All hands called on deck to help Pirates beat Rockies, end losing streak

Mindful that the Pittsburgh Pirates are off until Friday, Derek Shelton called on nearly half of the strong arms in the clubhouse on the way to an 8-3 victory Sunday against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Bryse Wilson was brought up from Triple-A Indianapolis to start the game and worked into the fourth inning. He was followed by a parade of relief pitchers — Manny Banuelos, winning pitcher Tyler Beede, Duane Underwood Jr., Wil Crowe and David Bednar — who combined to surrender only five hits and one run over the final 5²⁄₃ innings.

In the ninth, Bednar was the beneficiary of the Pirates’ third double play before leaving for Los Angeles and the All-Star Game on Tuesday.

Aside from pitching and defense, the game marked the second time in Shelton’s three seasons as manager that 10 Pirates players had at least one hit.

After a 2-0 shutout defeat Saturday, a 13-2 thrashing Friday and two walk-off losses before that, the Pirates collected 16 hits Sunday. Three were by first baseman Michael Chavis, who also robbed the Rockies (43-50) of a run with a diving stop of Ryan McMahon’s groundball that would have scored a run in the sixth inning.

“It was a total team victory,” Shelton said. “We used a lot of guys, and a lot of them had a hand in us winning. It was good to bounce back. To grind through it, especially after not playing very well the first two games here, I give our group a ton of credit.”

The victory ended the Pirates’ four-game losing streak that followed a four-game winning streak. Overall, they are 39-54 but 6-6 on the road trip that ended in Denver. With 69 games to play, the season resumes Friday at PNC Park against the Miami Marlins.

The score was tied in the top of the sixth when Pirates catcher Jason Delay started a rally with his second hit of the game and 10th on the road trip. He advanced to third on a double by Kevin Newman, who had three hits, and scored on Ke’Bryan Hayes’ groundball. Chavis added a single to score the second run.

Before the game, Chavis was hitting .179 in July, and his batting average had dipped to .232. But he was pleased to be going home with something to show for his efforts.

“I feel like I’ve been swinging the bat pretty well lately, hitting the ball well, kind of right at people,” he said.

Shelton was more impressed by Chavis’ defense that included a leaping grab of Charlie Blackmon’s line drive that became a game-ending double play.

“This is a guy who doesn’t get enough credit for as good a first baseman he is,” the manager said. “He helped us win a game because of the way he played defense.”

Four singles and a walk produced three more runs in the ninth. Oneil Cruz finally recorded a hit after striking out in his four previous at-bats, giving him 38 whiffs in 98 at-bats. But Shelton liked how he participated in all three double plays.

“In defense of Oneil, we’ve seen a lot of left-handed pitching,” he said. “He’s getting a trial by fire up here to learn what pitches to swing at. The fact that he mentally stayed in the game (after the strikeouts) is something that really makes me smile for a young kid.”

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A Pirates run in the first inning was unearned after Newman reached base on third baseman McMahon’s throwing error. Newman raced to third on Chavis’ single and scored when Daniel Vogelbach ripped a 370-foot single off the wall in right-center that looked like it would either be caught or clear the wall.

The Rockies answered in the bottom of the first when Blackmon tripled and scored on Jose Iglesias’ sacrifice fly.

Jake Marisnick’s double in the third drove home two runs after Vogelbach and Ben Gamel walked. Marisnick had two hits that left him with four multi-hit games on the trip.

Players are eagerly awaiting the four-day break after being away from home since July 7.

“It definitely hasn’t been easy. It was a long one,” Chavis said. “These first couple days are going to be really nice, just reset the body, be with family, be with my dog. We’re excited to have the time.”