Jared Triolo went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored to help the Pittsburgh Pirates get a 5-1 win against the visiting Colorado Rockies on Saturday.
The Pirates, who have won three straight and four of their past five, have outscored the Rockies 14-1 over the first two games of the three-game set. They’ll go for the sweep in the finale Sunday.
Starting pitcher Mike Burrows held Colorado scoreless on two hits and struck out five in four innings. Reliever Carmen Mlodzinski (3-7) fanned five straight in his two innings in the fifth and sixth to earn the win.
Kyle Freeland (3-13) gave up five runs on seven hits with six strikeouts over five innings for the Rockies, who have lost three in a row and four of five after a four-game winning streak.
Pittsburgh got the scoring started in the second. After Tommy Pham led it off with a single to center field, Andrew McCutchen knocked a two-run home run deep into the lower left field deck to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.
The Pirates kicked off the third with a repeat of the previous frame. Isiah Kiner-Falefa put a ball on the ground to center to open the inning, and Jared Triolo mashed a fastball 404 feet over the wall in left-center to double the advantage to 4-0.
The Pirates added another in the fifth. Triolo ripped a triple off the wall in center field to lead off the inning. Then, after Nick Gonzales struck out, Bryan Reynolds lined a double deep to center, driving in Triolo to make it 5-0.
Brenton Doyle busted the shutout in the top of the ninth inning when, with two outs, he belted a solo shot to center field off reliever Yohan Ramirez.
The Rockies struggled to get much going all from the third on until Doyle’s homer. They had just three baserunners through the seventh inning and didn’t get an extra-base hit until the eighth, when Ryan Ritter doubled to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.
–Field Level Media
