A combined eight-run onslaught across the fifth and sixth innings propelled the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates to a 10-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.
All nine Pirates hit safely, and three had two RBIs in support of Johan Oviedo (2-0), who allowed two runs on three hits and struck out six across five innings. Pittsburgh now has two straight wins in the series and eight in 10 games.
Jared Triolo and Spencer Horwitz (2-for-4) combined to score five runs, Bryan Reynolds and Nick Gonzalez each had two-RBI hits and Oniel Cruz hit his 19th home run.
Pittsburgh began breaking the game open after the team scored three runs in the fifth inning before recording an out.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a leadoff infield single, and after Boston starter Dustin May (7-11) hit a batter and walked another, Reynolds stung a two-RBI knock to right to give the Pirates a lead. Pham’s hit to left provided the inning’s third run.
The visitors sent 10 to the plate to score five runs in the sixth, including Cruz depositing the second pitch of the frame into deep center field for a solo homer.
A Joey Bart double and a walk two batters later ended May’s day. Horwitz then recorded an RBI single to center off of Brennan Bernardino to plate Bart, who kicked the ball away as he slid into home on a Ceddanne Rafaela relay to allow a second run to cross on the play.
After Bernardino walked two and struck out Andrew McCutchen, Gonzales snuck a two-out, two-run single up the middle to up Pittsburgh’s lead to 9-2.
Boston got a run back as Gonzalez hit the third of three straight singles against reliever Mike Burrows in the sixth.
A McCutcheon single and Gonzales double started Pittsburgh’s ninth, and a Jordan Hicks wild pitch brought in the 10th run.
Trevor Story and Romy Gonzalez each had two hits, and Carlos Narvaez homered for Boston.
The Pirates grabbed a quick 1-0 lead four batters into the game, loading the bases on an error, a Horwitz single and a walk against May, which led to Pham’s RBI groundout to third base.
After Oviedo stranded two Red Sox on with nobody out in the second, Narvaez knotted the score when he lined a leadoff solo home run over the Green Monster to begin the third.
Story’s leadoff double to begin the second went for naught, but he drew a leadoff walk and came around to score a go-ahead run on Gonzalez’s line-drive RBI single up the middle in the fourth.
