Bucs’ bats are hot in 4-game series opener

Associated Press

Pittsburgh

Garrett Jones and Neil Walker hit back-to-back homers off the right-field foul pole to ignite Pittsburgh’s offense and the Pirates beat the Houston Astros 11-2 on Monday night.

James McDonald pitched seven effective innings for Pittsburgh, which won for the fifth time in six games.

Limited to one hit over the first three innings by Jordan Lyles, the first five Pirates of the fourth inning had hits, highlighted by Jones’ two-run homer and Walker’s solo shot.

Each clanged off the right-field foul pole, Jones’ on a line drive and Walker’s a high fly. According to STATS LLC., there have not been back-to-back home runs off the foul pole since at least 2000, which is the first season foul-pole home runs were tracked.

Jones finished the game with four hits and four RBIs, and Andrew McCutchen also went 4 for 5 for the Pirates, whose 16-5 home record since May 12 is the best in the majors.

Scott Moore homered and J.D. Martinez had two hits for Houston, which has lost five consecutive and seven in a row on the road.

McDonald (8-3) won for the eighth time in his past 10 decisions, improving to 4-1 at home despite a season-high five walks. He was charged with two runs on four hits with four strikeouts.

The Pirates hit back-to-back home runs for the fifth time this season and third in the past five games. Jones’ homer was his 11th of the season and fourth in his past 11 games.

Jones added an RBI double in the fifth and an RBI infield single in the sixth off of Fernando Abad — Jones’ first hit against a left-hander in a span of 25 at bats dating to August of last season.

Walker’s home run was his fourth of the season.

The Pirates have homered in a season high 10 straight games and have 52 runs over their past six games. It took them their first 22 games to score their 50th run of the season.

McCutchen was playing for the first time since spraining his wrist diving for a ball Saturday in St. Louis. A day after being named to the NL All-star team, fans chanted “M-V-P” during his final at bat.