Mason Montgomery Believes Pirates Can Build Off Win Over Blue Jays originally appeared on SportsNet Pittsburgh.
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The Pittsburgh Pirates avoided a sweep at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday at the Rogers Centre.
Pittsburgh dropped the first two games of the series and gave Mitch Keller the ball in the series finale. The right-hander pitched well, while the bats came to life, as Spencer Horwitz hit a first-pitch home run to lead off the game. O’Neil Cruz hit a solo home run, and Esmerlyn Valdez hit his first career MLB home run in the sixth inning to give the team a 4-1 lead. It was also Valdez’s first career hit.
It was a solid performance from the Pirates, and Horwitz believes the team was able to get going after his leadoff home run.
“It was fun,” Horwitz said postgame Sunday. “Definitely one of my favorite homers so far, to be able to do it back here, to do it with a team that I’m wanted on is definitely great. It seemed to get the guys going a little bit this morning.”
Along with the bats, the pitching was solid, as Keller went six innings allowing one run on four hits. Mason Montgomery also came in relief was stellar as he went 1.2 innings, escaping a jam, allowing zero this and two strikeouts.
After the win on Sunday, Montgomery believes it’s a game he and the rest of the team can build off of.
“I feel like we’ve done a good job trusting our stuff and continuing to stick to our plan,” Montgomery said. “There are gonna be ups and downs. This a good step forward. Hopefully we can stack it.”
With the win, the Pirates improved to 27-26 and are two games back of a Wild Card spot. Pittsburgh is now off to begin a three-game road series against the Chicago Cubs beginning on Monday afternoon.
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