Alejandro Kirk drives in three as Blue Jays defeat Pirates

Alejandro Kirk hit a home run and finished with three hits and three RBIs to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 7-3 victory over the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.
George Springer belted his 20th home run of the season, a two-run blast in the second inning off Pirates starter Mitch Keller (5-12) as Toronto scored three in the first and two in the second.
Kirk pushed Toronto’s lead to 7-1 in the top of the seventh with a two-run home run off Pirates’ reliever Colin Holderman.
Keller lasted 3 1/3 innings after allowing all five of those runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out four on 85 pitches.
Springer and Nathan Lukes each produced two hits and two RBIs, while Myles Straw had a double and stole two bases to help the Blue Jays snap a brief two-game losing streak and halt the Pirates’ equally brief two-game winning streak.
Toronto’s offensive resurgence backed up a strong outing from Max Scherzer (4-2), who threw 104 pitches over six innings. Scherzer collected his 220th career win after allowing one run on four hits and three walks, while striking out four.
Bryan Reynolds, Joey Bart and Nick Gonzales each had two hits to lead Pittsburgh offensively.
The Pirates chipped away at Toronto’s lead with a run in the seventh and eighth innings. Ronny Simon drove in a sacrifice fly to score Bart and cut the deficit to 7-2. Jack Suwinski singled to drive in Gonzales in the eighth to make it a four-run game.
But Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman prevented Pittsburgh from doing any more damage by working a perfect ninth with one strikeout in a non-save situation.
Toronto loaded the bases in the first when Springer was hit by a pitch and Keller walked Addison Barger and Bo Bichette. Kirk hit a long single to score Springer and Lukes followed with a two-run single.
The Pirates released left-handed pitcher Ryan Borucki on Monday.