PITTSBURGH (AP) — Brandon Lowe hit his team-leading 19th home run of the season and Henry Davis had a two-run blast as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Seattle Mariners 5-1 on Thursday.
Lowe’s homer was a solo shot off Bryce Miller with one out in the bottom of the first inning to open the scoring. He added an RBI single in a two-run eighth. Lowe also leads the Pirates with 51 runs batted in after being acquired from Tampa Bay in an offseason trade.
Davis entered the game with a .136 batting average. However, the catcher’s two-run home run, his sixth, in the third inning pushed the Pirates’ lead to 3-1. Davis finished 2 for 3 to raise his average to .148.
Miller (3-2) tied his career high with 11 strikeouts in just 5 2/3 innings. Miller also had no walks as the American League West leaders lost two of three in the series.
Rookie Bubba Chandler (3-7) pitched 5 1/3 innings for the win, allowing one run and five hits while striking out four and walking three. Evan Sisk, Yohan Ramirez, Mason Montgomery and Gregory Soto combined for 3 2/3 scoreless relief innings.
J.P. Crawford singled home the Mariners’ lone run in fifth inning.
Ryan O’Hearn had an RBI single in the eighth for the Pirates.
Mariners: RHP Luis Castillo (2-6, 5.32 ERA) pitches against Guardians LHP Joey Cantillo (6-3, 4.05) on Friday night in the opener a three-game series in Cleveland.
Pirates: Open a three-game series against visiting Cincinnati on Friday night. The Pirates are undecided on their starter while LHP Andrew Abbott (5-4, 3.83) gets the ball for the Reds.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
