Jeff Locke made it through 6.1 innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates won 10-2 Saturday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The difference-maker for the Pirates in this game was a five-run third inning. Gregory Polanco led off with a walk to reach base for the 48 of his past 59 games.
Josh Harrison then added a single and Andrew McCutchen did the same, recording his 91st RBI in the process. This placed the Pirates in front by a 1-0 score.
Aramis Ramirez then hit a double, which brought home one run. This snapped an 0-for-6 skid at the plate. Two batters later, Francisco Cervelli singled scoring a run. A second run scored on a Domingo Santana error. Cervelli was awarded one RBI on the play.
Two batters later, a Jordy Mercer fielder’s choice scored the fifth and final run of the inning.
An additional run crossed home plate an inning later. Again, it was a Ramirez double, his 28th of the season and second of the contest.
The Brewers scored their lone run on a Luis Sardinas seventh inning sacrifice fly. Locke [8-10] was removed from the game after he loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning. Jared Hughes allowed the sacrifice fly.
Harrison had a game to remember as he had and had four hits and reached base five times for the first time since June 15.
On the subject of a game to remember, Michael Morse hit his first home run as a Pirate and fifth of the season. The pinch-hit home run was a grand slam. The other three Pirates all reached base by walks.
Morse’s grand slam was the fifth of his career, and first since September 29, 2012. This is the Pirates second grand slam this season, with the first being Corey Hart in the home opener versus the Detroit Tigers. The pinch-hit grand slam also is the first since Travis Snider May 21, 2013 against the Chicago Cubs.
Ryan Braun hit an RBI double in the eighth inning off Joe Blanton to score the second run. Coming into the contest, Blanton had allowed one run in his last 21.1 innings pitched.
With the Cardinals losing both games in a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds, the Pirates are now 2.5 games back in the National League Central.
“If you play October baseball from Opening Day on and that’s the mindset we try to create here,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “I don’t think anyone lost sight of what we needed to improve. The season’s going to play out and we have to keep showing up, working to get better and win games.”
The four-game series concludes Sunday when Francisco Liriano [10-7 3.28 ERA] takes on Taylor Jungmann [9-6 2.87 ERA]. Liriano is 6-6 with a 4.26 ERA in 15 career games [14 starts] this season.
Of note: Both the Altoona Curve and West Virginia Power were eliminated from the playoffs. The Curve lost to the Bowie Bay Sox 3-0 and fell in the series by a 3-1 margin. The Power lost 1-0 to the Hickory Crawdads in the third and final game of the series… This is the Pirates have scored 10 runs against the Brewers since Apr. 12… Elias Diaz made his major league debut with an eighth inning pinch-hit appearance. He flew out to the center field warning track on a 1-0 Corey Knebel pitch. Diaz was the Pirates 14th ranked prospect coming into the season… Zach Davies was the losing pitcher in this game and is 1-1 on the season. Davies has thrown eight innings in two starts against the Pirates and has thrown 159 pitches.
Photo credit: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images
