Andrew McCutchen and Connor Joe collected three hits apiece, Bryan Reynolds drove in three runs and Ji Hwan Bae scored three times as the Pittsburgh Pirates gradually pulled away from the host San Francisco Giants for a 9-4 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
The Pirates took the rubber match of the three-game set as Mitch Keller (7-1) labored through six innings, allowing a season-high 10 hits, but used the outpouring of offensive support to record a fourth win in his last five starts.
The Giants got single runs in the second and third innings on RBI hits by Patrick Bailey and Wilmer Flores, but in between, Pittsburgh erupted for four against San Francisco starter Alex Wood (1-1).
McCutchen doubled in a run, Rodolfo Castro singled home a second and Ke’Bryan Hayes used his fourth triple of the season to plate two more, helping the Pirates take a lead they would never relinquish.
Reynolds’ two-out, two-strike, two-run single made it 6-2 in the fourth before an error on Giants second baseman Brett Wisely and an RBI double by Joe allowed the visitors to pull away thanks to another pair of runs in the sixth.
Keller served up two more one-run innings but made it through the sixth with an 8-4 lead. He walked one and struck out eight, his seventh consecutive start with eight or more strikeouts.
Mike Yastrzemski scored on a wild pitch in the fifth and Casey Schmitt had a sacrifice fly in the sixth to complete the Giants’ scoring.
The Pirates tacked on in the ninth on a Jack Suwinski RBI single.
Wood was pulled one out into the fifth, charged with six runs on eight hits. He walked three and struck out four.
Bae, Castro and Hayes finished with two hits apiece, while McCutchen and Joe each scored twice for the Pirates, who completed a 3-3 Western swing with a second straight win.
Bailey, LaMonte Wade Jr., J.D. Davis and Blake Sabol had two hits apiece for the Giants, who were outhit 14-12 en route to the third loss in their last four games. Sabol scored twice.
–Field Level Media
