Jake McCarthy hit an inside-the-park home run and also doubled, Tomoyuki Sugano tossed six strong innings to outduel Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes and the Colorado Rockies survived a chaotic ninth inning to beat the Pirates 2-1 in Denver on Saturday night.
Sugano (8-4) scattered four hits over six innings and Jaden Hill got the final two outs for his second save.
Spencer Horwitz homered and singled for Pittsburgh, which started the game with back-to-back hits and had just four more the rest of the way for a grand total of six.
Skenes (6-7) was nearly untouchable against the Rockies in Pittsburgh on May 12, taking a no-hitter into the seventh and tossing eight scoreless innings. He wasn’t as dominant Saturday night but allowed just two runs on four hits and fanned eight over six innings.
He was nearly saved from a loss when his team loaded the bases with one out in the ninth. Tyler Callihan struck out and Jake Mangum hit a grounder to third baseman Kyle Karros, who couldn’t make a throw to any base.
However, the umpires ruled baserunner Billy Cook interfered with Karros and called him out to end the game.
Horwitz led off the game with a blast into the second deck in right field, his fifth career leadoff home run, but he was upstaged by McCarthy when he led off the bottom of the first.
McCarthy drove a tailing liner to center that got by the diving Mangum. It rolled to the wall where Callihan had trouble picking it up, giving McCarthy time to circle the bases and tie the game.
McCarthy doubled in the third and scored what would be the winning run on TJ Rumfield’s two-out single.
Sugano settled down after Horwitz’s home run and Brandon Lowe’s single that followed to hold down the Pirates. Sugano allowed a one-out double to Mangum in the second and Horwitz’s single in the third but Pittsburgh couldn’t cash in, finishing 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
–Field Level Media
