Pirates 5, Rockies 1 (Game 2)
Pirates 5, Rockies 1: Charlie Morton pitched seven solid innings and Garrett Jones and Pedro Alvarez delivered back-to-back homers as host Pittsburgh gained a doubleheader split with an unusual offensive explosion.
The Pirates, who entered Wednesday with a major league-low 35 runs scored - 19 fewer than the next-worst team (Oakland), took advantage of two fly balls lost in the sun by Colorado left fielder Carlos Gonzalez to score five runs in the fifth inning.
After Alex Presley's one-out double, Nate McLouth's lazy fly ball dropped near Gonzalez for an RBI double and Gonzalez also couldn't find Andrew McCutchen's fly ball, which resulted in an RBI single. Jones followed with a deep drive into the right-field seats and Pedro Alvarez hit a shot off the right field foul pole.
Pittsburgh matched a season high for runs to support Morton, who allowed one run, six hits and recorded 16 ground ball outs.
Alvarez also went deep in the first game - a 2-1 loss - and added a double in the nightcap. Jones went 3-for-4.
Jhoulys Chacin (0-2) allowed five runs, eight hits and struck out five in five innings and Ramon Hernandez homered in the seventh for Colorado.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Pirates set a major league record by not scoring or allowing more than five runs in their first 18 games, breaking the old mark set by the 1943 Detroit Tigers. ... Pittsburgh had scored four runs in Morton's previous two starts. ... Pittsburgh's Clint Barmes went 2-for-4 and has 701 career hits. He finished 6-for-11 in the series against his former team. ... Presley extended his hitting streak to 10 games. ... Four of Alvarez' seven hits this season are homers. ... The Pirates embark on a seven-game road trip to Atlanta and St. Louis while the Rockies face a nine-game homestand
against the Mets, Dodgers and Braves.