McGehee’s 2-out single helps Pirates rally in 8th

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Frustrated by six innings of 78 mph fastballs, Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates had seen enough.

Pittsburgh outlasted a pitcher whose career has outlasted the life of McCutchen.

McCutchen had three RBIs, Casey McGehee drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning single and the Pirates scored four runs off the Colorado bullpen to beat the Rockies 5-4 on a chilly Tuesday night.

Seven days after becoming the oldest pitcher to win a game in major-league history, 49-year-old Rockies starter Jamie Moyer was in line for another victory after allowing one run over six innings.

“It was three frustrating at-bats,” said McCutchen, who went 0 for 3 with an RBI groundout against Moyer. “’Man, three-at bats, I can’t believe he got me out.’ You know he has nothing to throw by you, but he just nitpicks, he hits his spots and he gets outs.”

But the Pirates got the game to the Colorado bullpen, which promptly blew two leads against a team that had scored only 30 runs in 15 games coming in — by far the fewest in the majors.

Pittsburgh’s two seventh-inning runs turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead. McCutuchen’s double off the center field wall was the third consecutive hit to begin the inning off lefty Rex Brothers, who on average throws 20 mph faster than Moyer.

“I couldn’t wait to see 95. Honestly,” McCutchen said. “I mean, you don’t see 70-79 every day. As soon as another arm came in there throwing pretty hard, I was like, ’All right, here we go.”’