PITTSBURGH — Francisco Liriano won his third straight start, Ike Davis hit a three-run home run and Clint Barmes had three hits to lead the streaking Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.
The Pirates (81-70) won for the 10th time in their last 12 games as they remained in the thick of the National League playoff chase.
They entered the night 1 1/2 games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers in the wild card race and 2 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the Central. The Brewers and Cardinals played Wednesday night at St. Louis.
Liriano (5-11) walked five batters and struck out just two in six innings yet allowed only one run and three hits. The left-hander’s streak of 20 scoreless innings ended when the Red Sox scored their run in the fifth.
Davis’ blast came in the fifth inning as the big first baseman put the Pirates ahead 9-1. Rookie right fielder Gregory Polanco and second baseman Neil Walker also hit homers for Pittsburgh.
Barmes, playing in place of injured shortstop Jordy Mercer (strained lower back) for a second straight night, hit a two-run double as he led the Pirates’ 15-hit barrage. Davis, Walker, third baseman Josh Harrison and center fielder Andrew McCutchen each had two hits.
Red Sox center fielder Rusney Castillo made his major league debut and went 1-for-4. The 27-year-old Cuban defector, signed to a seven-year, $72.5-million contract Aug. 22, was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket before the game after playing just 11 games in the minor leagues.
Clay Buchholz (8-9) had his three-start winning streak end as he was tagged for five runs (four earned) in four innings. He allowed six hits and one walk and struck out three.
The Red Sox (66-86), last in the American League East, were held to five hits while falling to 5-10 against teams from the NL Central.
The Pirates broke the game open with a four-run fifth inning that pushed their lead to 9-1. Davis hit a three-run home run off rookie knuckleballer Steven Wright after left fielder Starling Marte drove in a run with a grounder.
It was Davis’ 11th homer of the season and 10th with the Pirates. That gave Pittsburgh nine players with 10 home runs for the first time in franchise history.
The Pirates scored in each of the first three innings against Buchholz to take a 5-0 lead.
Polanco hit a solo home run, his seventh, with one out in the first. Barmes keyed a three-run third with his two-run double then scored on third baseman Josh Harrison’s single. Walker led off the third with 21st homer.
The Red Sox got a run in the fifth inning when pinch hitter Bryce Bentz, called up from Triple-A Pawtucket before the game, hit a double in his first major league plate appearance and scored on a ground out by shortstop Xander Bogaerts.
NOTES: Boston recalled six players from Triple-A Pawtucket: OF Bryce Brentz, OF Rusney Castillo, INF/OF Garin Cecchini, LHP Edwin Escobar, RHP Heath Hembree, C/1B Ryan Lavarnway. … Red Sox DH David Ortiz is away from the team attending to a personal matter and is expected to return Friday night at Baltimore for the opener of a three-game series. Ortiz likely would not have played much in three-game series at Pittsburgh, as the designated hitter rule is not in effect in interleague games at National League parks. … The series concludes Thursday night with Boston RHP Brandon Workman (1-9, 5.27) facing Pittsburgh RHP Gerrit Cole (9-5, 3.92).
Yankees 3, Rays 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Derek Jeter ended a horrid hitless streak to spark the eventual winning rally and right-hander Brandon McCarthy gave the New York Yankees another strong performance on Wednesday night in a series-salvaging 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
In the process, the Yankees ended a potentially historic run by Rays starter Alex Cobb, who is third best all time in the American League with a streak of 12 straight starts allowing two or fewer runs. He trailed Seattle’s Felix Hernandez (17, this season) and Detroit’s Al Benton (15 in 1945).
McCarthy (7-4) allowed two runs and four hits with a walk and four strikeouts in seven innings for the win, posting his sixth consecutive quality start against the Rays. Overall, he was worked at least six innings in eight consecutive starts.
The Rays had the tying run on third in the eighth inning, but right-hander Dellin Betances struck out designated hitter David DeJesus to preserve the lead.
David Robertson posted his 37th save.
The Yankees won the final game of the three-game series to improve to 77-74. The Rays dropped to 74-79 and within two games of elimination for the American League wild card. The number would drop to two with a Royals win on Wednesday.
Tampa Bay won the season series 11-8, but could have become the first team to win 12 games in consecutive seasons against the Yankees since the Orioles and Twins in 1967-68.
Cobb (9-8) allowed three runs, four hits and three walks with three strikeouts in six innings, marking his shortest outing in his last 14 starts. In taking the loss, he hadn’t allowed as many as three runs since that same start — and 6-3 win — against Detroit.
New York took a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning but failed to fully capitalize against a struggling Alex Cobb after loading the bases twice. The right-hander, who on Thursday came within five outs of throwing the first complete-game no-hitter against the Yankees since 1958, needed 39 pitches and a leaping catch at the wall by right fielder Wil Myers to escape trailing by just two runs.
Jeter began the rally with a single to break an 0-for-28 slide and catcher Brian McCann and first baseman Mark Teixeira walked to load the bases.
After working to a three-ball count with one out, center fielder Brett Gardner hammered a pitch to the wall in right, but Myers’ leaping catch under the home run barrier limited him to a run-scoring sacrifice fly. Cobb walked third baseman Chase Headley to load the bases again but won a long struggle with Ichiro Suzuki to end the inning.
Tampa Bay trimmed the deficit immediately to 3-2 against McCarthy when David DeJesus tripled and scored on an Evan Longoria groundout, giving him 46 RBIs in 56 games since the All-Star break.