Spencer Horwitz homered twice, doubled and drove in a career-high six runs, Tommy Pham also went deep, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies 9-5 in Denver on Sunday.
Nick Gonzales had four hits for Pittsburgh, which salvaged the finale of the three-game series.
Mickey Moniak, Hunter Goodman and Jordan Beck hit consecutive home runs in the sixth inning, but it wasn’t enough for Colorado, which was vying for its first home sweep of the season. Beck finished with two hits before being ejected in the seventh inning, and Yanquiel Fernandez also had two hits for the Rockies.
The Pirates jumped out to a lead for the third straight game. Horwitz led off the day with a double, went to third on a groundout and scored on a Gonzales single. Pham made it 3-0 with a two-out, two-run homer to center. It was his fifth of the season.
Horwitz made it 5-0 when he followed a walk to Jared Triolo with his first home run of the day, and Colorado got a run back in the fourth on Beck’s RBI single.
Pittsburgh extended its lead in the sixth. Jack Suwinski walked and went to third on Triolo’s single. Ryan Rolison relieved Bradley Blalock, and Horwitz hit a ball to the second deck in right to make it 8-1.
Blalock (1-3) gave up seven runs on six hits and walked four in 5-2/3 innings.
The Rockies rallied against Mitch Keller in the bottom of the inning. Tyler Freeman led off with a walk and Moniak homered to right, his 17th, to make it 8-3. Goodman followed with his 21st homer, a 451-foot shot to the concourse in left, and Beck made it three straight homers with his 14th of the season.
That was all for Keller (5-10), who allowed five runs on seven hits in five-plus innings.
The Pirates added an insurance run in the eighth inning when reliever Angel Chivilli hit Suwinski and Henry Davis leading off, both moved up on a groundout and Suwinski scored on another groundout.
–Field Level Media
