Archer earns 1st win as Pirate
DENVER — Adam Frazier has been doing damage with his bat lately.`
But it was his glove that helped Pittsburgh take a series in Colorado.
Frazier had three hits and made a run-saving play in the field, and the Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies 4-3 on Wednesday.
Chris Archer (4-5) was making his second start since being acquired from Tampa Bay before the July 31 trade deadline. He allowed two runs and five hits in five innings.
Felipe Vazquez got the last four outs for his 26th save.
Frazier had two doubles and a single, but made what might have been his biggest contribution on defense. With runners on the corners and two outs in the eighth inning, pinch-hitter Chris Iannetta hit a sharp grounder to the hole at second. Frazier made a diving stop and threw out Iannetta to end the inning and preserve the one-run lead.
“Flip's throwing 100 (mph) so I figured it was coming my way if he got inside of it and he did,” Frazier said. “He smoked it and I reacted. I dove and luckily it stuck to my glove. It saved the game for us. I'm pretty happy I made that play.”
His defense complemented a hot stretch at the plate. He got three hits in his first three at-bats and has raised his average 41 points to .280 over the past two weeks.
“He's been in a good place on both sides of the ball,” manager Clint Hurdle said.
German Marquez (9-9) tied a career high with 10 strikeouts and David Dahl homered for the Rockies.
Colorado scored just six runs in the three-game series.
“That's sort of been the theme lately, lately meaning the last few weeks,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “We just haven't seemed to string a big hit in there with a couple baserunners on base. We need that to turn around as we move forward.”
Archer retired the first eight batters before Marquez singled in the third. Colorado broke through in the fourth on Dahl's two run homer, his fifth of the season, to cut the deficit to 3-2.
“The homer I gave up was one of the only times I shook (catcher Francisco) Cervelli off,” Archer said. “That was my bad. I should have listened to him. It's huge to get a series “W” going into San Francisco.”
Pittsburgh led early on an RBI double by Gregory Polanco and a run-scoring single by Frazier in the first, and an RBI groundout in the third.
The Pirates added a run on Corey Dickerson's sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to make it 4-2. Ryan McMahon's RBI single made it close again.
Quick recovery
Archer spent a lot of Tuesday in bed trying to shake off a bug that had Hurdle wondering if he would start Wednesday.
“We needed to come up with a plan B, and it was real,” Hurdle said. “For him to go out and pitch the way he did, it was a really strong effort.”
