Pirates slug 3 homers, subdue Rockies

Andrew McCutchen and Bryan Reynolds homered and finished with two hits each, Jack Suwinski also went deep, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies 5-2 in Denver on Friday night.

Luis Ortiz (3-2) got the win with five innings of relief for Pittsburgh.

The Pirates were without shortstop Oneil Cruz, who was a late scratch due to left ankle soreness, and catcher Henry Davis left the game in the seventh with concussion-like symptoms.

Carmen Mlodzinski served as the opener for Pittsburgh and left after walking Nolan Jones leading off the second.

Charlie Blackmon homered and doubled twice and Brenton Doyle had two hits for Colorado, which lost starter Ryan Feltner to an apparent injury after surrendering Suwinski’s two-run homer in the seventh that made it 4-1.

Feltner (1-6) served up the 459-foot blast and then left after going to a 3-2 count on Pittsburgh’s next hitter, Jared Triolo. He allowed four runs on seven hits and struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings.

Reynolds gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first with his ninth homer of the season, but they squandered a chance for more in the inning.

Nick Gonzales and Rowdy Tellez followed with singles to put runners on the corners, but Feltner got Ke’Bryan Hayes to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Feltner allowed just a walk in the second and a leadoff single to lead off the fifth, but erased both runners with double-play grounders to keep his team within a run, and Colorado tied it in the fifth.

Adael Amador led off with a single and Blackmon followed with a double to put runners on second and third. Doyle flew out to Connor Joe in right and Joe threw out Amador at home, but Ezequiel Tovar came through with a triple to left to tie it 1-all.

McCutchen gave Pittsburgh the lead again with a solo shot in the sixth inning, his ninth homer of the season. He also reached on a one-out double in the eighth and scored on Reynolds’ single.

Blackmon homered in the ninth, his third of the season.

–Field Level Media