ARLINGTON -- After losing their identity -- not to mention three discouragingly one-sided games -- in St. Louis, the Pirates were back to being themselves Monday night.

 

They played it tight. They pitched it brilliantly. They got the clutch hit. And they won it, 1-0, to rinse out the rancid taste of the Missouri weekend.

 

Hoist that Jolly Roger for the 82nd time, and proclaim the Bucs a winning ballclub, for the first time since 1992.

Gerrit Cole yanked the Bucs back to their reality, dispensing his best game when it was most badly needed, blanking the Rangers on three hits through seven innings spiced with a career-high nine strikeouts.

 

It was impressive, and it had to be to get the best of Yu Darvish, who himself befuddled the Bucs with the exception of one two-batter sequence in the seventh.

 

Pedro Alvarez broke up the scoreless pitchers' duel in the seventh with the ultimate clutch hit -- with two outs on the scoreboard and two strikes on him, Alvarez lined a single to left-center to score Marlon Byrd, who had doubled with two down against his former (2007-09) team.

 

Due to a variety of circumstances, Cole, the young pitcher whose workload is being closely monitored, has become the ironic ironman of the rotation. His previous start, he had gone six innings in Milwaukee, giving him 13 rounds in consecutive starts.

 

In between Cole's starts, four other starters put up a total of 12 2/3 innings (injury shortened Charlie Morton's Sunday start).

 

Cole was on thin ice from the beginning, that sense coming from the expectation the Pirates would not be able to do much damage against Darvish's repertoire. His ability to greatly vary his pitches' speeds had to be particularly vexing to batters seeing him for the first time.

 

You can only imagine what went through Garrett Jones' head, for instance, when the first three deliveries to him from Darvish in the third inning clocked 65, 94 and 74 mph. All pitchers change speeds; that's pulling the ripcord on the fastball.

 

Cole was masterfully up to the task. He kept the ice from cracking -- and may have also kept the rest of the Pirates from doing the same.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_09_09_pitmlb_texmlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=pit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQxl1XnvDOE

That's one step, Pittsburgh. Now get closer and win that playoff birth!