The Pirates continued their road trip, winning their tenth game in the first of a three game series in Colorado.

The Pirates had their work cut out for them against the current National League ERA Leader Kyle Freeland. Heading into this game, Freeland was 2-0, with a .95 ERA in 18.2 innings pitched. Obviously Freeland has been excellent so far this season, but the Bucs got to him.

The party started in the first inning, with a solo shot to left field from DH Andrew McCutchen. Rich Hill was on the bump for the Bucs, and in the bottom of the first inning he found himself in a jam. With bases loaded and one out, Rockies catcher Elias Diaz hit a ball to Pirates third baseman Ke’bryan Hayes. Hayes made the pick, stepped on the bag and fired to first to end the inning with no damage done.

In the second inning, the Pirates broke the game open, putting up six runs to take a 7-0 lead. Mark Mathias, Austin Hedges, Hayes, and Bryan Reynolds all collected RBI hits in the inning. The last RBI of the inning belonged to Pirates veteran first baseman Carlos Santana. Santana grounded into a fielders choice to the shortstop, Tovar got the out at second but Santana made it safely to first.

After the second, the Pirates tacked on a few more runs, scoring two in the 3rd, four in the 5th, and one in the 9th. The Rockies were only able to sneak one run past Hill on a Kris Bryant home run in the bottom of the 3rd. Other than that, Hill was excellent, with his final line being 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K’s. Overall great day for the Pirates Pitching staff in a very offensive environment.

The Pirates have been playing very good baseball to start the season. Part of their success is the mentorship that they’re seeing from older veterans that they brought in during the off season. players like McCutchen, Hill, and Santana are great models for the young players. The standard that they hold the young players to is allowing them to believe they can win, and they are. For example, lets go back to the second inning, where Santana sprinted down the line to avoid a double play. Many players at 37 years old would’ve jogged that out, but Santana sets a standard for the young players. It will be exciting to see how these young players develop with the wise leadership from these vets.

The Pirates play again tonight (4/18), looking for their 11th win with Vince Velasquez pitching for the Bucs, and José Ureña pitching for the Rockies. Game time, 8:40 p.m.