SAN FRANCISCO -- It maybe wasn’t as aesthetic as some of their other wins, but after what they’ve been through this season, the Pittsburgh Pirates are in no shape to be choosy.
Manager Don Kelly’s ballclub now has a chance to do what it’s been most successful at over the month: Win on the road.
A 13-3 win over the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on Saturday evened the three-game set at one game apiece and opened the door for the Pirates to grab a series victory in the finale on Sunday.
In doing so, the Pirates put themselves in position to do something that they haven’t done in more than a decade.
Pittsburgh has won four consecutive series on the road against National League teams. The last time the Pirates did that five times was in 2015 when they won each of their final five series on the road.
There was plenty of credit to go around for Saturday’s win.
Starting pitcher Braxton Ashcraft was brilliant over seven innings. He allowed one run on six hits with six strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.77.
Former Giant Joey Bart led Pittsburgh’s offense with four hits and two RBIs. Nick Gonzales also had four hits, while Oneill Cruz had three.
As a collective, the Pirates banged out a season-high 20 hits. Every starter in the lineup had at least one hit, while seven players drove in at least one run. Pittsburgh had runners on base in six of the first seven innings and did just enough before blowing the game open late.
The Pirates stranded five runners in the first four innings before breaking through for two runs in the fifth. Brandon Lowe had a sacrifice fly to drive in Bart, then Bryan Reynolds added an RBI single to make it 2-0.
Ashcraft (2-2) gave up Bryce Eldridge’s first career home run in the bottom of the fifth, then had to pitch out of another jam in the sixth.
Pittsburgh led comfortably 4-1 before blowing the game wide open with six runs in the seventh. In that inning, the Pirates had six hits and benefited from one error and an infield hit that could have also been ruled an error.
After Ashcraft left, Evan Sisk pitched a clean eighth and Cam Sanders worked the ninth to complete the win.