After two weeks of baseball in which the Pirates did practically nothing well, they took two out of three from the San Francisco Giants with a 9-2 blowout in which they did almost everything well.
Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez struggled with his control in the first, and the Pirates picked up a run with an RBI single by Ryan Ludwick. The Giants' Pablo Sandoval had a solo homer in the bottom of the inning, but Andrew McCutchen answered in the third with a monster two-run homer that went at least about a dozen rows deep.
That was all Jeff Karstens would need. Karstens pitched brilliantly, striking out nine while walking none in six innings, then was followed by scoreless innings of relief by Dan McCutchen, Brad Lincoln and Joel Hanrahan.
Meanwhile, the Pirates tacked on six more runs, as they reached base 19 times during the game. McCutchen scored four runs while going 1-for-1 with three walks and a hit by pitch, and Ludwick went 3-for-4 with a walk.
The Pirates have the day off on Thursday and will begin a road series against the Brewers on Friday.
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