CHICAGO (AP) – Colin Moran hit a key two-run double, Jordy Mercer also had two RBIs and the Pittsburgh Pirates cleaned up in interleague play once again, beating the lowly Chicago White Sox 10-6 on Tuesday night.
Corey Dickerson had four of Pittsburgh’s 16 hits and also drove in two runs, atoning for an early fielding miscue and helping the Pirates improve to 3-5 on a nine-game trip. Starling Marte finished with three hits.
Pittsburgh had dropped five of seven, but the Pirates love to plunder the American League, specifically their counterparts in the AL Central. They improved to 7-2 in interleague play this year and 65-44 over the last six seasons, tops in the NL. They have won 23 of 32 against the AL Central dating to June 15, 2015, including 14 of 18 on the road.
Welington Castillo homered twice for the last-place White Sox, who have lost four straight and eight of nine. Yolmer Sanchez had three hits and scored twice, and Jose Abreu drove in two runs.
Sanchez’s sinking liner in the first turned into an RBI triple when Dickerson appeared to have trouble tracking the ball in left. Sanchez then scored on Abreu’s grounder, and Castillo hit a two-run homer off Ivan Nova for a 4-0 lead.
But Pittsburgh responded with four in the second – capped by run-scoring hits for Gregory Polanco and Marte against Lucas Giolito – and went ahead to stay with three in the fifth. Moran’s double to deep center made it 6-5, and Mercer followed with an RBI single off Chris Volstad (0-2).
Dickerson contributed RBI singles in the sixth and eighth as the Pirates extended their lead to 10-5.
Nova was pulled after just two innings, but Tyler Glasnow (1-1), Edgar Santana, Michael Feliz, George Kontos and Felipe Vasquez combined for nearly spotless relief. The one blemish was Castillo’s fourth homer off Kontos in the eighth.
Giolito allowed four runs and seven hits in four innings. He is just 1-4 in his last six starts.
