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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. Carson Wentz Jersey . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. Dallas Goedert Youth Jersey . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. https://www.eaglessportsgoods.com/Womens-Brian-Westbrook-Inverted-Jersey/ . Schenn scored the game-winning goal and added two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday. Fletcher Cox Jersey . -- The goal posts lying flat on the field, Arizonas fans lingered on the field, congregating around the locker room entrance nearly 30 minutes after rushing out of the stands. Miles Sanders Youth Jersey . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The IOC has stripped three gold medals and one silver medal in the latest positive doping retests from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.Seven athletes from Belarus, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were retroactively sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee on Friday after testing positive in a reanalysis of their stored doping samples.Kazakhstan weightlifter Ilya Ilyin was formally stripped of two gold medals -- one each from the London and Beijing Gammes, both in the 94-kilogram class.ddddddddddddThe Kazakhstan Olympic Committee announced the decision Wednesday.The IOC said Ilyin tested positive for the steroids stanozolol and turinabol.Aksana Miankova of Belarus was stripped of the Beijing gold medal in the womens hammer throw. The IOC said she tested positive for turinabol and oxandrolone. ' ' '