Pirates 6, Angels 1
Pirates 6, Angels 1: Pedro Alvarez continued his power surge with his 18th home run and Francisco Liriano tossed 6 2/3 strong innings as Pittsburgh improved to 4-2 on its nine-game road trip with its third consecutive win.
Andrew McCutchen and Gaby Sanchez also hit solo homers for the Pirates, who moved a season-high 15 games over .500 and will attempt to complete a sweep of the three-game interleague series on Sunday.
Alvarez went deep for the third straight game, belting a 1-1 offering from Jerome Williams into the seats in right field with one out in Pittsburgh's three-run second inning. McCutchen hit a one-out blast in the fifth and Sanchez drilled a shot off the foul pole in left with two out in the eighth to make it 6-1.
Liriano (6-3) allowed one run and seven hits en route to his third win in four starts. The left-hander, who walked three and struck out six, improved to 2-4 in nine career games (eight starts) against the Angels.
Williams (5-3) surrendered five runs - four earned - and eight hits over six innings. J.B. Shuck singled, doubled and scored the lone run for the Angels, who are 5-4 on their 10-game homestand.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Liriano has given up more than two runs only twice in nine starts this season. ... Alvarez has collected 12 RBIs over his last seven games and seven in his last three contests. ... Angels OF Josh Hamilton missed his second straight game with a sore right wrist.