The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Texas Rangers 5-4 last night at PNC Park in front of 13,000 fans. Gregory Polanco and Startling Marte led the Pirates with two hits each. Polanco had his first home run of the season. Josh Bell and Melky Cabrera added doubles. Adam Frazier had his first triple of the year.
Because of injuries to Pirates starting pitchers, Steven Brault came out of the bullpen to start the game. He went four innings, allowing two runs on two hits. He walked three and struck out five. The Bucs used six pitchers out of the bullpen to close the game. Felipe Vazquez earned his 10th save of the year, striking out two of the three batters he faced.
The Bucs are now 7-1 in interleague play this season, the best in the major leagues. With the win last night, they improved to 17-15 overall.
The St. Louis Cardinals were pounded by the Philadelphia Phillies 11-1 last night, moving the Pirates to within 2-1/2 games of first place in the National League Central Division. The Chicago Cubs have taken the top spot back over by a 1/2-game ahead of the Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers.
The Pirates and Rangers complete their season series today at PNC Park. First pitch is 12:35pm. Nick Kingham will make the start for the Bucs against Shelby Miller of Texas.
Mike Fiers of the Oakland Athletics no-hit the Cincinnati Reds last night. It was the second of his career, and 300th all-time in Major League Baseball. Fiers is now the 35th pitcher to have multiple no-hitters. The final score was 2-0.