DENVER — As much as a team entering the all-star break 14 games under .500 could need a win, the Pirates needed a win Sunday.
The Pirates’ four-game losing streak entering Sunday was about as brutal as they get. They lost twice on extra-inning walk-offs to the Miami Marlins, then were blown out by the Colorado Rockies, then flailed offensively in a two-run shutout loss Saturday.
So Sunday’s 8-3 win over those same Rockies isn’t going to rocket them up the division standings or set them up for a wild card push, but it does provide some relief, the same way any slump-busting win does. This time, it just provides that relief over a longer period of time, allowing the Pirates to take a breather in a long season without a loss sticking in their craw.
That’s especially true given the way they won. The Pirates entered Sunday’s game having scored five or more runs just twice in their last 12 games. In this one, they made up for it with 16 hits, a season-high, and they jumped out early, too. Second baseman Kevin Newman led off the first reaching on an error. Two batters later, Michael Chavis singled and Daniel Vogelbach followed it up with a 370-foot laser off the wall in right for an RBI single of his own.
Pittsburgh tacked on two more with an third-inning, two-run double from outfielder Jake Marisnick, who remains hotter than fish grease. Since returning from the injured list at the beginning of the week, Marisnick went 10-for-24 (.417) with four doubles, two homers and a 1.295 OPS.
The Rockies answered back to tie it in the fifth, so the Pirates just went right back to work. Catcher Jason Delay, also riding a hot streak, roped a one-out single to left, and Newman smacked a double into the corner to put runners on second and third. Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes drove Delay in with an RBI groundout and Chavis singled to score Newman.
Just for good measure, the Pirates got going again in the top of the ninth for some insurance runs. Outfielders Cal Mitchell and Ben Gamel singled back-to-back. Oneil Cruz, who entered the ninth on an 0-for-4 day with four strikeouts, singled Mitchell home. Delay walked to load the bases and Newman scored two more with a bloop single to right.
Again, it isn’t as if the offense will be fixed by this. It’s more that the win is one multiple players can leave with a good feeling. The bats finally broke out thanks to contributions up and down the lineup.
The same goes for the pitchers, really. Right-hander Bryse Wilson made the spot start, his fourth since being sent down in June with an 8.29 ERA. Somewhat curiously, he was pulled after 3 1/3 innings, having thrown just 48 pitches and allowing one earned run. Lefty Manny Bañuelos replaced him and permitted an inherited runner to score. Still, that means that in Wilson’s four starts in July, he never allowed more than two earned runs.
Right-hander Tyler Beede took the mound after Bañuelos, allowing one run in two innings before handing it off to Duane Underwood Jr., Wil Crowe and David Bednar, who pitched successive shutout innings to seal the win.
The Pirates will still have much to improve in the second-half of the season, but beggars can’t be choosers, and especially after the last few days, Pittsburgh will take the wins where it can get them.
