Pittsburgh 15 – Milwaukee 3
Pedro Alvarez is becoming more comfortable at the plate and the results are showing. Alvarez hit home runs six and seven and added 3 RBI’s on 3 hits, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates (34-60) to a 15-3 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers (43-53) on Wednesday night at PNC Park.
The win was the Pirates second straight and the team moved a game over .500 (23-22) at home.
Alvarez has hit two home runs in consecutive games and has four home runs in his last nine at-bats. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound third baseman has bumped his batting average up to .259 on the season.
The Pirates managed 18 hits on the night and have scored 48 runs in their last 5 games (4-1). Delwyn Young making his his second straight start in right field, was 3-for-5 at the plate with 1 home run, 5RBI’s (career high) and 2 runs scored.
Tabata (2-for-4, RBI, 3 runs), Walker (2-for-5, 2RBI), Jones (2-for-4, 2 runs), Milledge (2-for-5, 1RBI, 2 runs) and Ronny Cedeno (2-for-5, 1 RBI, 2 runs) all had two-hit games.
Pirates starter Zach Duke (4-9) put together a quality start, going six innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 6 hits.
Brendan Donnelly and Sean Gallagher pitched three scoreless innings to close out the game.

Post-Game Notes

  • Catcher Ryan Doumit left the game after three innings. A Pirates spokesman called it an injury to Doumit’s head. Doumit missed a routine throw on a play at the plate in the first inning and after the ball got past Doumit, Ricki Weeks took Doumit out at the plate but there was not a blow to the head by any means.
  • According to the Pirates, the 5 RBI night by Pedro Alvarez last night and the 5 RBI’s by Delwyn Young tonight is the first time since 1973 that Pirates teammates had at least 5 RBI’s in two straight games.
  • Neil Walker was 2-for-5 with 2 RBI’s.It was the fifth straight game Walker has had a multi-hit game.
  • Pirates center fielder Andrew McCuthen missed his third straight game. McCutchen took fly balls in the outfield prior to the game but has not been cleared to throw. McCutchen will not play Thursday night in the series finale.  He has not been ruled out for the weekend.