*Photo from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette*
Yasmani Grandal homered, Oneil Cruz drove in a pair of runs, and the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Seattle Mariners with a 5-3 victory Friday night in Pittsburgh.
The win snaps a 10 game losing streak for the Pirates, who now sit at 57-64 following the skid. For starting pitcher Paul Skenes, he snapped a 4 start winless streak as well. The 10 game skid dated back to August 3, and Skenes' skid dated back to before the all star break.
Skenes said of the 10 game skid ending "It feels good. Definitely doesn’t feel good that we had the streak in the first place. It’s nice to do it at home and get it out of the way. Hopefully, we can put it behind us."
After the first 3 innings went scoreless, Luke Raley gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead in the top of the 4th inning with a two run home run to center field. In the bottom of the inning, Isiah Kiner-Falefa got the Pirates on the board with an RBI double that cut the deficit to 2-1. In the 5th inning, Grandal went deep to tie the game 2-2.
Later in the 5th inning, Michael A Taylor scored on a sac fly from Andrew McCutchen to put the Pirates ahead 3-2. In the 7th inning, Cruz doubled to right center field, bringing home Taylor and Ji-Hwan Bae to make it 5-2 Pirates. Jorge Polanco got a run back for the Mariners in the 9th with a solo home run.
Skenes picked up the 7th win of his career in his latest start, allowing two runs while striking out 6 hitters in 6 innings pitched. Kyle Nicolas worked a shutout 7th inning and Aroldis Chapman did the same in the 8th before David Bednar allowed a run but still got the save in the 9th.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said of Skenes' start "I think all of us get enamored with how good he is and then he has a start like this where his delivery is not in sync and he walks and everybody thinks it’s Armageddon. He’s a Major League pitcher that is dealing with things, and we saw a Major League pitcher deal with something today and still give us a chance to win, which I give him credit for."
Logan Gilber allowed 4 runs on 5 hits and two walks while striking out 6 hitters in 6 1/3 innings in his start for the Mariners. Austin Voth got one out and gave up one run before JT Chargois got out of the 7th inning. Trent Thornton worked a scoreless 8th inning.
Raley said after the game "We had really good at-bats against him all night. It's unfortunate that we could only push two across on him. It's just one of those things. We got some people on base, and we needed that big hit, and just didn't get it."
The Pirates picked up their second straight win Saturday afternoon by a 7-2 score to clinch the series win in the process. The finale on Sunday has Jake Woodford starting for the Pirates as they go for the sweep against George Kirby starting for the Mariners as they try to salvage the series finale.
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