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Pirates top Sox again in front of big crowd

Jun 26, 2011 - 4:39 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - So what if the largest baseball crowd in PNC Park history had a lot of Red Sox fans?

Everyone watched the Pirates win again.

Lyle Overbay hit a three-run homer, starter Jeff Karstens helped himself with an RBI single and Pittsburgh beat Tim Wakefield and Boston, 6-4, on Saturday night to take the first two games of their weekend series.

Karstens (5-4) picked up the win in 6 2/3 innings and the Pirates bullpen held on behind him, throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings to lock down the team's fourth straight win.

The Red Sox, who have dropped four in a row on the heels of a 14-2 stretch, had a runner at second base in the ninth after Dustin Pedroia doubled off the right field wall.

But Joel Hanrahan struck out Adrian Gonzalez after a competitive at-bat to earn his 22nd save.

The Pirates, after winning the opener of this three-game series 3-1 on Friday, survived solo homers from Gonzalez, Josh Reddick and Jacoby Ellsbury to treat the mostly-supportive crowd of 39,483 to a win.

"A big ballgame, a good win and another packed house," said Pirates manager Clint Hurdle. "It's a great feeling right now. The guys are really embracing it and playing with a lot of energy."

Someone in the building thought the game was over before it actually was.

Pedroia's two-out drive in the ninth inning struck high off the wall despite Xavier Paul's jumping effort to catch it. For a moment, it looked like he had the ball and at least a couple of fireworks behind the stadium fired early.

As the potential tying run, Gonzalez fouled off four consecutive fastballs but couldn't hold up his swing on a biting Hanrahan breaking pitch, ending the game.

Wakefield (4-3) made his first start in Pittsburgh as a visitor and was roughed up for five runs, seven hits and four walks in six innings.

The 44-year-old knuckleballer, who went 14-12 as a Pirate from 1992-93, fell to 0-1 in two career appearances against his former team. The last was a no- decision in Boston on June 18, 2005.

"Obviously it's in my mind," Wakefield said about playing the team he came up with. "It's just another opponent to me and I just went about my business and tried to help us win."

Things started OK for the Red Sox. Wakefield retired the first six batters he faced and they scored runs in the first and third innings. Pedroia walked, stole second and went to third on catcher Michael McKenry's bad throw, then scored on Gonzalez's ground out in the first.

Gonzalez belted his 16th homer of the season over the left field wall to make it 2-0 in the third.

But Pittsburgh got to Wakefield for four runs in the fourth, taking the lead for good.

The rally was sparked by Andrew McCutchen's one-out single. McCutchen stole second base, Neil Walker drew a walk and Overbay made it 3-2 with his sixth homer of the season, a no-doubt-about-it blast deep into the right field seats. Ronny Cedeno doubled and came home on Karstens single up the middle, the pitcher's first career RBI.

The Pirates pushed their lead to 5-2 in the fifth inning when McCutchen's grounder went through Pedroia's legs at second base, scoring Chase d'Arnaud.

Karstens gave up a leadoff homer to Reddick in the seventh, then a two-out solo homer to Ellsbury before he was yanked for Daniel McCutchen, who gave up a double to Pedroia. Daniel Moskos retired Gonzalez to end the inning.

Garrett Jones then gave the Pirates some breathing room with a solo homer off Matt Albers in the seventh, making it 6-4. Tim Wood and Tony Watson worked the eighth for Pittsburgh -- Watson got all three outs.

Hanrahan got pinch-hitter David Ortiz, normally Boston's designated hitter, to ground out for the first out in the ninth.

Game Notes

The regular season series between the teams is tied at 4-4...Boston has lost four straight games for the first time since May 29-June 1...Wakefield is stuck on 197 career wins. He was released by Pittsburgh in 1995 and has been pitching for the Red Sox since that year. The only teams Wakefield hasn't faced as a visitor are Arizona, Washington and Boston...Before the game, the Pirates designated catcher Dusty Brown for assignment and selected the contract of catcher Eric Fryer from Triple-A Indianapolis.