MIAMI – Rookie Oneil Cruz hit a tiebreaking RBI triple and Jake Marisnick homered for the second straight game, helping the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Miami Marlins 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Diego Castillo had two hits for the Pirates in their fourth straight victory. Pittsburgh is 14-6 against Miami since 2018.
“Everybody is motivated with the desire to win,” Castillo said in Spanish. “And when a club maintains consistency, good things continue to happen.”
Dillon Peters (5-2) got the win with 2 2/3 innings of one-run relief. The left-hander was activated from the injured list Tuesday.
“I felt good, I worked hard while I was injured,” Peters said. “I knew I definitely had some length in me today. Like I said, however long, let’s go.”
Cruz made it 2-1 when he tripled home Castillo in the fifth. Cruz then scored on Jason Delay’s single against Daniel Castano (1-3).
Miami got one back on Nick Fortes’ RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. But Tyler Beede and Wil Crowe combined for three perfect innings before All-Star David Bednar worked the ninth for his 16th save.
Castano allowed five hits, struck out three, and walked none in five innings.
Marisnick put Pittsburgh in front with his leadoff shot in the third. Miami tied it in the bottom half on Joey Wendle’s sacrifice fly.
Chris Stratton threw 2 1/3 innings of one-run ball in a bullpen game for the Pirates. It was Stratton’s first start after 161 relief appearances. He last started for the Los Angeles Angels on April 23, 2019.
Getting through the first inning on nine pitches enabled Stratton to pitch into the third.
“I think the fact we were able to push him into that third inning was really important for us,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He hadn’t gone three-ups in a while.”
After Fortes’ hit in the fifth, Miami didn’t have another batter reach base until Jesús Aguilar’s two-out single against Bednar.
“Bullpen days, they seem to go one way or the other,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Either they go really good or they go really bad. Tonight, it went pretty good for them.”
Marlins’ first baseman Garrett Cooper exited in the sixth after fouling a pitch off his left knee. Cooper was added to the NL All-Star team on Tuesday, replacing Philadelphia slugger Bryce Harper at designated hitter.
“It’s swollen,” Cooper said. “Hopefully in a day or two, I’ll be good. Nothing broken. That’s all that matters.”