04/18/23 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_Ethan on Twitter
In the words of Luniz and Michael Marshall, “I got 5 On It”.
The Pittsburgh Pirates continued their strong start on the road this season with another victory at Coors Field on Tuesday night, defeating the Colorado Rockies 5-3 to secure a series victory.
Three runs from Colorado would start the scoring, matching their game total from Monday, with Kris Bryant going yard along with former Bucco Elias Diaz scoirng CJ Cron and Ryan McMahon with a double.
Jack Suwinski would kick off the scoring for the Pirates in the second with an opposite field homer in the second, a much needed bounce back from a rough first inning for the Buccos.
The fourth inning was where the fun got started for Pittsburgh. After the first three innings only saw one hit, which happened to be the first of two homers for Suwinski, Connor Joe, Carlos Santana, Tucupita Marcano and Suwinski would combine for the cycle to give the Pirates a 5-3 lead after four.
Vince Velasquez struggled in the first inning, giving up four hits and three runs, but he would settle in nicely, pitching six innings while adding seven strikeouts and only allowing one more hit outside of the opening frame. With Velasquez going six innings, he extended the Pirates streak of a starting pitcher going six innings or more to eight straight games.
His counterpart Jose Urena wouldn’t see similar success, getting blown up in the fourth as mentioned before and not getting out of the fifth, allowing seven hits and five earned runs.
Duane Underwood Jr would kick off the relief effort for Velasquez with a scoreless seventh with his only real threat coming from a Charlie Blackmon double.
If you wanted a late night workout sweat? No need. Robert Stephenson tight roped his way through a scoreless eighth, stranding runners on first and third with no one out with help from key defensive plays from Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds.
David Bednar would come on for the ninth and had a scary moment after taking a line drive off of his side against Jurickson Profar while still managing to get the first out of the inning. He would allow a double to Blackmon but made quick work of Cron picking up the save and the 11th victory of the season.
Pittsburgh will look for a series sweep on Wednesday with RHP Johan Oviedo(2.45 ERA) matching up against LHP Austin Gomber(8.16 ERA).
News & Notes
- Vince Velasquez records 800th career strikeout
- Bryan Reynolds records 100th career double
- Pirates as a team hit for the cycle in the fourth inning, Jack Suwinski hits three HRs in three straight ABs for second time in career
- Jose Urena line: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO
- Vince Velasquez line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO
- When Jack swatted his 2nd home run tonight, it was the third consecutive at bat he’d Homered.
Inside The Bucs Basement 