PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit the second pitch the Pirates saw over the center field wall and Rowdy Tellez and Jared Triolo added other home runs as the Bucs won a second straight game, 7-2 against Seattle.
It’s the fourth leadoff home run of the season for the Bucs, first of Kiner-Falefa’s career and also first career Pirates homer.
"Really good pitcher on the mound, so tried to get under the ball and got it," Kiner-Falefa said. "It felt good to get that out of the way and have a little momentum right there. It was good for the team.”
Tellez hit his with a runner on in the fourth inning for his 10th of the season and fourth straight year he reached double-digit homers.
Bryan De La Cruz’s single wasn’t hit hard, dumped down the right field line, but it drove in Joey Bart with the fourth run. It’s just the second RBI as a Pirate, but he does have hits in five straight games. Triolo hit his fifth homer in the seventh inning, a solo shot and first since June 25. Joey Bart’s second straight double, this one with two outs, drove in IKF for a sixth run in the seventh and then Tellez drove in Bart with a fly ball that dropped just fair and into the left-field stands for a ground-rule 2B.
All four runs charged to Mariners starter Luis Castillo who despite a sub-3.50 ERA gets his 12th loss of the season. Pirates pitchers (Bailey Falter, Kyle Nicolas, Dennis Santana, Domingo German, David Bednar) combined for 13 strikeouts as Falter earned his sixth win and Bednar got his 22nd save.
Ji Hwan Bae also made a couple of nice plays in the field, bouncing up against the Clemente wall with one-out and a runner at first in the eighth inning. Then with the bases loaded and no outs in the ninth, a diving catch in right and then popped to his feet to prevent a sacrifice fly.
Bailey Falter
Pulled with two outs in the sixth inning after a pair of strikeouts, Falter finished with 5.2 innings, eight hits, two runs, no walks, eight strikeouts with 66 of 92 pitches for strikes. The lefty gave up five hits in the first two innings, but only allowed one run on a two-out single. Falter would give up a two-out RBI double to Jorge Polanco in the fifth.
Even missing a couple of starts, the 27-year-old set a career high in season strikeouts with 80 and tied a career high with strikeouts in a game with the eight.
"Felt really good," Falter said. "Thought the fastball and slider were really good today. The curveball, I've been working on it for a while, had better action, better break today. Still can get a little bit better in that department. Overall, I thought we did really well."
Lefty rehab
Dealing with left triceps inflammation and on injured reserve since April 5, Ryan Borucki will try rehab again at AAA starting Saturday night. The left-handed reliever, who was 4-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 0.74 WHIP with the Bucs last year, is one of 16 players on the Pirates MLB roster who have had a rehabilitation assignment with Indianapolis including all of the catchers.
Up Next
Jake Woodford will start for the Bucs coming off six innings, three hits, a run and two strikeouts at San Diego. It's the inal game of the brief homestand while the Mariners will start RHP George Kirby (8-9, 3.73 ERA) at 1:35p. Kirby is coming off the worst start of his year, 3.2 innings, 12 hits, 11 runs, six earned runs, three home runs. Fan coverage begins at noon as Dan Zangrilli hosts the North Shore Tavern Leadoff Show presented by Pella Windows. The Ben Cherington Show starts at 12:35 Sunday.