Pirates beat Brewers for four-game sweep
PITTSBURGH » The Pittsburgh Pirates spent a good portion of the first half of the season trying — and failing — to find any sort of traction.
Once they’d figure out one problem, another would pop up. If it wasn’t the bullpen, it was the mess left by outfielder Starling Marte’s 80-game steroid suspension. Or the back end of the starting rotation. Or the massive funk that baffled star center fielder Andrew McCutchen.
Two hot weeks have dramatically.
Gregory Polanco homered, Chris Stewart added three hits and the surging Pirates completed a four-game sweep of the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers with a 4-2 victory on Thursday.
The Pirates have won 11 of 13 and moved within three games of Milwaukee in a division that’s tightened up since the All-Star break. The Brewers have lost five straight, cutting their lead to one game over the idle Chicago Cubs.
“When you’ve got guys showing up and stars showing up like they did this homestand, good things are going to happen,” said McCutchen, who provided some insurance with an RBI single in the fifth off Jimmy Nelson changed the discussion (8-5). “When we play our best we can compete with anybody.”
The Pirates focused on pressuring Milwaukee’s defense during the series, forcing the issue whenever it had the chance. They scored three of their four runs by taking risks that paid off beautifully. Adam Frazier singled with two outs in the second and scored on Stewart’s single to right. With the game tied at 2 in the fifth, Stewart led off with a single, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.
The 35-year-old catcher — who spent time on the disabled list this season with hamstring issues — chugged home from second on a twoout single to right by Josh Harrison. Harrison went to second when right fielder Domingo Santana’s throw missed the cutoff. Harrison then scored on a flare to right by McCutchen.
“I think we want to be in the right position to take that extra step,” Stewart said. “I know there’s two outs so I’m getting a couple extra steps off second base and going on the crack of the bat. We focus on those types of things.” BLUE JAYS 8, RED SOX 6 » Justin Smoak hit a pair of homers and Steve Pearce drove in two runs when Boston second baseman Brock Holt lost his popup in the sun, giving Toronto a four-game split.
Including the 15-inning game on Tuesday with the Blue Jays, the AL East-leading Red baseball, Sox played 76 innings in about 144 hours — the equivalent of 8½ games in six days. DIAMONDBACKS 12, REDS 2 » Jake Lamb hit a pair of three-run homers and Patrick Corbin pitched into the eighth inning during an emergency start, sending Arizona over Cincinnati.
Arizona stabilized itself by taking two of three in the series. The Diamondbacks had dropped eight of nine heading into the set, falling behind Colorado for the second NL wild-card spot. METS 3, CARDINALS 2 » Cardinals pitcher Trevor Rosenthal was late covering first base on a two-out grounder by Jose Reyes that turned into a game-winning single in the ninth inning for New York.
A leadoff walk and T.J. Rivera’s single put runners on the corners with two outs. Reyes then hit a grounder up the first base line, and Matt Carpenter fielded it cleanly well behind the bag. Rosenthal (2-4) was slow to leave the mound, and the speedy Reyes easily beat him to the base with a headfirst dive. ORIOLES 9, RANGERS 7 » Jonathan Schoop and Adam Jones both homered and drove in three runs, and Baltimore rallied to beat Cole Hamels and Texas to complete a fourgame sweep.
Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis also went deep for the Orioles, who trailed 5-1 in the fifth inning before coming back to hand Hamels (4-1) his first loss in 10 starts this season.
Baltimore hit 10 home runs and outscored Texas 34-11. in the series