PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates will attempt to get back into the wild-card hunt by finishing off a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday at PNC Park.After winning the first two games, the Pirates will send right-hander Gerrit Cole to the mound, where he will look to continue his recent string of impressive starts.Cole picked up his second consecutive win despite going just five innings against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday after pitching his first career complete game in a 10-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on July 27.Pittsburghs erratic pitching staff has primarily led to an inconsistent performance that has followed them into the second half of the season. That unpredictability likely wont change until the starters, with Cole at the forefront, begin to provide its balanced offense with more substantial outings.If Cole can work deep into the game Sunday, he could hand another lead to closer Tony Watson, who recovered from blowing a save on Friday by retiring the Reds in order during the ninth inning on Saturday.Thats the role of a closer, is to have a short memory as long as they have good stuff, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. We showed confidence in him and gave him the ball. Weve done it in the eighth inning before. ... You cant get off of him because of one mark, so it was a nice result tonight.Cincinnati would like to keep Pittsburgh from finding its footing Sunday, when it counters with right-hander Dan Straily, who has been on an uptick of his own.Straily has pitched well in his past six starts since allowing seven earned runs in an 11-8 loss to the Chicago Cubs on June 27. In his last start, Straily surrendered two earned runs in six innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday.In Strailys previous three appearances against the Pirates this season, he has been difficult to hit. He allowed fewer than three runs in each of those outings and surrendered two in each of his two starts against Pittsburgh.Straily first faced the Pirates on April 10, when he struck out three batters and walked one in three hitless innings.The Reds will have to put together a better effort at the plate to aid Straily if hes to defeat Cole. One player Cincinnati can seemingly rely on is second baseman Brandon Phillips, who has provided the bulk of the offense in the first two games of the series.Phillips homered twice in the Reds 5-3 loss on Saturday, ending a career-long stretch of 286 at-bats without a home run dating to May 7. That came after he went 2-for-3 with one RBI in Cincinnatis 3-2 loss on Friday.Reds manager Bryan Price said he was never concerned about Phillips drought.I dont keep tabs on that stuff too much but everyone else does, Price said. It seems right now, hes getting the barrel on the bat every time hes up to bat and the results are starting to show. 49ers Super Bowl Jerseys . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that. Richard Sherman Super Bowl Jersey . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. http://www.thesf49ersshoponline.com/Youth-Joe-Montana-49ers-Jersey/ . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Jason Verrett Super Bowl Jersey . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors. Robbie Gould Super Bowl Jersey . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. NEW YORK -- Zak Irvin led five players in double figures with 16 points and Michigan pulled away late in the first half for a 79-61 victory over Marquette in the second semifinal of the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden Thursday night.Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and reserve Mark Donnal added 15 points apiece for Michigan (3-0), which led for the final 33-plus minutes and beat Marquette for the 14th time in 20 meetings.Michigan will face SMU in the championship game Friday. Marquette will face Pittsburgh in the consolation game.The Wolverines shot 59 percent in the first half and 51 percent overall.Luke Fischer led the Golden Eagles (2-1) with 19 points, Hannif Cheatham added 12 and JaJuan Johnson contributed 11 but it was not nearly enough as Marquette shot 41 percent and committed 15 turnovers.Marquette trailed by 29 early in the second half and made a slight dent in the lead with about 6 1/2 minutes remaining when Matt Heldt scooped in a layup through a double team after nearly fumbling the ball away to make it 67-53.Michigan did not let the lead slip below 12 and sealed the win when Irvins 3-pointer late in the shot clock spun around the rim before going in with about a 4 1/2 minutes remaining. On the next possession, D.J. Wilson converted an alley-oop baseline dunk and free throw for a 73-57 aadvantage.ddddddddddddMarquette held a pair of one-point leads early in the second half and stayed with Michigan until around the eight-minute mark. Already leading 28-20, Michigan scored 10 straight points in a span of 2:05 and held a 50-26 lead at halftime.BIG PICTURE:Marquette won its first two games by double digits over Vanderbilt and Howard, getting away with shaky first halves. The Golden Eagles averaged 36.5 points in the first halves those games but against a higher level of competition, Marquette was held to 26. The first four possessions of the second half did not go well either as the Golden Eagles were called for traveling twice and were not close on two 3-point attempts.Michigan made 342 3-pointers last season, the most in school history, and the third time under coach John Beileins spread offense the Wolverines made at least 300. Michigan is off to a good start again from long range. After going 16 of 45 in its first two wins, the Wolverines were slightly better Thursday with a 9-of-23 showing.UP NEXT:Marquette will face former Big East foe Pittsburgh in the 2K Classic championship game Friday.Michigan will face SMU in the 2K Classic championship game Friday. ' ' '