Pirates nearly blow double-digit lead, hold on to beat Indians to snap 10-game losing streak

Jun. 19—The Pittsburgh Pirates responded to their double-digit losing streak by scoring double-digit runs for a double-digit lead — one they almost blew.

After losing 10 consecutive games, the Pirates took out their frustrations early on the Cleveland Indians, then hung on for dear life.

With the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second base, Richard Rodriguez struck out Bobby Bradley in the ninth to clinch an 11-10 win Friday night before a season-high crowd of 16,965 at PNC Park.

"I take away that we got a win. That's what I take away from it," Pirates manager Derek Shelton said with a laugh. "No. 1, we got a win. No. 2, Chad Kuhl was really good. He did a really nice job, gave us a really nice start. And, No. 3, man, it was really cool to be in this ballpark with it bouncing, because it was bouncing in the ninth. They got into it, and that was really cool to see. Something that I've been waiting to see, and our fans got after it. That was awesome."

The Pirates (24-44), who were leading, 11-1, after six innings, were only concerned with snapping their losing streak.

"That's what, really, it comes down to," Kuhl said. "It's 10 games. A couple of ugly games. A couple of close games. It just felt like we lost in some tough ways. And to finally (win), no matter how it looked at the end of that, is a really good feeling."

The Pirates got off to a fast start with a five-run first inning against Indians starter C.J. Mejia, then batted through the order in a five-run sixth against reliever Kyle Nelson. The Indians (38-29) made it close, thanks to a Cesar Hernandez grand slam in a six-run seventh.

Adam Frazier got it started in the first with a leadoff single to left-center, and Ke'Bryan Hayes reached on a fielder's choice when the Indians failed to turn a double play on his grounder to third. Instead of two outs, the Pirates soon loaded the bases when Bryan Reynolds singled. Jacob Stallings hit a two-run double, and Gregory Polanco followed with his seventh homer, a 410-foot, two-run shot for a 4-0 lead. Reynolds hit his 11th homer in the third, a solo shot to right, for a 5-0 lead.

Kuhl (1-4) allowed one run on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts in six innings, benefiting from four double plays. The last one came on a line drive to third, where Hayes threw to first to get Rene Rivera. Bradley Zimmer was left at third, however, and scored on a single to left by Cesar Hernandez to make it 6-1.

"We had three of them and then the line drive one. It was really good," Shelton said. "The slider was good. He did a nice job. He executed pitches all night, kept them off balance. I know the game turned a little ugly on him there, but Chad Kuhl was really important for us."

Nelson replaced Mejia (1-2) in the sixth and proceeded to allow two hits, three walks — one with the bases loaded — and hit Frazier with a pitch to score another run for an 8-1 lead. Hayes hit a bases-clearing double to the right-center gap to make it 11-1.

"Obviously, defense was the biggest part of my game," Kuhl said. "We scored 11 runs, and I was able to try and put the ball on the ground. We had some incredible plays behind me, and I just had to lean on the defense, and that was the real story of the first half of the night."

The second half was about Cleveland's offense. The Indians took advantage of lefty Sam Howard's erratic control with a six-run seventh on the strength of the Hernandez homer. The Indians loaded the bases by sandwiching a pair of walks around an Eddie Rosario single, and Josh Naylor hit an RBI single to left to score Jose Ramirez to make it 11-2. Facing a full count and two outs, Hernandez drove Howard's fastball 407 feet to dead center for his 11th homer and first career slam to cut it to 11-7.

Things unraveled for the Pirates in the eighth, when Kyle Crick hit Jose Ramirez with a pitch, gave up a single to Eddie Rosario and then hit Bradley Zimmer. Clay Holmes replaced Crick but gave up a two-run single to Rivera, with a third run scoring when Reynolds' throw from center bounced past Hayes at third to make it 11-10.

The Pirates sent closer Richard Rodriguez out for the top of the ninth. After striking out Hernandez, he gave up back-to-back singles to Amed Rosario and Ernie Clement. Rodriguez got Eddie Rosario to fly out to center, but both runners advanced, putting the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second for Bradley.

Shelton sweated out the final three outs.

"They were not easy," Shelton said. "I think I drank five bottles of water, paced a little bit. Yeah, I mean, to our guys' credit, to our offense's credit, we got runs early. They came back and extended innings and we got five more. I felt comfortable with Richie out there on the mound in the ninth. He's done a nice job all year, regardless of if it's a three-run lead, four-run lead, one-run lead, and he got it done, which was important. (This) was a big win for us."

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .