Michael McKenry’s first career home run was a huge one, a three-run bomb in the eighth inning that put the Pirates up 7-4, giving them a shot at first place in the N.L. Central.
The Pirates scored two runs in the third on an infield single by Neil Walker as both Alex Presley and Chase D’Arnaud came home, and they got a sixth-inning solo homer from Andrew McCutchen. But they were down 4-3 after the top of the eighth.
In the bottom of the eighth, Matt Diaz walked and Lyle Overbay singled, and Josh Harrison knocked in a run with a single off Carlos Marmol. Then McKenry came to the plate and hit an extremely unlikely homer off one of baseball’s best relievers (Carlos Marmol) to put the Pirates up by three. It was an 0-and-2 count, and Marmol for some reason threw a fastball right down the pike, and McKenry crushed the ball to left for his first big-league homer. He then took a curtain call as the sold-out crowd at PNC Park went crazy. Joel Hanrahan worked the ninth for the save.
The Brewers and Cardinals currently trail in the late innings, and if both lose, the Pirates would have a share of first place in the N.L. Central.
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