Marte’s ninth-inning homer lifts Pirates past Giants

Giants acquire veteran outfielder Marlon Byrd from Reds.

On the mound, Bumgarner (15-6) wasn’t at his best, nor did he need to be.

Starling Marte hammered a walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Giants 3-2 Saturday at PNC Park.

Leake was outstanding in his second start with the Giants.

Pittsburgh’s Morton (8-4) struck out eight over 6-2/3 innings and left with a four-run lead after the Giants loaded the bases with two outs.

That was the case Friday, when the Pittsburgh Pirates attempted to best the San Francisco Giants in the game of TV parodies.

“That homer he hit was loud”, Byrd said.

As for Bumgarner, he wasn’t as razor-sharp as he was in his final three begins, when he pitched two full video games and allowed simply two complete runs over 251/Three innings. It seems like Jeff Locke always has to go out and face the best starter for the other team when he pitches. However, the 24-year-old right-hander is 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA in three career starts against the Giants.

Talking of robust, Bumgarner acquired into the act with the bat, too.

Morton got into a jam in the seventh inning, hitting Crawford with a pitch, allowing a single to Tomlinson and hitting pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza with a pitch. Though Bumgarner worked his way out of the inning in relatively good condition, he was undoubtedly frustrated with himself for giving up the quick run.

The 37-year-old is no stranger to packing his bags.

“I don’t even know what uniforms they are”, he said, chuckling. “I assume that simply means I have been round for a very long time”.

Kang hit his 11th and 12th homers for the Pirates, who didn’t leave a runner on base.

Colby Rasmus led off the fifth with a groundball single for Houston’s only hit and was the last man to reach base for the AL West-leading Astros. It was his third home run in his past five starts.

“He’s hit the ball all over the ballpark and out of the ballpark against us”, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.

The Giants have now lost three of the first four games on this critical road trip against the top two N.L. teams record-wise, the St. Louis Cardinals and Pirates.

Elsewhere, Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-5 to help the Miami Marlins to a 9-7 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, while Boston Red Sox reliever Junichi Tazawa retired the side in order in the ninth to pick up his second win of the season in Boston’s 4-1 win against the Kansas City Royals.

“I’m going to keep doing it, ” Marte said. “Especially this time of year”. “But you’ve still got to get the job done”. The 27-year-old has pitched well against Pittsburgh this year, going 2-0 with a 2.18 ERA in three matchups.

Aside from being a superstar in his own right, Posey has hit the heck out of Pirate pitchers, owning a. 423 average.

They Giants then took a 1-0 lead in the fifth against Pirates ace Gerrit Cole when Gregor Blanco opened with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on catcher Chris Stewart’s throwing error.

Leake showed no ill effects from the left hamstring strain that landed him on the disabled list on August. 3.