The Pirates used a pair of two run bombs and a decent enough outing from James McDonald to win for the second straight night at home.
Andrew McCutchen got things started against Barry Enright in the third. His two out dinger scored Chris Snyder. Enright got one of those runs back with an RBI single in the fourth inning.
Pittsburgh busted it open and sent Enright packing in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bowker’s homer came with one out and Pedro Alvarez on first after a walk leading off the frame. With two outs, Snyder singled. McDonald doubled for his first career hit and Enright was pulled in favor of Zach Kroenke who was making his second ML appearance. He walked McCutchen and Jose Tabata in succession to force in a run. Walker Singled to bring in McDonald and Cutch, putting Pittsburgh up 7-1.
Kelly Johnson homered leading off the visitor’s half of the fifth to make it 7-2. But Pittsburgh tacked on two more in the bottom of the fifth. Ryan Doumit singled and Bowker doubled in front of a sac fly from Ronny Cedeno. Chris Snyder’s third hit of the night brought in the ninth run of the game for the Pirates.
Daniel McCutchen relieved McDonald, who had been pinch hit for in the fifth. In the seventh inning, former Pirate Ryan Church hit a three run homer off McCutchen. Evan Meek ran into some trouble in the ninth. He gave up a two out run scoring single to former Pirates Adam LaRoche before retiring Church to end the game.
McDonald gave up two runs in five innings for the win. He allowed four hits and four walks, while striking out six. Enright lasted just 3-2/3 innings. He allowed three walks and six hits (two homers) while being charged with six runs.
The Good
Bowker and Snyder each had three hits.
McDonald was good but not great. I’ll take it, though.
The Bad
The bullpen gave up four runs in four innings.
The Rest
This was Enright’s first career appearance against Pittsburgh. This was McDonald’s sixth career appearance and second start against the Snakes. He is now 2-2.
Bowker is 2-1 in four September starts with a 1.80 ERA.
Chan Ho Park has an ERA of 1.26 in his last fifteen outings, covering 14-1/3 innings.
This was the third time in 2010 that Church drove in three runs and first time since being traded from Pittsburgh.
