Andrew McCutchen, Bryan Reynolds, Jack Suwinski homer to push Pirates past Rockies

The high altitude of Coors Field proved to be the perfect antidote to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ slumbering lumber.

Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen and Jack Suwinski homered to provide run support to propel the Pirates to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night in the first of a three-game series.

“It’s a great place to hit, obviously,” McCutchen said in an on-field postgame interview with SportsNet Pittsburgh. “It’s always cool to show up here and put a good game together. Obviously, the ball carries here. It travels pretty far, especially when you hit it pretty well.”

Without a fifth starter, the Pirates used right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski as an opener. He threw a scoreless first inning and faced one batter in the second before being replaced by Luis Ortiz (3-2), who held the Rockies to one run on seven hits with three strikeouts in five innings.

“It was good. Just being able to have a zero in that first inning always helps any team,” Mlodzinski said. “Being able to hand the ball off to Luis and let him do this thing was fun to watch.”

The Pirates scratched Oneil Cruz from the starting lineup due to left ankle soreness, giving Jared Triolo his first major league start at shortstop. Catcher Henry Davis left the game in the seventh inning with concussion symptoms and was replaced by Yasmani Grandal.

The power display came after Pirates had homered only once in the previous four games and were coming off a 4-3 loss at the St. Louis Cardinals in which they didn’t have an extra-base hit.

Reynolds extended his hitting streak to 12 games by blasting a fastball 432 feet to right field for his ninth home run to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Nick Gonzales and Rowdy Tellez followed with singles, but Ke’Bryan Hayes grounded into an inning-ending double play, the first of three double plays by the Rockies.

“It felt good. It was a good pitch and I put a good swing on it,” Reynolds said. “It’s nice when you hit one that you’re pretty sure is going to go.”

Between Colorado’s defense and Ryan Feltner (1-6), who recorded eight strikeouts against one walk in 6⅔ innings, the Pirates needed to make the most of their seven hits against the Rockies starter.

The Rockies tied the game in the fifth, an inning that could have gotten out of control if not for a double play by the Pirates.

Adael Amador hit a leadoff single and Charlie Blackmon followed with a sharp groundout under the glove of Tellez down the first base line to put runners on second and third.

When Brenton Doyle hit a fly to shallow right, Connor Joe threw a perfect strike to Davis, who tagged a sliding Amador out. Ezequiel Tovar tripled off the left field wall and past Reynolds to drive in Blackmon and make it 1-1 before Ortiz got Ryan McMahon to ground out to first.

“It kind of flipped the momentum switch a little bit,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I didn’t think he had a chance at it. He made a really strong play and Henry made a good tag. Overall, defensively is what carried us. It’s nice to hit the homers. Our pitching did a really good job. … Defensively, we played about as well as we can play.”

McCutchen answered with his ninth homer, a solo shot off Feltner, by driving a 3-1 sinker 448 feet to center to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. It was McCutchen’s fourth consecutive game at Coors Field with a homer. He went deep in back-to-back games there for the Pirates on April 17 and 19, 2023, and for the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 7, 2022.

“It’s a great place to hit, obviously,” McCutchen said. “A big ballpark, and the ball carries at times. It’s always cool to show up here and put a good game together.”

Reynolds said the Pirates were discussing in the dugout that Suwinski, who entered the game batting .170, was due for a homer. Then they watched Suwinski deliver a two-out, two-run shot by crushing a 2-2 curveball 459 feet to right field for his sixth of the season and a 4-1 lead.

“Hopefully, today just jump-starts everything,” Reynolds said. “That’s the biggest thing, is confidence. When it comes to hitting, you don’t just forget how to hit. Sometimes it can be one swing that gets you going. That was a heck of a swing, so I bet it gets him going.”

Feltner was removed with an injury with two outs and facing a full count against Triolo. Victor Vodnik entered and got Triolo to chase a 99.4-mph fastball outside the zone for a strikeout.

McCutchen nearly homered again in the eighth, when he doubled off the top of the left field fence. Reynolds worked an 11-pitch at-bat against Vodnik before belting a 100.5-mph fastball to center for an RBI single to score McCutchen and give the Pirates a 5-1 lead.

With two outs in the ninth, Blackmon (3 for 4) crushed David Bednar’s fastball 412 feet to right to cut Colorado’s deficit to three, but the Pirates closer got Doyle to ground out to end the game.

“The bullpen has been great for us, especially in these games,” McCutchen said. “We don’t have five full starters, so they’ve been picking up the slack and they’ve been doing a tremendous job. Ortiz, I can’t say enough about what he did today, Mlodzinski as well, then the back end of the bullpen closing it out, as well. All-around good game, a good win for us.”