DENVER (AP) — Jack Suwinski, Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen homered, Luis Ortiz worked five solid innings of relief and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies 5-2 on Friday night.
Ortiz (3-2) came on for opener Carmen Mlodzinski in the second inning and scattered seven hits in his five innings.
Ortiz was backed up by the long ball, with a big shot coming in the seventh off the bat of Suwinski, whose two-run blast off starter Ryan Feltner (1-6) gave Pittsburgh a 4-1 lead.
“Bryan got us on the board early, then Cutch to dead center and Jack’s was big,” manager Derek Shelton said. “It was big for Jack and us.”
Charlie Blackmon homered and doubled twice for Colorado, which has the third-worst record in the major leagues at 24-45, ahead of only Miami (23-46) and the Chicago White Sox (18-52).
Feltner left the game with an injury after going to a 3-2 count on Jared Triolo during the next at-bat. He pitched well through six innings despite giving up solo homers to Reynolds in the first and McCutchen in the sixth as Pittsburgh moved out to a 2-1 lead.
“I’m doing fine, just mid-back tightness,” Feltner said. “It was just one pitch, my back tightened up. It was late in the game, I was a little tired. I don’t anticipate any further issues.”
Feltner worked out of a jam in the first when he coaxed Ke’Bryan Hayes into an inning-ending double play, and got two more double plays in the second and fifth that kept Colorado close.
The Rockies got a run in the fifth when Ezequiel Tovar’s triple drove in Charlie Blackmon, but it came after Connor Joe threw home to double up Adael Amador, who tagged up on Brenton Doyle’s flyout.
“A good aggressive play where we’re trying to score and Connor just heaved it, a bang-bang play at the plate,” Colorado manager Bud Black said.
Pittsburgh added a run in the eighth when McCutchen doubled and scored on a single by Reynolds, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
“It’s kind of the way baseball goes,” Reynolds said. “Sometimes you’re good, sometimes you’re bad. I’m seeing the ball well right now.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: INF Oneil Cruz (left ankle soreness) was a late scratch from the lineup. … C Henry Davis left the game with concussion-like symptoms in the seventh inning. … RHP Hunter Stratton (right triceps strain) was placed on the 15-day injured list.
Rockies: Placed C Elias Diaz (left calf strain) on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Tuesday, and reinstated OF Nolan Jones from the IL. … OF Jake Cave was scratched from the lineup with a minor cut on his forehead suffered when he was hit with a line drive during batting practice. He received four stitches to close the wound.
UP NEXT
The Pirates will send RHP Jared Jones (4-5, 3.27 ERA) to the mound against Colorado LHP Ty Blach (2-4, 4.84) Saturday night in the second game of the three-game set.
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