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(Sports Network) - The race in the National League Central could get sorted out after this weekends three-game series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park. The two wild card leaders will kick off the important series tonight and trail the St. Louis Cardinals in the division. Pittsburgh, the leaders of the first NL wild card spot, is one game behind the Cardinals, while Cincinnati sits two games off the pace. The Reds, though, are five games ahead of Washington for the final postseason berth. Pittsburgh is 4-4 on an 11-game homestand and salvaged the finale of a four- game series versus the San Diego Padres with Thursdays 10-1 demolition. Pirates young starting pitcher Gerrit Cole struck out 12 batters and held the Friars to a run and four hits in six innings for the win. "More often than not, the game starts on the mound and it did today," said Pirates manager Clint Hurdle. "It was a feel good for everybody today." Cole was backed by a potent offense, which was highlighted by Neil Walker, who finished 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Jose Tabata ended with two hits, a pair of runs scored and drove in three runs, while Tony Sanchez and Jordy Mercer each posted two hits and two runs scored. Pedro Alvarez homered for the Pirates, who had lost four of their previous six games. Francisco Liriano gets the start for the Buccos Friday and he is 16-7 with a 2.92 ERA in 24 starts. He is 11-4 in his last 15 decisions with a 3.15 ERA and the Pirates have a 12-4 mark in that span. Liriano held the Chicago Cubs to two runs in six innings of a 3-2 win on Sunday and did not figure into the decision. Liriano has an 8-1 mark in 10 home starts, but is winless in three starts against Cincinnati in 2013. He never faced the Reds before this season. The Reds are coming off a three-game sweep against the Houston Astros and have a 4-2 record on the final road trip of the season. In a 6-5 win in 13 innings on Wednesday from Houstons Minute Maid Park, Jay Bruces two-run double was enough to lift Cincinnati to its ninth win in 13 tries. Jonathan Villar scored for the Astros in the bottom of the 13th before Reds All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman settled down to post his 37th save. Alfredo Simon tossed three scoreless innings of relief to pick up the win and starter Greg Reynolds was reached for a pair of runs in 3 2/3 innings. Bruce, meanwhile, had three doubles and Billy Hamilton ended 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored in his first start for the Reds. Bruce is batting .529 with nine hits and 10 RBI in his last four games. "Hes a really good hitter," Astros manager Bo Porter said of Bruce. "We walked him (intentionally in the ninth) with runners at first and third. That should tell you how much we think about him. He hurt us all three games." Taking the mound for the Reds Friday will be Mat Latos. Latos is 2-3 in his past five decisions and lost at Milwaukee in last Fridays 5-1 setback, as he surrendered all five runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 frames to fall to 14-6 in 30 starts this season with a 3.14 ERA. Latos is 5-5 in 17 road starts this season and 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA in four starts against Pittsburgh. The right-hander has faced the Pirates 10 times in his career, going 5-1 with a 2.66 ERA. Pittsburgh holds a slim 7-6 edge on Cincinnati this season, going 4-2 at PNC Park over that stretch. The previous seven meetings between the NL Central inhabitants were held at Great American Ball Park. Adidas NMD Cheap Uk . Brassard and Coyotes defenceman Derek Morris were battling for position in the crease when a nudge from Morris sent Brassard on top of Smith late in the third period. Adidas NMD Clearance .com) - Graeme McDowell opened up with a first- round, 5-under 67 on Thursday and he holds a 2-shot lead at the WGC - HSBC Champions. http://www.clearancenmduk.com/. On Thursday, they signed former Browns linebacker DQwell Jackson. Terms of the deal were not immediately available. Adidas NMD Uk Release . -- Josh Smith made a 3-pointer as time expired and finished with 20 points to lift the Detroit Pistons to a 99-98 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night in both teams exhibition finale. Adidas NMD Clearance Sale . Carreno Busta broke his opponent five times in the match, but also lost his serve three times in the second set before prevailing in the tiebreaker. Both players struggled with their first serve, as Carreno Busta landed just 51 per cent of his to 47 per cent for Kukushkin.CALGARY - Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor entered the male world of four-man bobsled Saturday so they can have a race of their own in the future.Canadas Humphries and Meyers Taylor of the U.S. made their World Cup debuts as four-man pilots Saturday in Calgary.Humphries and Meyers Taylor drove all-male crews to 15th and 16th respectively in a field of 17 at Canada Olympic Park. A Latvian sled crashed in the first run and did not race the second heat.Womens bobsled has been a two-person event since it was introduced at the 2002 Winter Olympics, while the men have raced both two-man and four-man sleds since the 1932 Winter Games.(Elana) and I really want to try and get more women driving the four-man and eventually have womens four-man as its own event, so the women can have two events, two and four, and so can the men, Humphries said following the race.In the meantime, this kind of bridges the gap a little bit.Humphries defended her Olympic gold medal in womens bobsled while Meyers Taylor took silver in Sochi, Russia, this year.Hopefully its a starting point to get our own womens discipline, Meyers Taylor said. Thats what were after. If this is all we can do in the meantime, compete against men, were going to give it our best shot and go for it.Humphries finished 1.03 seconds behind and Meyers Taylor 1.68 back of winner Oskars Melbardis of Latvia, who swept the mens races in Calgary. Melbardis drove to four-man gold Saturday after winning the two-man race the previous evening.Francesco Friedrich of Germany took silver with teammate Maximilian Arndt driving another German sled to third. Calgarys Chris Spring and Justin Kripps of Kelowna, B.C., were 10th and 11th respectively.Another Latvian sled piloted by Oskars Kibermanis upended in the first run and slid the remaining two-thirds of the way down the track on its side.It was a reminder of how challenging it is to steer 1,388 pounds worth of sled and bodies 120 kilometres per hour down an icy track. Four-man has been compared to driving a school bus.Driving a four-man is no joke, Humphries acknowledged. Its a premier event, but when it goes wrong, it goes really wrong. It is a lot harder to control and to steer. Youve kind of got to take command of it.It was a hectic race day for Humphries and Meyers Taylor as the pilots had less than an hour between womens bobsled and the mens event.Meyers Taylor and brakeman Charelle Barrett won their second womens World Cup in as many races after taking gold in the season-opener last week in Lake Placid, N.Y.Anja Schneiderheinze and Franziska Bertels of Germany were second. Humphries and new brakeman Kate OBrien of Calgary took bronze.After accepting their flowers, Humphries and Meyers Taylor jumped in cars and quickly returned tto the top of the track for another pair of runs in the longer, heftier sleds with more horsepower pushing them off the start.ddddddddddddHumphries was reluctant to claim making bobsled history. The 29-year-old Calgarian points out there were mixed-gender sleds in the sports origins.I dont think we actually did make history, she explained. When the sport first began, there used to be four girls and one guy, way, way, way back. So really, in all fairness, I think were just going back to the roots of having a woman in with the men.Humphries crew of Dan Dale of Grande Prairie, Alta., D.J. McLelland of Calgary and Joey Nemet of Hamilton, Ont. also made their World Cup debuts Saturday.Im really proud of what she did today and kind of overcame having to do all four runs, two different races and drive two different sleds, Dale said. Its a testament to the kind of competitor she is.Humphries decribed their first run as sketchy, but they were faster in their second run than Krippss sled.Switching between two and four is a challenge especially today I think we saw that in my first run, Humphries said.Thats going to be the balance all year, for Alana and I to figure out how to switch between four-man and two-man. Most of the time we have a day in between to mentally wrap your head around it.Four men built like linebackers charging a sled towards the start line is like watching the running of the bulls. Its a testosterone-laden world.It was pretty cool to be in the start house with all the guys grunting and everything and Im just sitting in the corner listening to my music, Meyers Taylor said. Its pretty cool to get this World Cup under my belt.Meyers Taylor says women sledders from different countries will talk to each other, congratulate and wish each other luck before and between races.The men, they dont talk before the competition at all. You dont go say hi to Germany or whatever, the Californian said.The women in general, we tend to take it as a competition against ourselves. Were just trying to be as fast as we can down the hill. The men are competing one on one. Theyre out for blood.The Canadian bobsled and skeleton teams depart Dec. 30 for the next World Cup stop in Altenberg, Germany.Humphries will race the womens event there, but not four-man on that track. Springs team had a crash there in 2012 that put three of them in the hospital.Its a track thats not on the circuit all the time. Four-man for Kaillie this year isnt about going out and winning World Cup medals, Canadian bobsled coach Chris LeBihan said. Its about her skill acquisition of the four-man.Its not that we dont think Kaillie is good enough, but whether its really worth it based on what were trying to achieve and as a coaching staff we decided no. ' ' '