Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Pittsburgh 6, Colorado 2
When: 8:40 PM ET, Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Where: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
Temperature: 88°
Umpires: Home - Fieldin Culbreth, 1B - Adrian Johnson, 2B - Gary Cederstrom, 3B - Mike Muchlinski
Attendance: 42574

Pirates 6, Rockies 2:
Red-hot Andrew McCutchen homered for the sixth time in five games and left-hander Erik Bedard snapped a four-game losing streak for visiting Pittsburgh.

Drew Sutton and Casey McGehee had two-out RBI singles in Pittsburgh’s four-run fifth inning. Neil Walker went 2-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 17 games as the Pirates improved to 12-5 during that span.

McCutchen finished 2-for-4 and leads the major leagues with a .374 average. He is 11-for-20 (.550) with four homers since the All-Star break and 26-for-49 (.531) with seven homers, 14 RBIs and 16 runs scored in 12 games in July.

After Pirates reliever Juan Cruz walked Dexter Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez with two outs in the ninth inning, All-Star Joel Hanrahan came on. He walked Michael Cuddyer on four pitches before striking out pinch hitter Tyler Colvin to earn his 25th save in 28 chances.

Bedard (5-10), who was winless in his last five starts, also snapped a five-game road losing streak. He allowed two runs (one earned), scattered eight hits and walked four in 6 2/3 innings.

Fowler went 2-for-4 with a walk and is 16-for-36 (.444) in his last nine games for Colorado, which left 13 on base, including the bases loaded three times.

Rockies rookie left-hander Christian Friedrich (5-7) lost his second straight start. He allowed five runs, six hits and walked three in 4 2/3 innings.

After McCutchen's solo shot in the fourth inning tied the game 1-1, Colorado took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half when rookie Josh Rutledge delivered an RBI triple.

Alex Presley’s RBI groundout produced Pittsburgh’s first run in the fifth inning. Sutton followed with an opposite-field single to right and eventually scored on a wild pitch. McGehee’s single capped the uprising.

Former Rockie Michael McKendry had two hits, including an RBI double in the eighth inning.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Rockies INF Chris Nelson was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Nelson was hospitalized Monday with an irregular heartbeat and doctors Tuesday restored his normal rhythm with a series of shocks. … McCutchen, who has won the last two National League Player of the Week awards, has 66 RBIs and shares the NL lead with St. Louis' Carlos Beltran. ... Gonzalez extended his home hitting streak to 23 games with a bunt single and finished 2-for-3 with two walks.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Pittsburgh   Colorado
Erik Bedard Player Christian Friedrich
Win W/L Loss
6.2 IP 4.2
4 Strikeouts 2
8 Hits 6
1.35 ERA 9.64
Hitting
Pittsburgh   Colorado
Michael McKenry Player Dexter Fowler
2 Hits 2
1 RBI 0
0 HR 0
3 TB 2
.667 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Pittsburgh 9 1 13 .257 17 5 5 5 0 1
Colorado 9 0 11 .257 20 5 1 7 0 1
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