Oddly, most of the team is fighting through it at the same

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PITTSBURGH -- As Gaby Sanchez "trucked" around third some 6 1/2 hours after the game began, one thought went through his head. "This is enough," the 216-pound first baseman said after the game. "Im tired. Its been a long day." Then Sanchez laughed. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been doing an awful lot of that lately. Pinch-hitter Russell Martin singled home Sanchez for the winning run in the 14th inning and the Pirates earned their ninth straight victory, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 Sunday. The Pirates extended their longest winning streak since 2004, when they took 10 in a row. Pittsburgh reached the midpoint of its season with the best record in the majors at 51-30. "Its fun right now," said Martin, who played a key role in an extra-inning victory he did not start for the second straight Sunday. "Obviously, winning is fun, but just being on a team with a bunch of guys who play with their hearts out there and enjoy the game, its definitely been a pleasure." Teammates were having fun with Sanchez, a slugger not known for his speed. Sanchez led off the 14th with an infield single. With one out, he stole second for his first steal in more than a year. After a walk, Martin hit a soft liner to centre off Francisco Rodriguez (1-1). Sanchez chugged around third and slid home ahead of the throw by Carlos Gomez. "I guess he felt fresh today for some reason," Martin said with a wry smile. "Were just grinding; hes out there grinding and made it happen and I think everybody is enjoying it." Pirates manager Clint Hurdle gave the sign for Sanchez to make an attempt for his first stolen base as a Pirate and first overall since May 6, 2012. Sanchez has 10 steals and 30 infield hits in 513 career games according to STATS. "Once it gets late like that, youve got to take some chances," Hurdle said. "Gabys always heads-up." Sanchez validated the efforts of Pittsburghs stingy bullpen, one that refers to itself as "The Shark Tank." Vin Mazzaro pitched five perfect innings. He was among six Pirates relievers who combined for 11 scoreless innings after Charlie Morton was pulled following a rain delay of 2 hours, 20 minutes. Justin Wilson, Bryan Morris, Jason Grilli and Mark Melancon each pitched a scoreless inning following Mazzaro -- allowing a total of two hits and no walks. Tony Watson (2-1) struck out four in three hitless innings. "A truly incredible job from everybody out there," Hurdle said. "It feels like they all throw 110 mph, and theyve all got good stuff," Brewers outfielder Logan Schafer said. "They know what theyre doing. They locate their pitches for the most part and they get ahead early in the count. Those guys are very good." Andrew McCutchen hit a tying single in the Pittsburgh eighth. Bidding for the franchises first winning season or playoff berth in 21 years, surprising Pittsburgh enters July with the most wins in the majors. The crowd of 35,351 was about three 3,000 shy of capacity, snapping the PNC Park-record sellout streak of five games. The vast majority of those on hand waited out a downpour not long after Milwaukee scored an unearned run in the second inning off of Morton, making his fourth start since returning from 2012 elbow surgery. The Pirates trailed for roughly the next four hours -- after the delay Tyler Thornburg and Mazzaro traded shutout innings -- until tying it in the eighth against Jim Henderson. Starling Marte walked with one out, advanced on a groundout and came home on McCutchens single. Martin Maldonado had three hits for Milwaukee, which got its only run when Yuniesky Betancourt came home on Schafers bunt in the second. "Its tough right now," Schafer said. "Were not getting a whole lot of breaks. But things will turn. They always do in this game." NOTES: LF Schafer robbed Sanchez of a home run by reaching over the left-centre field wall for a catch in the seventh. ... After a team off-day Monday, Pittsburgh opens a three-game series against visiting Philadelphia. LHP Jeff Locke, who has a personal seven-winning streak, was in line to start that game but Hurdle said he was been scratched because Locke was forced to throw in the bullpen during the 14th inning Sunday. Locke would have entered the game had it been extended any longer. Hurdle said no determination had been made on who would start Tuesday. ... After the Brewers begin a four-game series in Washington on Monday, the lone NL team they will have yet to face will be the New York Mets. Johan Franzen Red Wings Jersey Authentic . Scheffler told The Associated Press on Wednesday he made the choice because he had three concussions over the past four years. Curtis Joseph Red Wings Jersey Authentic . -- Phil Mickelson will be watching the final two rounds of the Masters from home for the first time in 17 years. http://www.redwingshockeyauthentic.com/ ... rt-jersey/. They know how difficult it is to beat the San Antonio Spurs. George scored 28 points and Indiana defeated San Antonio 111-100 on Saturday night, snapping an 11-game skid against the Spurs. Johan Franzen Red Wings Jersey . Wearing bib No. 1, Maze skied through the gates cleanly to defend her big first-run lead and finish 0.07 seconds ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria. Defending champion Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was third, trailing 0. Steve Yzerman Red Wings Jersey Authentic . Wearing bib No. 1, Maze skied through the gates cleanly to defend her big first-run lead and finish 0.07 seconds ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria. Defending champion Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was third, trailing 0.MEMPHIS - For a brief period of time to begin this season, the Raptors ranked among the leagues top 10 in both offence and defence as they raced out to their best start in franchise history. Since then they have struggled to find a balance between the two, a phenomenon thats not easily explained, though Greivis Vasquez gave it a shot after his teams latest defeat. Yes, its kinda weird, man, Vasquez said following a 92-86 loss in Memphis on Wednesday. Maybe its something in the water, I dont know but its weird. I shot it terribly, [DeMar DeRozan], Kyle [Lowry], [Patrick Patterson], the guys that usually hit shots. Collectively we have to do it at both ends. Weve got to get back to us. Weve got to score. At one point, and for most of the seasons opening months, only one NBA team - the Dallas Mavericks - scored more efficiently than Toronto. The Raptors have scored 110 or more points in 16 games this season, already surpassing their total from last year, scoring 120 or more six times, something they failed to do in regulation a year ago. But as their mid-season slide continues - Wednesdays loss was their eighth over the last 11 games - their offence, once elite, has come apart. Its frustrating, said DeRozan, who made just two of his 11 shots a couple days after being held scoreless on 0-of-9 shooting in Mondays win over Milwaukee. Especially with the looks weve been getting the past couple of games, not falling. Were just going out there playing extremely hard. Sometimes bad luck just falls your way for a period of time and youve just got to fight through it. To their credit, they have been fighting through it, at least lately. For the first time this season, the Raptors defence has started to look like the unit that ranked 10th in the league during the 2013-14 campaign. Through three quarters, the Raptors led Memphis by one despite hovering around 30 per cent shooting from the field all night and finishing the game 5-for-28 from beyond the arc. For 36 minutes Toronto outplayed a notoriously physical Grizzlies team by beating them at their own game. In a gritty performance, Caseys team grabbed a season-high 21 offensive boards while holding Memphis to 46 per cent shooting and 1-for-7 from long range. I was happy about our defensive effort, the Raptors coach said after the game. The focus is there, the energy is there. The shots will fall. We’ve got to play with that type of intensity, that type of physicality in the paint to win games. Mondays game and win over the Bucks had a similar pace to it and Casey has been seeing a renewed defensive focus for a couple weeks now. In fact, the offensive drop off may be tied in to that defensive emphasis, to an extent. I think right now weve hit that full reset button and our defence is completely ahead of our offence, said Lowry, who had 20 points Wednesday but shot just 7-of-23, 2-of-8 from three-point range. Thats one of the things were struggling right now. I think once our offence catches up with our defence well be back to a hell of a team, going out there and winning more games. Maybe were too focused on defence, Vasquez wondered. Maybe we have to figure out a way to have a balance. Were going to have to hit shots. And it goes for all of us, we shot it terribly tonight. And we are cooncerned.ddddddddddddI cant give you the right answer. We have to figure out a way to play good defence and good offence. As a team, the Raptors have been held under 100 points in four straight games for the first time since November of last season, winning only three quarters (of 16) over that span. After earning Player of the Month with an average of 22.3 points on 46 per cent shooting (41 per cent from three) in December, Lowry been mired in a shooting slump of his own to begin the new year. The point guard has yet to shoot 50 per cent in any of the teams 10 games in January. Over his last four games hes shooting 34 per cent and has hit just three of his 26 attempts from distance. Every player will encounter a shooting slump, to some extent, during a long 82-game season. In Lowrys case, the timing is hardly a surprise given the ................ he carried last month in the absence of the injured DeRozan. Oddly, most of the team is fighting through it at the same time, the primary reason for their stalled offensive attack. DeRozan has not looked like himself over the past two outings after a strong three-game stretch returning from his groin injury. While his effort on the boards has been noteworthy, Pattersons been ice cold from his sweet spot, shooting 29 per cent from distance in January after hitting the three-ball at a remarkable 55 per cent clip in December. Vasquez, who has been erratic all season, was 1-for-8 on Wednesday, the struggling Terrence Ross missed all three of his shots in his second straight game off the bench and Lou Williams hit two of his eight attempts from beyond the arc. We always can live with if its just one person, DeRozan said. If it was just me, for example, having a bad shooting night, everybody else hitting, thats perfectly fine for me to deal with. Its just frustrating when collectively were all getting good looks, but everybodys missing. Theyre confident those looks will start falling again but in the mean time their defensive effort, up to par once again, is keeping them in games and thats an encouraging sign for Casey and his club. The Raptors battled on Wednesday night. In the first quarter, Lowry went to the ground diving for a loose ball, almost a nightly occurrence for him when his right ring finger popped out. Immediately he knew something wasnt right as he darted for the locker room. I had to get up out of there, he said. I dont want nobody to cry and be squeamish with that finger so I ran off. The trainers popped Lowrys finger back into place and tapped it up. He was back in the game shortly thereafter, crashing the boards and playing hard on defence as his team followed suit. It hurts really bad, Lowry said of his ailing finger after the game. Really really bad. But theres no excuses. Im not going to complain about it, Im not going to worry about it. Im going to go out there and do my job as always. We cant hide from the struggle, Vasquez said. I thought our defence was there. We played good defence but now were not hitting shots. Before it was we were playing good offence but we werent playing defence. At least were doing the right thing. In order for us to win games weve got to play defence and thats what we did. Shots will come and unfortunately tonight we couldnt hit shots. China Jerseys ' ' '