Tucupita Marcano hit a grand slam for the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 6-4 win over the visiting Texas Rangers on Monday in the opener of a three-game series.
Carlos Santana added an RBI single for the Pirates, who halted a two-game losing streak.
Pittsburgh starter Luis L. Ortiz (1-2), making his seventh major league start, notched his first career win. He pitched a career-high 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
Josh Jung homered and Marcus Semien hit an RBI single for the Rangers, who had won three straight.
Texas starter Dane Dunning gave up one run and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, with three strikeouts and three walks.
Josh Sborz (1-2) gave up three runs in one inning.
A Pirates threat in the first was thwarted by a miscue. Andrew McCutchen singled, his 1,500th hit in a Pittsburgh uniform. An out later, Jack Suwinski singled, moving McCutchen to third.
Another out later, Suwinski broke for second, drawing a throw and perhaps allowing McCutchen to steal home. McCutchen apparently missed the call and was stranded between third and home, making for an easy third out.
Pittsburgh redeemed itself and took a 1-0 lead in the second. Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled, went to third on Marcano’s groundout and scored on Connor Joe’s groundout.
Texas tied it in the sixth. Leody Taveras singled, went to second on a wild pitch, took third on Semien’s flyout and scored on Corey Seager’s sacrifice fly to left.
With two outs in the seventh against Sborz, Bryan Reynolds singled and Suwinski walked. Santana singled, and Reynolds was called out at home on the play, but the Pirates successfully challenged the call, giving them a 2-1 lead.
Joe Barlow replaced Sborz and walked Hayes to load the bases. Marcano hit his first career grand slam, to center, to push the gap to 6-1.
In the eighth, Texas’ Robbie Grossman and Josh H. Smith walked. Taveras grounded into a double play before Semien’s single drove in Grossman.
Jung hit a two-run homer, his 10th, to center in the ninth off David Bednar.
–Field Level Media
