Pittsburgh, PA – Jhoulys Chacin pitched eight strong innings and Troy Tulowitzki homered in Colorado's 4-2 win over the NL Central-leading Pittsburgh Pirates.
Chacin (10-5), who retired the final 14 batters he faced, gave up six hits, a run and had three strikeouts.
Tulowitzki and Todd Helton each drove in two runs for the Rockies, who snapped a four-game skid.
Gerrit Cole (5-5) allowed three hits and three runs over 5 1/3 innings. The rookie right-hander also had six strikeouts, but lost for the fifth time in his last six starts.
Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez each knocked in a run for the Pirates, who took four of five games from the Cardinals earlier this week to take over first place in their division. The Bucs were throttled, 13-0, in the finale of that series Thursday night.
Alvarez lined out to leave a runner at third in the opening inning, and the Cardinals went ahead in the second on Tulowitzki's leadoff blast to left, his 20th homer of the year.
Starling Marte had an infield single and Neil Walker doubled to set up McCutchen's RBI base hit to right field in the third. Alvarez, though, again couldn't come through in the clutch as his double-play grounder ended the frame.
Colorado, which failed with two runners in scoring position in the fourth, went ahead for good in the sixth. Dexter Fowler walked and Corey Dickerson singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Justin Wilson relieved Cole, but Tulowitzki hit a high chopper between the mound and first base to leg out a hit for a 2-1 edge. A wild pitch advanced the runners, who both scored on Helton's line single to center.
Russell Martin's single to start the bottom of the fourth was the last hit given up by Chacin.
Carlos Gonzalez flied out to left to strand a pair of runners in scoring position in the top of the ninth, and Rex Brothers ran into trouble in the bottom portion. McCutchen and Alvarez hit back-to-back doubles with one out, but Martin flied out to center. Pinch-hitter Gaby Sanchez flied out to right to end the game and gave Brothers his eighth save of the year.
Game Notes
The Pirates activated pitcher Jared Hughes from the 15-day disabled list and optioned pitcher Vic Black to Triple-A Indianapolis ... The Pirates have recorded at least one extra-base hit in each of their last 49 games ... Cole has gone 0-4 in his last four home starts after winning each of his first three.
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