Good Bounce Helps Pittsburgh Pirates Sweep Boston Red Sox At PNC Park
In a game that had fans glued to their seats, the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 3-2 victory Thursday night at PNC Park to win four in a row for the seventh time this season.
At 82-70, the Jolly Roger crew remain 2 1/2 games behind the first-place St. Louis Cardinals (85-68) in the National League Central and are 3 1/2 up on the Milwaukee Brewers (79-74) for the second Wild Card spot in the National League. The Cards beat the Brew Crew 3-2 on Thursday in St. Louis.
Clint Hurdlegave the ball toMark Melanconin the ninth and Pittsburgh got a break with runners at the corners and nobody out.Will Middlebrookssent a ball down the third-base line, but it struckJemile Weeks, who was leading off third, forcing the umpires to call him out. Then it was time for Melancon to buckle down and record the final two outs without issue to pick up his 30th save in 34 opportunities this season.
In picking up his 10th win of the season, Pirates starterGerrit Colegave up two earned runs on six hits over seven-plus innings of work. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound right-hander struck out seven, and walked none on 98 pitches.
While Cole did pitch to two batters in the eighth,Tony Watsonwas the first out of the bullpen, and the lefty gave up a one-out sacrifice fly to center off the bat ofXander Bogaertsthat allowedChristian Vazquezto score and make it 3-2.
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The near-capacity crowd came out of their seats in the fifth whenStarling Marteblasted his 13th home run of the season on a fly ball to left off rightyBrandon Workman, giving the Pirates a 3-1 lead.
In the visitor’s dugout, the Red Sox’ Workman saw his record drop to 1-10 on the season as he gave up three runs, two of them earned, over five innings. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound right-hander struck out six and walked three on 95 pitches.
The Bucs scored in the home half of the first whenIke Daviswalked with the bases loaded, which allowedTravis Sniderto score. The second run came in the bottom of the fourth, whenChris Stewartsent a line drive single to center that scored Davis and made it 2-1.
Mookie Bettsstroked a ground ball single to center that brought Vazquez home in the top of the third for Boston that knotted up the game 1-1.
The Pirates open a three-game weekend series at PNC Park with NL Central rival Milwaukee on Friday night. The first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.
The third-place Brewers will send right-handerYovani Gallardo(8-10, 3.59 ERA) to the mound while the Bucs will go withJeff Locke(7-5, 3.66 ERA).
The 26-year-old Locke will be making his 20th start on Friday, and his 11th start at home. The 6-foot, 185-pound left-hander has posted a 4-2 record at PNC Park this season and has won five of his last seven decisions. The game will be broadcast by ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.