Gregory Polanco, Kevin Newman have 3 RBIs as Pirates pound 16 hits to beat Giants

Sparked by three-RBI games from a pair of hitters in Gregory Polanco and Kevin Newman who have been hovering around the Mendoza Line, the Pirates pounded the pitcher with the best ERA in baseball Saturday night.

Boosted by a big lead, Pirates right-hander Wil Crowe finished with a career-best nine strikeouts on the way to a 10-2 win over the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.

After winning the first two games, the Pirates (38-60) joined the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals as the only teams to win a series in San Francisco. They go into Sunday’s finale seeking to clinch a series sweep of the season by beating the Giants (61-37), who have baseball’s most wins.

Polanco went 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs, his fifth multi-RBI game this season, and Newman went 4 for 5 – all singles – with three RBIs, as the Pirates finished with a season-high 16 hits.

“I feel like Greg and I do a great job throughout the whole year, honestly, feeding off each other, not just tonight,” Newman said. “We’re super close, and we bring each other up and cheer each other on a whole bunch. I’m super happy for him. I’m sure he’s happy for me. This was a game that he and I both needed, so for both of us to have a big game like this is awesome.”

Kevin Gausman (9-4), who entered with the best ERA in baseball (1.84), had his worst performance of the season. He gave up season highs in runs (six) and hits (eight), walking four and striking out two in 4⅓ innings.

“This guy’s an All-Star,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Our guys had good at-bats. They had a really solid approach. They did not vary from it. Because of that, we were able to get to him early, then continue to add on.”

Gausman struggled from the start, as Adam Frazier slapped a leadoff single to center and Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds drew walks to load the bases. Polanco hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Reynolds for a 1-0 lead.

That was the only run the Pirates would manufacture, despite John Nogowski keeping the bases loaded by reaching on a fielder’s choice when third baseman Jason Vosler bobbled his grounder for an error. Ben Gamel (3 for 5) followed by grounding into an inning-ending double play.

The Giants tied it in the second when Wilmer Flores hit a leadoff single and scored on a double-play ball by Thairo Estrada. But the Pirates added two more runs in the third when Steven Duggar misplayed a Reynolds deep fly to the left-center wall and Polanco drove him in with a single to right. Polanco scored from second on Gamel’s single to right for a 3-1 lead.

Polanco led off the fifth with his 11th homer, a 426-foot shot to the right-field corner to make it 4-1. Polanco knew he got hold of the ball but started to sprint when he saw it sailing toward the 415-foot marker.

“I’m not going to lie. At first, when I hit it, I knew I hit it great, that I hit it good,” Polanco said. “Then I saw it was going to the deepest part of the ballpark, so I started running. When I saw where it was going, I started running because I didn’t hit it like that height. It was a line drive. When I got it (over the wall), I was like, ‘Yes, I got it.’”

After Gausman walked Nogowski and gave up a double to Gamel, he was replaced by John Brebbia. Newman hit a two-run single to center for a 6-1 lead.

Crowe (2-5), meantime, retired 10 consecutive hitters before LaMonte Wade Jr. turned on a 3-2 changeup and sent it 395 feet for his 10th homer to cut it to 6-2. After recording his career-high ninth strikeout, Crowe was at 90 pitches and was pulled by Shelton.

“That’s the best tempo we’ve seen out of him in two years,” Shelton said. “His tempo was really good. He stayed sharp. He stayed consistent moving. He executed his fastball in the zone. But it was his tempo. His tempo was really good — and, because of it, he was able to get through innings quicker.”

The Pirates added three more runs in the eighth, when Newman singled to right and scored on a triple by Michael Perez for a 7-2 lead. A sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Wilmer Difo scored Perez for an 8-2 edge. Frazier followed with a double, scoring on a two-out single by Reynolds for a 9-2 lead.

The Giants turned to a position player, outfielder Mike Tauchman, to pitch the ninth. The Pirates took no mercy, as Nogowski hit a leadoff double, reached third on Gamel’s single and scored on a Newman single for a 10-2 lead.

“Putting good swings on the ball, having a few balls drop for us,” Newman said. “I thought we did a great job of getting the inning going early quite a few times, and I think we just kept it going.”