PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jack Suwinski hit his third homer of the game in the ninth inning, giving the Pittsburgh Pirates a 4-3, walk-off victory over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.
The rookie drove a slider from side-arming Tyler Rogers (0-3) to right for his second game-ending home run of the season after connecting for one June 4 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I was just like, ‘No way, man. No way that’s going,'” Suwinski said. “That guy is hard to hit off of. Coming from that low under there, it’s not an easy at bat.”
Pirates manager Derek Shelton spoke with Suwinski in the bottom of the eighth, asking if he was ready to go deep a third time. Shelton said he was told, “No.”
“I was not trying to think about that,” Suwinski said. “You start trying to do too much and then you just blow it or whatever. I was just trying to not think about that and just focus on what the pitcher had.”
Suwinski is the second Pirates rookie to hit three homers in a game, joining Andrew McCutchen (Aug. 1, 2009). Josh Bell was the last player to hit three in a game for Pittsburgh on July 1, 2019.
The 23-year-old Suwinski took a sinker from starter Alex Cobb deep for a solo shot in the fourth before doing the same to Sam Long for a 3-2 lead in the sixth. He has 11 home runs in 47 games this season, tied with Bryan Reynolds for the team lead.
Thairo Estrada homered off Pittsburgh closer David Bednar leading off the top of the ninth, tying the game at 3. Bednar (3-1) was working his second inning of relief and struck out two of the final three batters to end the ninth.
Mitch Keller gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits with four strikeouts in six innings for the Pirates, extending his streak of starts with fewer than three runs allowed to four. He has…