Pirates 8, Marlins 6: Andrew McCutchen recorded his seventh consecutive two-hit game and belted a three-run homer as visiting Pittsburgh held off a late charge from Miami to match a season high with its fourth straight victory.
Josh Harrison and Chris Stewart each tallied three hits while Jordy Mercer added a solo shot and finished with two RBIs for the Pirates (34-34), who posted a season-high 18 hits and won for the 16th time in 24 games to reach .500 for the first time since April 17. Charlie Morton (4-7) collected his third victory in as many starts, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks in seven frames.
The Marlins made it interesting with four runs in the ninth inning for the second straight game, getting two-run homers from Marcell Ozuna and Jeff Baker off reliever Stolmy Pimentel before Jason Grilli retired Reed Johnson for his 11th save. Randy Wolf (1-3) surrendered five runs on nine hits and two walks, allowing at least two baserunners in each of his four innings of work as Miami lost for the ninth time in its last 11 games versus Pittsburgh.
Wolf stranded two in the first before giving up Mercer’s homer and three straight singles to open the second, leading to a fielder’s choice grounder by Gregory Polanco that pushed across Pedro Alvarez. McCutchen made it 5-0 in the fourth, following a leadoff single from Stewart and a walk to Polanco by sending a hanging curveball over the fence in left-center.
The Marlins got two runs back in the bottom half and Kevin Slowey came on in relief of Wolf to begin the fifth, but fared no better as Harrison singled and scored on Mercer’s double. Slowey hit Stewart with a pitch two batters later, Morton laid down a sacrifice bunt to push across Mercer and Polanco capped the Pirates’ second three-run inning with a RBI single to center.
GAME NOTEBOOK: McCutchen is batting .415 with seven homers and 18 RBIs in 13 June contests. … Every Pirate starter had at least one hit and all but Gaby Sanchez and Morton had at least two. … Marlins LF Christian Yelich, who left Friday’s series opener after two innings with a strained back, did not play.
Pittsburgh | Miami | |
Charlie Morton | Player | Randy Wolf |
Win | W/L | Loss |
7.0 | IP | 4.0 |
6 | Strikeouts | 2 |
5 | Hits | 9 |
2.57 | ERA | 11.25 |
Pittsburgh | Miami | |
Chris Stewart | Player | Marcell Ozuna |
3 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 3 |
0 | HR | 1 |
3 | TB | 7 |
.750 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Pittsburgh | 18 | 2 | 25 | .450 | 25 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Miami | 10 | 2 | 18 | .294 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 |