PITTSBURGH (AP) — After hitting four home runs in his first six games, Kyle Lewis finally hit a rough patch when he struck out four times in his last one.
One day later, the Seattle Mariners’ 24-year-old rookie right fielder went deep again.
Lewis homered for the fifth time in eight major league games, and the Mariners beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 Wednesday night for their fourth straight win.
“It’s always an honor being able to do things that kind of are groundbreaking,” Lewis said. “It’s always cool. So I am sure looking back on it, I will be able to reflect on those kinds of things down the road. But right now I am in the moment and am keeping working.”
With Seattle leading 2-0 in the fourth inning, Lewis sent a sinker from Pirates starter Dario Agrazal (4-5) 383 feet to right field for a solo home run.
“I actually think I executed the pitch well,” Agrazal said. “If anything, I tip my hat, I take off my hat, to that hitter. I feel like I threw the ball well. I executed it well. He connected well, and I have to tip my hat to him.”
Tom Murphy followed with another homer, taking Agrazal 420 feet to center field for his 18th homer run and a 4-0 lead.
Agrazal, a rookie right-hander, allowed the four runs and six hits while striking out six in five innings.
Tommy Milone (4-9) relieved Justin Dunn to start the third inning for Seattle before allowing two hits and using just 51 pitches to get through five shutout innings. Matt Magill allowed back-to-back singles to start the ninth before retiring the next three batters for his fifth save.
“Tommy threw the ball really well tonight,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Tommy had a real good changeup. Kept them off-balance tonight. It was great to see. Got us deep into the ballgame, and got enough offense.”
The Pirates lost a fifth straight game since winning three of four from Sept. 9-12. They have been outscored 57-16 during the losing streak, including 10-1 in the first two games of this series.
“We had three hard-hit balls in seven innings. We had five hard-hit balls in the last two innings,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “We had six balls that either the catcher or the pitcher made a play on. … We hit balls hard, but it was just too late.”
Dylan Moore put the Mariners ahead 2-0 with a two-out, two-run double down the left field line in the second inning.
Cole Tucker had a pinch-hit triple for Pittsburgh before scoring on a groundout from Kevin Newman, making it 4-1 in the eighth.
DUNN RECOVERS
Servais pegged Dunn to get through Pittsburgh’s lineup once. The rookie right-hander achieved that goal in two shutout innings, giving up one hit and three walks with one strikeout before Milone entered. In his major league debut, Dunn gave up two runs and five walks before being pulled after two-thirds of an inning against Cincinnati on Sept. 12.
“Last time out, I wasn’t really around the zone,” Dunn said. “So we couldn’t really see how my stuff played. Attack the zone and fill it up and get some outs.”
KEEP IT GOING
Newman extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a single over Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford in the third inning. He has hit safely in 20 consecutive starts dating back to Aug. 24.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: OF Bryan Reynolds returned to the lineup after sitting Tuesday. He played centerfield in place of OF Starling Marte, who has missed the past nine games because of a sprained left wrist. … 1B Josh Bell was held out of a fourth straight game with left groin discomfort.
UP NEXT
Mariners: LHP Yusei Kikuchi (6-10, 5.46) will look to bounce back from being pulled after 2 1/3 innings in his last start when he takes the mound against Pittsburgh on Thursday. The rookie allowed five runs on 10 hits in a 9-7 loss to the White Sox his last time out.
Pirates: RHP Joe Musgrove (10-12, 4.52) will go Thursday after pitching five shutout innings against San Francisco his last start. He lasted just five innings, but struck out seven in a 4-2 win on Sept. 12.
