Pirates Salvage Series With Win Over Royals on Clemente Day

PITTSBURGH — After dropping the first two games of the series, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Kansas City Royals 4-3 at PNC Park on Roberto Clemente Day on Sunday afternoon.

Recap

The Pirates (71-78)  jumped ahead 1-0 two batters into the game when Bryan Reynolds followed Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s leadoff single with an RBI-double.

The lead was short-lived, however, as the Royals (82-68) evened the score on Yuli Gurriel’s sacrifice fly in the top of the second. Kansas City took their first lead of the game on Maikel Garcia’s RBI-double in the fourth.

Both runs came against Jared Jones, who labored through four innings. He allowed six hits, walked three and five strikeouts. 

The Pirates tied the game at 2-all in the fourth on a Nick Gonzales groundout with the bases loaded and took the lead in the fifth. Kiner-Falefa singled up the middle and Billy Cook hustled home and scored all the way from first. Later in the inning, Rowdy Tellez drew a bases-loaded walk to push across another run.

Five Pirates’ relievers covered the final five frames with Aroldis Chapman saving his ninth game of the season.

Key Moment

Dennis Santana relieved Colin Holderman after the latter issued a walk with the bases loaded in the sixth. Santana retired Salvador Perez to preserve the Pirates’ one-run lead and strand all three runners. 

Star of the Game

Kiner-Falefa finished the game 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI. He had gone 2 for 10 in the first two games of the series.

Stat to Know

Santana tossed 1.1 scoreless innings of relief and hasn’t been scored upon over his last 19.1 innings pitched. It’s the second-longest active streak in baseball. 

Noteworthy

• Oneil Cruz was removed from the game in the top of the seventh and replaced by Michael A. Taylor in center field.

Up Next

The Pirates will head to St. Louis for the start of a four-game series with the Cardinals on Monday night. Star rookie Paul Skenes (10-2, 2.10 ERA) will be opposed by Andre Pallante (6-8, 4.13 ERA). First pitch: 7:45 ET.