McCutchen HR, Mathias 4 hits as Pirates rout Rockies 14-3
Andrew McCutchen homered, Mark Mathias had a career-high four hits and the Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage of an off night from Colorado starter Kyle Freeland to beat the Rockies 14-3 on Monday.
Freeland (2-1) posted a 0.96 ERA through his first three starts and had pitched at least six innings in each outing but was ineffective against the Pirates.
McCutchen, who had two hits, launched a solo homer in the first inning — his third of the season — and the first seven Pittsburgh batters reached in a six-run second.
"We got on the board early with the 'Cutch homer and then we just continued to grind through," Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. "You look up and you have 15 or 16 hits."
Ke'Bryan Hayes drove in the ninth run of the game with two outs in the third to raise Freeland's ERA to 3.80. Freeland allowed nine runs — seven earned — after giving up just two runs entering Monday.
"They were attacking early, and they were able to get fastballs in early counts," Freeland said. "Any advantage counts and I wasn't able to put them away."
Rich Hill (1-2) cruised through six innings to pick up his first win with the Pirates.
"It was just that intensity and that effort that continued to build over the six innings," the 43-year-old Hill said. "Why I've been able to play for as long as I have been able to play is that intensity."
Kris Bryant had three hits, including his first homer at Coors Field since joining the Rockies before the 2022 season.
"It's cool to kind of get that out of the way, and not just get it out of the way but feel really good about all my at-bats in the game tonight," Bryant said. "I feel like I could definitely do more, but I've got to look at more of the positives. Some of the numbers look good, but I would love to do better just in terms of helping this team win."
Jack Suwinski hit a 461-foot homer into the second deck in right off Colorado infielder Alan Trejo in the ninth.
"You think, this is fun, as you're scoring all these runs, but then you also think, we're in Colorado, in this ballpark, and our bullpen was a little bit short. So it was pretty much, we need to keep going," Shelton said.
Rockies third baseman Elehuris Montero, acquired in the Nolan Arenado trade with St. Louis, committed costly errors in the second and fifth and bobbled another grounder that would have potentially been an inning-ending double play in the fifth. That led to two more runs on a single by Carlos Santana.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rockies closer Daniel Bard is back with the team and could be activated from the 15-day injured list Tuesday. He has been on the IL since the start of the season due to anxiety. ... Colorado RHP Antonio Senzatela (left ACL tear) will pitch an extended spring training game in Arizona on Tuesday.
JOIN THE CLUB
The 37-year-old Santana had two hits in his 1,800th career game, which ranks seventh among active players. However, he's not first on his team; McCutchen has played in 1,911 major league games.
Santana also beat out a potential double-play ball to keep the six-run second inning going.
"It says so much about him as a professional and it's the reason we wanted him in our clubhouse," Shelton said.
UP NEXT
The Pirates will send RHP Vince Velasquez (1-2, 5.40 ERA) against Colorado RHP José Ureña (0-2, 9.90) on Tuesday night.