Field Level Media
May 22, 2019
Daniel Murphy and Tony Wolters each hit two-out, three-run homers Wednesday in the visiting Colorado Rockies' 9-3 pasting of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Every member of the Rockies starting lineup had at least one hit, 16 in all.
Colorado has won the first two games of this three-game series following a four-game losing streak.
The Pirates' Josh Bell smashed what is becoming a signature hit for him, a monster homer, in the second inning.
Rockies starter Jon Gray (4-4) gave up three runs on a night of sevens -- seven innings, seven hits, seven strikeouts. He walked one.
Pittsburgh went with rookie right-hander Montana DuRapau (0-1) in an opener role. He lasted two-thirds of an inning, facing five batters and giving up Murphy's three-run shot.
He was followed by Nick Kingham, who gave up Wolters' three-run homer in the third among six runs and nine hits in four innings. Pittsburgh's Clint Hurdle managed his 2,500th major league game.
Trevor Story hit a one-out single in the first, and Raimel Tapia walked. An out later, Murphy's third homer of the season, to right-center, made it 3-0. After Ian Desmond singled, Kingham replaced DuRapau.
In the second, Bell led off with his 15th homer to make it 3-1. His blast went 454 feet, with a 116 mph exit velocity, and became the fifth homer in the 19 years of PNC Park to splash down in the Allegheny River on the fly. Bell has two of those five, the other coming on May 8.
Later in the second, Kevin Newman's RBI double closed the gap to 3-2.
Wolters made it 6-2 in the third with a three-run shot to right, his first homer this season.
Brendan Rodgers' RBI double and Charlie Blackmon's RBI single in the fifth pushed Colorado to an 8-2 lead. After Clay Holmes relieved Kingham, Tapia drove in a run with a base hit.
With two runners on in the bottom of the sixth, Bryan Reynolds grounded into what was initially called a double-play out at first but it was overturned upon review, giving him an RBI to close Pittsburgh's deficit to 9-3.
--Field Level Media