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| Homers help Pirates double up Blue Jays PITTSBURGH 6, TORONTO 3 |
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PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Jason Bay, Raul Chavez and Jose Bautista each homered and Paul Maholm pitched seven strong innings to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday. Nate McLouth scored his 58th run of the season to move into third place in the National League in the category as the Pirates secured a series win and move back within three games of .500 at 36-39. Bay kicked off the power surge in the first inning, driving a 1-1 offering from Blue Jays starter Jesse Litsch into the left field seats for a two-run homer, his 15th blast of the season. Bay noted that the power surge is not typical of the 2008 Pirates. "We're not going to win too many home run derbies, but at the same time we only had six hits and we had six runs," Bay said. The Pirates were indeed efficient, not leaving a single runner on base. Technically speaking, the Pirates did not even have a runner reach scoring position, despite scoring the six runs. The 29-year-old Bay has been the subject of trade rumors all season and continues to up his retail value with a strong bounce-back campaign. After batting just .247 with 21 homers last season, he has raised his average to .282 this season and has been one of the most consistent performers in the NL. Pittsburgh added two more runs in the next frame when Chavez reached Litsch for a two-run blast - his first homer since he was with the Houston Astros in 2005. "I think it was five hits and three of them were home runs," Litsch said. "Solo home runs aren't going to hurt you, but when they start getting (two-run) home runs that's going to kill you. Home runs aren't good pitches. They were all left up and they all, you know, hit them out of the ball park." After the Blue Jays got a run back in the top half of the fourth, the Pirates responded immediately. Bautista drove a 3-2 pitch from Litsch out to left field to push the lead to 6-1. Bautista finished the night 3-for-3 with two runs scored. He has now homered in four of his last seven games. "I don't think anything's gotten into me," Bautista said. "I'm just taking advantage of pitches that were left out over the plate and I'm getting good results now." Maholm (5-5) worked well with the lead, allowing three runs and seven hits while walking three and striking out one. "He's really attacking the zone down and it's making for a lot of good results," Pirates' manager John Russell said. "I thought he used both sides of the plate very well tonight." Litsch (7-4) took the loss as Toronto fell to 0-2 under interim manager Cito Gaston. "We out-hit them, we just didn't outscore them tonight," Gaston said. "They had some big hits tonight as far as home runs." |
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