Garrett Jones, Pedro Alvarez, Rod Barajas, Casey McGehee play homerun derby in Pirates win
The Pirates made it look like the Coors Field of old, picking up starter James McDonald with a 9-6 victory to take the series against the Colorado Rockies.
The trouble started in the top of the first for McDonald when he allowed a solo homer to Dexter Fowler and then a two run shot from Carlos Gonzalez.
McDonald would pitched five innings and allow a total of six runs, all of which were earned.
In the bottom of the first, with the Pirates down 3-0 it was Pedro Alvarez who hit his 19th homer of the season, a solo shot to cut the deficit to two runs. Alvarez now has 13 homers hit during day games, the most in the major leagues.
The Rockies tacked on two more runs in the second inning when Marco Scutaro had an RBI groundout and Andrew Brown reached on an infield single.
The Pirates were able to respond in a big way in the third inning. Garrett Jones hit a three-run-homerun his, 13th of the season to close the gap to 5-4. The scoring continued when Clint Barmes hit a two RBI single against his former team to give the Pirates their first lead of the game.
The Rockies were able to tie things back up in the bottom of the fourth however when Brown RBI single plated Scutaro.
The score changed once again in the top of the fifth in a big way.
First Casey McGehee hit a two run homer that plated Jones to give the Pirates an 8-6 lead. The homer was McGehee’s eighth of the season.
Two batters later, Rod Barajas saw a pitch to his liking and hit it for a solo homer. This was his eighth homerun of the season as well.
Brad Lincoln, Jason Grilli and Tony Watson pitched three innings allowing two hits in the process keeping the Pirates lead at three heading into the ninth inning.
Closer Joel Hanrahan pitched the ninth inning for his 26th save of the season.
The Pirates will have a day off tomorrow before coming back to PNC Park to play the Miami Marlins.
Winning Pitcher: James McDonald 10-3
Losing Pitcher: Jeremy Guthrie 3-10
Save: Joel Hanrahan (26)
MVP: Garrett Jones 2-4 HR (13) 3 RBI (40)
LVP: Neil Walker/Andrew McCutchen 0-8 2 BB 2 K
Play of the Game: Garrett Jones three run homer in the third inning.
Home Runs: Pedro Alvarez (19), Garrett Jones (13), Casey McGehee (8), Rod Barajas (8) Carlos Gonzalez (18), Dexter Fowler (12)
Up Next: Friday, July 20 vs Florida, at 7:05 p.m. EDT