DENVER — Austin Hedges and Canaan Smith-Njigba sat at a table, surrounded by teammates while playing an intense game of Connect Four prior to the first game of this series.
For the past two days, Duane Underwood Jr. and Dauri Moreta have squared off in chess. But over the course of 27 innings at Coors Field, the Pirates really didn’t do much playing around.
Carrying some seriously hot bats, they took it to the Colorado Rockies, including a 14-3 victory in the series finale on Wednesday, and flew home to Pittsburgh sporting plenty of smiles following a 5-2 road trip.
The Pirates wasted little time jumping all over Rockies starter Austin Gomber in this one, ambushing him for five runs in the first inning and four more in the second. By the time Mark Mathias doubled home Connor Joe in the second inning, the Pirates had more extra-base hits (5) than outs made (4).
Andrew McCutchen finished with two hits, two RBIs, two runs scored and launched a 442-foot home run, the fifth-longest for him in the Statcast era.
Meanwhile, Joe and Jason Delay each enjoyed three-hit games — the former driving in a run with a 412-foot double in the first inning, the latter playing for the first time since Saturday and cracking a two-run single on the first pitch he saw.
After having his seven-game hitting streak snapped on Tuesday, Rodolfo Castro bounced back with a pair of hits, a home run and four RBIs. Carlos Santana and Mark Mathias also had multiple hits and each contributed an RBI and a run scored. Ke’Bryan Hayes made it seven Pirates with multiple hits with his single late.
Add it up, and the Pirates scored 33 runs against the Rockies. It's the most for them in a three-game series since July 28-30, 2000, against the Padres at Three Rivers Stadium, when they had 34.
McCutchen opened the scoring with a double to the right-center gap on an outside change-up. Santana upped the Pirates' lead to 2-0 by tomahawking an 0-2 fastball to left. Joe drove a fastball into the gap in right-center to make it 3-0. Delay's single extended Pittsburgh's lead to 5-0.
The McCutchen homer created a 6-0 advantage. Castro (single) and Mathias (double) drove in runs with hits, and Jack Suwinski — the hero Tuesday — scored a ninth run with his sacrifice fly.
Castro's titanic blast might’ve come in garbage time, but it showcased his incredible power, with the Pirates' de facto shortstop crushing an elevated sinker from Ty Blach 458 feet into the outfield trees.
Wednesday's win helped the Pirates raise their record to 12-7. They earned their second series sweep of the season and their first in Denver since sweeping a four-game set Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2019.
ON THE MOUND
It might’ve flown under the radar because of the offensive onslaught, but Johan Oviedo was absolutely terrific again for the Pirates. Really, he's been nearly unhittable since that first inning in Boston.
Oviedo threw 48% sliders and pounded the strike zone, racking up 13 whiffs and 19 called strikes. He worked six innings, allowing one run on three hits and three walks with six strikeouts.
Over his past three starts, Oviedo has pitched to a 0.92 ERA over 19 2/3 innings, with four walks and 21 strikeouts.
Wednesday extended the Pirates' run of consecutive quality starts to nine, their most since doing it in 10 straight games Aug. 3-12, 2017.
AT THE PLATE
So much for McCutchen’s return to Pittsburgh being some sort of PR stunt. He can clearly still play, and Wednesday’s game was only the latest dose of evidence, this one carrying some cool historical context.
In the first inning, McCutchen collected his 296th career double to tie Dave Parker for seventh in Pirates history. It was McCutchen’s 1,480th hit as a Pirate, moving him past the Cobra and into sole possession of 13th on the franchise list.
The second-inning home run from McCutchen pushed him past Arky Vaughan and into ninth place on the Pirates’ all-time list with 2,486 total bases.
Another former Pirate, Joe, has been quietly just as good. And with Ji-Man Choi now out eight weeks, Joe’s .340 average and 1.011 OPS have really showed up at a good time.
UP NEXT
Roansy Contreras will get the ball on Thursday against the Reds, who have been shut out in their past two contests.
