Alvarez, Marte power Pirates in 9th

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH

Starling Marte hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Pirates a 6-5 win against the Toronto Blue Jays at PNC Park on Friday night.

Neil Walker singled, his third hit of the night, to lead off the ninth against Blue Jays right-hander Sergio Santos. Pedro Alvarez homered to right-center field to tie the game at 5-5.

Two batters later, Marte crushed a ball into the Pirates’ bullpen.

The ninth-inning homers followed eight innings of putting runners on base, which had been a struggle for so much of the season, but either leaving them there or prematurely erasing them.

The win broke a three-game losing streak.

Blue Jays starter Brandon Morrow walked only one batter - who happened to be Pirates starter Gerrit Cole - and allowed 11 hits in five innings. In his most recent outing prior to Friday, Morrow lasted only 22/3 innings because he walked eight of the 14 batters he faced, resulting in four runs scored without a hit allowed.

In three consecutive innings, the Pirates ended or curtailed scoring chances with a double play. Jordy Mercer drove in a run in the second when he grounded into a double play, but that was all they got. Gaby Sanchez ended a scoring threat that had netted one run when he bounced into a double play in the third, and Mercer again hit into one in the fourth.

After Mercer’s second double-play grounder, Cole worked a 10-pitch walk, including five foul balls. Jose Tabata then struck out on three pitches to strand two runners.

Travis Snider’s pinch-hit single with two outs in the sixth brought up the top of the order. Tabata doubled and Blue Jays reliever Steve Delabar hit Neil Walker to load the bases. McCutchen, who was 3 for 3 with two RBIs at that point, grounded out.

Cole (2-3) allowed four runs, two of them on a Colby Rasmus home run, in five innings Friday. He entered the start as the Pirates’ best starter of late after allowing two runs combined in his previous 15 innings.

Right-hander Casey Sadler made his major league debut for the Pirates on Friday night and pitched two scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and one walk and struck out two.

Though the Blue Jays’ rotation has struggled this year, their lineup remains tough, with a now-healthy Jose Reyes leading off and Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion in the middle. In the first inning, Bautista roped a hit down the left-field line that a fan interfered with while reaching over the railing where the seats jut out toward the foul line. Bautista was awarded a double. Encarnacion doubled to the gap in left-center to give the Blue Jays an early 1-0 lead.

Rasmus returned the lead to the Blue Jays in the fourth. Juan Francisco doubled to lead off the inning and took third base on Cole’s second wild pitch of the game. After Brett Lawrie grounded out, Rasmus hit his sixth homer of the season to put the Blue Jays ahead 3-2.

Reyes hit a soft single to right field in the fifth, stole second and scored on Bautista’s second double of the game to increase the Blue Jays’ lead to 4-2. Lawrie doubled and scored in the sixth, driven home by pinch-hitter Steve Tolleson’s triple.

Three consecutive singles loaded the bases for Mercer with no outs in the second inning. Mercer bounced into a double play, but a run scored to tie the game at 1-1.