Kris Bryant had three hits and Jose Urena tossed six scoreless innings Saturday as the Colorado Rockies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 in Denver.
Urena (1-1) gave up five hits, struck out four and walked two before exiting after the sixth. Daniel Bard got the final three outs to earn his 20th save for the Rockies, who have won five straight and eight of their last 10. It is their longest winning streak of the season.
Ben Gamel had two hits for Pittsburgh which has lost four in a row.
Mitch Keller (3-7) took the hard-luck loss despite giving up one unearned run. He struck out six, walked two and allowed five hits in six innings of work.
The Pirates threatened in the first inning when Gamel and Ke’Bryan Hayes singled with one out, but Urena got out of the jam by getting Daniel Vogelbach to fly out and striking out Oneil Cruz.
The game stayed scoreless until the fifth inning when Colorado took advantage of a Pittsburgh miscue. With two outs Connor Joe grounded to Cruz at short but Cruz threw wildly to first and Joe reached second. Bryant singled to left-center field on the next pitch to put the Rockies ahead 1-0.
In the sixth, the Pirates put runners on first and third on a two-out walk and a single before Urena got Yoshi Tsutsugo to fly out.
Pittsburgh had a potential rally snuffed out in the seventh when Tyler Heineman singled to center with two outs but was thrown out at second trying to stretch it to a double.
Colorado was able to add to the lead in the seventh inning against reliever Yerry De Los Santos. After Sam Hilliard struck out, Brian Serven walked and went to third on Bryant’s third hit of the game.
Charlie Blackmon followed with a single to right to drive in Serven.
The Pirates had a runner on third in the ninth inning but Bard struck out pinch hitter Josh VanMeter on three called strikes to end the game.
–Field Level Media