The Pittsburgh Pirates' recent hot streak has done nothing but confuse a lot of baseball experts, as they try to figure out if they are actually for real. The Bucs took another step in the right direction on Tuesday, hitting three home runs in a 9-4 win over the first-place Cleveland Indians. This extends their win streak to 11 in a row, which is their first such win streak since September 12th-22nd of 1996.
Pittsburgh has also won 13 of 14 overall, and is 17-8 since June 24th, all to get their record back to four games over .500. They have beat the Indians with ease on back-to-back nights, and have outscored opponents, 43-9, in their past five games.
Starling Marte, Josh Bell, and Gregory Polanco all went deep on Tuesday night, as the Pirates scored five times in the second inning to pull away early on. Corey Dickerson also chipped in by tripling in two runs, as Pittsburgh has now homered in a season-high nine consecutive games. They have hit 22 long balls in that span, including a four-game home run streak by Dickerson at one point. Marte went deep in the first inning and drove in three to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games.
Bell added a long ball in the fifth, all to support starter, Joe Musgrove, who earned his fourth win. Musgrove allowed just two runs on five hits over seven innings, recording his first victory since June 29th. Indians starter Shane Bieber did not have the same luck, giving up seven runs in just 1.2 innings after getting called up from Triple-A Columbus. Edwin Encarnacion and Brandon Guyer both went deep in the Indians' home loss.
The Pirates have pulled within six games of the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, and even closer in the Wild Card race, as they sit three games back of the final NL playoff spot. They will look to extend their win streak in Wednesday afternoon's series finale against the Indians.
Pittsburgh has also won 13 of 14 overall, and is 17-8 since June 24th, all to get their record back to four games over .500. They have beat the Indians with ease on back-to-back nights, and have outscored opponents, 43-9, in their past five games.
Starling Marte, Josh Bell, and Gregory Polanco all went deep on Tuesday night, as the Pirates scored five times in the second inning to pull away early on. Corey Dickerson also chipped in by tripling in two runs, as Pittsburgh has now homered in a season-high nine consecutive games. They have hit 22 long balls in that span, including a four-game home run streak by Dickerson at one point. Marte went deep in the first inning and drove in three to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games.
Bell added a long ball in the fifth, all to support starter, Joe Musgrove, who earned his fourth win. Musgrove allowed just two runs on five hits over seven innings, recording his first victory since June 29th. Indians starter Shane Bieber did not have the same luck, giving up seven runs in just 1.2 innings after getting called up from Triple-A Columbus. Edwin Encarnacion and Brandon Guyer both went deep in the Indians' home loss.
The Pirates have pulled within six games of the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, and even closer in the Wild Card race, as they sit three games back of the final NL playoff spot. They will look to extend their win streak in Wednesday afternoon's series finale against the Indians.
