Pirates pick up Tyler Anderson with 4-run rally in 7th inning to beat White Sox

After drawing criticism for giving his starting pitchers an early hook, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton was about to get blamed for leaving Tyler Anderson in too long against the Chicago White Sox.

Anderson cruised through six innings before giving up a three-run homer to Yasmani Grandal, but the Pirates bailed out the left-hander with a four-run seventh for a 6-3 win Tuesday night before a crowd of 9,847 at PNC Park.

“Giving up that hit sucks, but it sucks even worse when you give up the lead because of it,” said Anderson, who allowed five hits and one walk with four strikeouts. “But then when you come in and they get it right back, it kind of lifts that weight a little bit.”

The Pirates (26-45) got a strong start from Anderson, who outdueled Lucas Giolito just 10 months after the White Sox right-hander tossed a no-hitter against the Pirates in a 4-0 win last Aug. 25.

“I think it’s a testament to our guys,” Shelton said. “This is a guy who no-hit us last year, and we made him work the entire game.”

The White Sox (43-30) got off to a slow start when Giolito walked Ke’Bryan Hayes in the first inning but struck out Bryan Reynolds and got Colin Moran to ground out to get out of trouble. Even so, Giolito required 26 pitches in the first frame.

Giolito didn’t allow a hit until the second inning, when Philip Evans hit a bloop single to shallow center field. Evans became the first Pirates player to get a hit off Giolito since May 8, 2018, when Gregory Polanco singled in the fourth inning of a 10-6 win over the White Sox. Giolito quickly picked off Evans at first base to end the inning.

“I don’t think we were thinking about that, but to drop one in early is pretty good, refreshing,” Adam Frazier said. “And we just opened the gate after that. He still didn’t give up much. He’s a good pitcher. And, I mean, we just fought to the end.”

With two outs in the third, Frazier worked Giolito for 10 pitches before sending a 3-2 changeup 362 feet over the Clemente Wall in right for a 1-0 lead. After three innings, Giolito had thrown 62 pitches.

“Yeah, just trying to get something to hit, really,” Frazier said. “His heater paired with his changeup, and it’s not really easy to get on both of those pitches. So, I guess he gave me a couple. I fouled them off, and then after that, it’s just fight, protect and do what you can, and then hopefully he makes a mistake. And, I guess I got one of them.”

Frazier recovered from an 0-2 count to draw a leadoff walk in the sixth, advanced to second on a Hayes groundout and scored when Reynolds lined a single to center. Frazier beat the throw to the plate by Brian Goodwin, who lost the battle for the starting job in center field in training camp with the Pirates, to increase the lead to 2-0.

By then, Giolito had topped the century mark for pitches. He finished with two runs allowed on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts on 111 pitches over six innings. Anderson, meantime, was efficient through the first six innings in throwing 53 of his 66 pitches for strikes.

The seventh inning was Anderson’s downfall. Jose Abreu singled to right and Leury Garcia to center to put a pair of runners on for Grandal, who pinch hit for Zack Collins and drove the first pitch he saw 409 feet to dead center for a three-run homer and a 3-2 lead.

After Anderson walked Danny Mendick, Shelton opted for right-handed reliever David Bednar (1-1) of Mars, who earned his first major league win with the Pirates in front of the home crowd. Pinch hitter Yermin Mercedes snapped an 0-for-21 streak with a single to right to put runners on first and third, but Bednar got Tim Anderson to ground into a forceout to end the inning.

“Awesome,” Bednar said, “to get the first one on the books.”

The Pirates rallied to regain the lead against Garrett Crochet (2-4) in the bottom of the seventh as Polanco hit a leadoff single and scored when third baseman Yoan Moncada made an errant throw on Kevin Newman’s bunt.

“It was intended to be a sacrifice, and it was just placed better than I intended,” Newman said. “I got on, so it was a win-win.”

Erik Gonzalez pinch-hit for Bednar and singled to left to score Evans and Newman for a 5-3 lead. Reynolds added an RBI single to score Gonzalez for the three-run edge.

Kyle Crick struck out three of the four batters he faced in the eighth, and Richard Rodriguez retired the side in the ninth for his ninth save.

“Tyler Anderson picked us up, because he pitched really well,” Shelton said. “And then the fact that our bullpen stepped in and closed the door.”