 Detroit Tigers hit .140 in their first nine games on the way to a 119-loss season. McCutchens leadoff shot to left field off J.J. Hoover (0-3), his second homer of the season, snapped a 5-all tie. Cincinnati had just tied the score in the top of the seventh on Brandon Phillips second home run of the game, a two-run drive to centre off Tony Watson (1-0). "It was important for us to answer back right away," McCutchen said. "Thats the type of team we are. Were fighters." The first four batters in Pittsburghs lineup -- Starling Marte, Neil Walker, McCutchen and Garrett Jones -- had two hits each as the Pirates totalled 12. They entered the game with a .153 batting average, worst in the major leagues, and had scored only 21 runs in their first nine games. Every Pirates position player had a hit by the end of the fifth inning. "This is what were capable of doing," McCutchen said. "We have good hitters in our lineup. Its a matter of getting in that Michael Jordan-type mentality where you start thinking that you can outdo the next guy. Thats how we were tonight. One guy started hitting, then everyone else did. Thats how its always been in baseball." Hoover took over the big league lead in losses after giving up the decisive homer to McCutchen. "It seems like he leaves that one pitch out over the plate and theyre not missing it," Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said. "Youre going to give it up sometimes and he gave it up to one of the best. McCutchen isnt a slouch. Hes one of the best players in the league." Walker and McCutchen hit consecutive two-run singles in the second to give Pittsburgh a 5-1 lead. Marte extended his streak of multihit games to six. He is 12 for 24 during that stretch. The leadoff batter also has had a hit in the first inning in each of those six games. "He may not be the typical leadoff hitter who draws a lot of walks, but the thing he does well is that he swings at good pitches," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "When he sees the first hittable pitch, he goes after it aggressively and puts a good swing on it." The Pirates had not scored more than four runs in any of their previous 13 games against the NL Central rival Reds. Pittsburgh has won three of four overall after starting the season 1-5. Phillips hit a leadoff homer in the second inning off Pirates starter A.J. Burnett. The cleanup-hitting second baseman has four home runs this season and 10 career two-homer games. "He hit two home runs to straightaway centre and you just dont see that very often in this ballpark," Hurdle said. "That was impressive." However, Phillips struck out to end the game with runners on first and second as Jason Grilli pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his fourth save in as many opportunities. Burnett went six innings and allowed three runs on six hits. He struck out eight and walked three. "I need to start working deeper into games," said Burnett, pulled after 106 pitches. "Im trying to throw nasty pitches to get strikeouts when I dont necessarily make nasty pitches and its running up my pitch counts." Cincinnati starter Mike Leake is now winless in eight career starts at PNC Park, more than any visiting pitcher in the history of the 12-year-old ballpark. He gave up five runs and 10 hits in six innings with two walks and two strikeouts. "He really settled down after those first two innings and gave us some innings, which is important with the stretch of schedule were facing now where we cant afford to blow out the bullpen," said Baker, whose team began a string of playing on 20 consecutive days. Pittsburgh catcher Russell Martin, who entered with a .043 batting average, singled home a run in the first inning to open the scoring. After Walker and McCutchen gave the Pirates a four-run lead in the second, Cincinnati cut the deficit to 5-3 as Devin Mesoraco drove in a run with a groundout in the fourth and then hit an RBI double in the sixth. NOTES: Pittsburgh designated RHP Chris Leroux for assignment and recalled RHP Bryan Morris from Triple-A Indianapolis. Morris arrived in time for the game but did not pitch. ... Baker decided to give C Ryan Hanigan and 3B Todd Frazier the night off. Hanigan is hitting .043 with one hit in 23 at-bats and Frazier is hitless in his last 11 at-bats. ... Burnett is two strikeouts shy of 2,000 for his career. ... RHP Johnny Cueto (1-0, 2.77 ERA) starts Saturday night for the Reds against Pirates LHP Jeff Locke (0-1, 6.00). Cueto has a 12-4 lifetime record against Pittsburgh. ... Pirates LHP Wandy Rodriguez, who left his start Monday at Arizona with a strained left hamstring in the third inning, played catch before Fridays game. But the Pirates will not decide whether he will be able to start Sunday against the Reds until Saturday. cheap jerseys 2013 . Gusts of up to 80 kilometres an hour (50 miles an hour) during a southerly wind change Sunday caused television towers to sway, scoreboards to topple over, balls to move on the fairways and greens and sand to be blown from bunkers and into the galleries and fairways. cheap jerseys paypal . The Habs sit eight points out of the playoff picture at the moment, but have a string of games over the next month all against teams they are chasing in the race. http://www.cheapchinajerseysmall.com/ . The last two Super Bowl teams, Green Bay and the New York Giants, were Super Bowl winners because they were healthy and playing exceptionally to close out the season. cheap jerseys china . However, the Winnipeg Goldeyes final dress rehearsal before Opening Day was a very solid performance. Goldeyes pitching surrendered just one run over seven innings in a 4-1 win over the Kansas City T-Bones Tuesday night before a modest crowd at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. cheap jerseys . Carcillo suffered an apparent leg injury in the third period of Chicagos win over the Los Angeles Kings, and the team said he could miss significant time.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry Fraser wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry, I would like you to weigh in on this. Fifty seconds into the second period of last nights Leafs/Jets game, Nikolai Kulemin was shoved into the Winnipeg Jets net by Derek Meech, causing the net to become dislodged and simultaneously, the Jets recover the puck and maintaining possession the entire time proceed to score a goal on the Leafs. Looking at the rule book the only thing I found that would support play continuing is under Rule 63.2 "When the net is accidentally displaced by an attacking player, and the defending side is in possession of the puck and moving out of their zone, play shall be permitted to continue until such time as the non-offending team loses possession of the puck." So was this a blown call which should have resulted in a whistle instead of the Jets goal, or a case of the officials making a judgment call that Kulemin could have kept from dislodging the net even though he was pushed in to it? Mark Storey Mark: All of the variables you have suggested on a play of this nature would be considered by a referee as to whether play should be stopped or allowed to continue until the offending team gained possession of the puck. Rule 85 - face-off location states and implies that a resulting face-off would take place on one of the end zone spots unless the stoppage is caused by the attacking team. The real question that must be answered is who should be deemed responsible for dislodging the Jets net on this play. To do so, we have to take a closer look at the referees position and vissual focus prior to and at the point that Nilolai Kulemin struck the crossbar and the net became dislodged from its moorings.dddddddddddd As the Leafs attack pushed near Ondrej Pavelecs goal crease, the referee is seen moving tight to the net from behind the goal line and visually focused on Mikhail Grabovskis shot after being set up directly in front of Pavelec by Kulemin. Derek Meech offered late support as a trailer on the play and his strong push directly on the back of Kulemin at the top of the crease would have most likely been undetected by the referee. The push from Meech accelerated Kulmenin into the crossbar and as the Leaf forward raised his hands to defend himself against the impending impact, the referee turned his head and focus toward Nikolai Kulmenin. By catching the tail end of this play, the ref would have believed that Kulmenin had crashed the net and was responsible for knocking the net off the moorings. As such, the referee allowed play to continue until such time that the Leafs gained possession of the puck, as per Rule 63.2 and Mark referenced in his question. From the replay, we of course know that it was the Jets player Derek Meech that was responsible for dislodging the net with his push from behind that caused Kulmenins unavoidable contact with the crossbar. Had this been witnessed and determined correctly by the referee, play would have immediately been stopped and a face-off would have resulted to the left of Ondrej Pavelec in the Jets end zone. The subsequent Jets goal scored by Blake Wheeler would not have occurred. Fortunately, the Jets second goal of the game scored on this play did not affect the final outcome. ' ' '