Solid pitching, big hits, David Bednar's 'Yinzer butt' help Pirates defeat Rockies

The victory featured seven extra-base hits, an eighth consecutive quality start and three scoreless innings from the bullpen, but it also took what Derek Shelton described as a “Yinzer butt” for the Pittsburgh Pirates to defeat the Colorado Rockies, 5-3, Tuesday night at Coors Field.

With 250-pound closer David Bednar protecting the two-run lead in the ninth, Rockies leadoff hitter Jurickson Profar rocketed a 103-mph shot off the pitcher’s backside. A couple inches to the left or right and it might have ended up in the outfield with Profar on first base.

Undaunted, Bendar quickly leapt off the mound, found the baseball, retrieved it and threw out Profar. Two outs later, including Bednar’s 92.6 mph splitter that struck out C.J. Cron to end the game, the Pirates (11-7) had their first two-game winning streak in two weeks. Overall, they’ve won 10 of 15.

Afterwards, the Pirates’ manager marveled at his closer, who now has five saves.

“I’m glad we got the Yinzer butt there,” Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “It was a heckuva play.”

His manager’s description didn’t bother Bednar.

“He’s right,” the Mars native said. “I had to make sure the ball was all right after that. Honestly, just react, try to make a play, get the first out of the inning. That’s a huge one.”

“Court awareness, right?” first baseman Connor Joe said. “Have the presence of mind to find the baseball, make the out. Just a competitor. That was awesome.”

The victory did not come with the flash of the previous night’s 14-3 beatdown of the Rockies (5-13), who have lost seven in a row. But the Pirates and starter Vince Velasquez showed resiliency after he allowed the Rockies to take a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

After that, Velasquez and relievers Duane Underwood Jr., Robert Stephenson and Bednar shut out the Rockies. Velasquez’s effort turned into the Pirates’ eighth consecutive quality start. He completed six innings, struck out seven and walked three.

“They’ve been some dogs out there lately, grinding for us and throwing strikes,” Bednar said of the Pirates’ five starters. “When they hand it over to (the bullpen), we have that mentality that once it’s our game, it’s over.”

The Rockies only collected one of their five hits against Velasquez after the first inning.

“His stuff was good. The slider started to work,” Shelton said. “I thought (catcher Austin Hedges) did a really good job. (Velasquez) mixed in the changeup and he really settled down his delivery. They seemed to really get on the same page.”

Velasquez said his adjustments worked after the first inning.

“They were on to a couple pitches. I wasn’t really locating my secondary stuff as much as I wanted to,” he said. “If I give up some runs, I know my job is not done. It’s all about minimizing damage.”

Velasquez (2-2) has an ERA of 2.25 in his past two starts, down from 9.82 in his first two.

Pirates hitters did all of their damage in two innings, with one run in the second on Jack Suwinski’s home run and four in the fourth when the team hit for the cycle.

They might have scored more, but Ji Hwan Bae and Ke’Bryan Hayes were thrown out trying to steal second base in front of triples by Tucupita Marcano and Joe in the fourth and seventh innings.

Joe, who was playing against his former Rockies teammates, opened the fourth with a double and scored on Carlos Santana’s double. Suwinski followed with a home run to give the Pirates a 4-3 lead. Marcano tripled and scored on Rockies starter Jose Urena’s wild pitch that didn’t squirt far from catcher Elias Diaz.

Marcano scored by using his athleticism to avoid the tag attempt by Urena, who was covering home plate.

“I came to a stop to make him off balance because he beat me to home plate,” Marcano said through translator Stephen Morales, a Pirates coach. “I had to do something to at least get my hand or something into the plate. In the heat of the game, I’m an athletic guy.”

The Pirates collected two or more doubles, triples and home runs in one game for only the second time in the past 10 years. But after the fourth, they gave their pitchers and defense a slim margin for error.

In the end, though, that was OK with Shelton, who liked the around-the-horn double play in the seventh, left fielder Bryan Reynolds tracking down Mike Moustakas’ deep fly ball in the eighth with runners on the corners and Bednar’s awareness in the ninth. Without those plays, Charlie Blackmon’s doubles in the seventh and ninth could have changed the game’s outcome.

“We could not have played better defensively in the seventh, eighth and ninth,” Shelton said.

“I’m really proud of the way the group plays when we’ve gotten down in games. They’ve continued to fight back. The energy in our dugout is outstanding and, I think, it shows by the way we’re playing on the field.”

Joe was pleased with his extra-base hits, but he said the performance held no special significance for him just because he did it against his former teammates.

“At the end of the day, a win’s a win no matter where we’re at,” he said.