Pittsburgh, PA – The Rockies got no more than an infield hit off Pirates starter James McDonald, but still walked away with a win Wednesday in the opener of a doubleheader.
Jason Giambi and Tyler Colvin both had sacrifice flies and Colorado squeezed out a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh despite getting just three hits.
McDonald took a no-hitter into the seventh inning but gave up an infield single to Troy Tulowitzki, then a sacrifice fly to the next batter for the game's first run.
Chris Resop (0-2) allowed the second run to take the loss, while Matt Reynolds (2-0) earned the win in relief of Rockies starter Juan Nicasio.
The Pirates won the weather-delayed opener of the series 5-4 on Tuesday after Monday's postponement because of rain and wet snow.
Right-handers Jhoulys Chacin for Colorado and Charlie Morton for Pittsburgh are starting the second game of the doubleheader. Both are after their first wins of the season.
McDonald gave up just the one hit in seven innings, walking three and striking out eight, but remained winless after his fourth start of the season.
"I was just aggressive," said McDonald. "It didn't matter if it was ball one or 0-0. Whatever it was, I was going at them with my best stuff."
Pedro Alvarez hit a solo homer for Pittsburgh's only run.
Nicasio yielded nine hits and a walk but only one run while striking out five in 6 2/3 innings.
Indeed, the offense trickled out between two teams set to start three games in under 24 hours.
The Rockies couldn't solve McDonald, and even Tulowitzki's bid-breaking hit was a little cheap. He bounced a grounder into the hole on the left side that hit off the heel of Alvarez's glove at third.
Carlos Gonzalez, who walked to lead off the inning, went to second on the play and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Giambi's fly ball to the warning track in right-center field.
"It's not often that you win a game with three hits," said Rockies manager Jim Tracy. "But we rode very solid pitching and took advantage of a momentary command lapse (by McDonald)."
McDonald fanned the last two batters he faced and Alvarez led off the bottom of the seventh with his third homer of the season to tie the game.
But Resop hit Eric Young with a one-out pitch in the eighth and Marco Scutaro followed wit a single, moving Young to third. Young then scored on Colvin's sac fly to right for Colorado's 2-1 lead.
Game Notes
Colorado is 3-2 on a six-game road trip...Pittsburgh fell to 2-3 on a six-game homestand...Before the game, the Pirates recalled pitcher Jared Hughes from Triple-A Indianapolis.
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