Pirates end 4-game skid

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

The Pittsburgh Pirates wore throwback uniforms on Tuesday night to honor the 40th anniversary of the club’s 1971 World Series title.

The new duds provided plenty of inspiration to Pittsburgh’s slumping offense.

Neil Walker had two hits and drove in three runs as the Pirates snapped a four-game losing streak with a 9-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

“We average nine runs a game in these unis,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle joked.

Or, two more than the total the Pirates managed during their recent slide.

Jose Tabata, Garrett Jones and Xavier Paul all knocked in two runs apiece for Pittsburgh, which has won three interleague games this year, one more than it managed last season.

Chris Resop (3-2) picked up the victory in relief after starter James McDonald couldn’t get through the requisite five innings even though he was staked to an early five-run lead.

“(Resop) has done the job a number of times this season with runners on base, has come in right on right and get people,” Hurdle said.

Resop keyed another sparkling performance by Pittsburgh’s bullpen. A night after relievers logged seven effective innings in an 8-3 loss, Resop, Tony Watson, Jose Veras and Tim Wood held Baltimore scoreless after the Orioles cut it to 5-3 in the fifth and allowed the Pirates to break it open late.

“All these guys have pitched a lot of innings in the last week and pitched extremely well and it [was] time on offense that we gave them a little breathing room,” Hurdle said.

Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie (2-9) settled down after a rocky first inning but dropped into a tie for the American League lead in losses.