In a thoroughly uncharacteristic display, the Pirates went walks-and-homers on the Indians and took a 6-3 win. After hitting just one three-run blast all year, they hit two in the same inning today.
For the first six innings, the Pirates appeared to be headed for another dreary, offense-free loss. They had only three hits, all singles, and were down, 2-0.
Wil Crowe pitched reasonably well. He gave up only four hits, but two of them became souvenirs. Harold Ramirez hit one in the second and Rene Rivera the other in the third.
Crowe left in the fifth. An overturned call gave his mound opponent, Cal Quantrill, an infield hit. With two out, Crowe walked Amed Rosario, but Chasen Shreve came on to get the third out.
Shreve came out for a pinch hitter after the one batter. Chris Stratton pitched the sixth and seventh, allowing just one baserunner.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Pirates started drawing walks off the Cleveland bullpen. They drew six in the inning altogether. Michael Perez followed the first two with his fifth home run of the year, putting the Pirates up, 3-2. Two walks later, Bryan Reynolds put his twelfth of the year 428 feet away into the river.
David Bednar fanned two in a quick eighth inning. Richard Rodriguez came in for the non-save opportunity in the ninth, which meant it was okay to give up Ramirez’ second longball of the game. Rodriguez struck out the last two batters of the game.
The Pirates had only the five hits, but drew eight walks in all. Crowe unfortunately is still looking for his first big-league win, as this one went to Stratton. And the Indians certainly appear to need bullpen help, so . . . .
