That’s how you end a four-game losing streak: leave no doubt. The Pirates fell behind in the bottom of the first on Asdrubal Cabrera’s solo homer, but then pounded the Indians into submission with four homers of their own; a solo shot by Pedro Alvarez to even the score a 1-1, a two-run shot by Casey McGehee to put the Pirates into the lead in the sixth, a solo shot by Alex Presley to extend the lead in the seventh, and a bookend two-run dinger by Alvarez to finish the scoring. For a club that looked completely lost against Justin Masterson less than 24 hours prior, well, they suddenly looked like a different team.
AJ Burnett was the beneficiary of the offense, holding the Indians to two runs despite putting ten people on base in his 6 2/3 innings and only striking out two hitters. He’s now won six consecutive starts, which apparently hasn’t happened for the Pirates since Doug Drabek won the Cy Young Award in 1990.
After four pretty ugly losses in a row, this was definitely a nice way to see the Pirates get back into the win column.
