By utilizing their power en route to three homeruns, the Pirates defeated the Milwaukee Brewers by a 12-5 score on Saturday, winning their first series of the 2020 season.
The victory, a second consecutive for the Pirates, helped Pittsburgh (6-17) win back-to-back games for the first time since they won four straight games between September 24 and September 27 last season.
The Pirates got the scoring started in the second inning, when a rope double into the right field corner by Colin Moran brought Adam Frazier around to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 edge.
Morgantown, West Virginia native and notorious Pirates killer Jedd Gyorko hit a solo homerun off of Derek Holland in the top of fourth to get Milwaukee (11-14) on the board and tie the score at 1-1.
The Pirates responded with a few long balls of their own in the coming innings.
On what looked like an effortless swing, Gregory Polanco blasted a two-run homerun into right center field to give the Pirates the lead back at 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Polanco's homer was followed by a solo shot from Adam Frazier over the Clemente Wall in the fifth to extend the lead to 4-1.
Bryan Reynolds added to the lead with an RBI double to left center in the fifth, while catcher Jacob Stallings lifted a two-run homerun into the Milwaukee bullpen in the sixth to bust the game open at 7-1.
For the time being, Milwaukee did not go away.
Keston Hiura, the newest Pirate killer, blasted a three-run homerun to right center field to bring the Brewers back into the game at 7-4 in the top of the seventh.
Milwaukee reliever Drew Rasmussen imploded in the latter half of the seventh, surrendering a bases-loaded walk to Jacob Stallings before allowing two-run hits to Erik Gonzalez and Adam Frazier to put the game well out of reach, with Pittsburgh now leading 12-4.
Milwaukee tacked on a run in the top of the ninth via a Ryan Braun ground-rule double, but Nick Mears closed out the victory for Pittsburgh.
Derek Holland bounced back in his first start since August 8, allowing just four runs and one hit across five innings, punching out five Brewers along the way.
Tyler Bashlor and Chris Stratton both each pitched scoreless innings in the victory.
Adam Frazier posted three hits, including a double and a homerun, while Colin Moran had three doubles of his own. Bryan Reynolds, Gregory Polanco and Jacob Stallings also each added two hits.
The Pirates will try for their first sweep since last August in Denver, when they host the Brewers at PNC Park on Sunday afternoon.
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