Jonathon Niese outpitched Cole Hamels, ending Hamels’ career-best winning streak at 12 games in Pittsburgh’s 9-1 victory over the Rangers on Friday night.
Niese threw five shutout innings before Adrian Beltre’s leadoff homer in the sixth. He scattered seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts in six innings of work.
Andrew McCutcheon, Jung Ho Kang, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco homered for the Pirates.
Tonight, Juan Nicasio starts for the Pirates. He won his only career start against the Rangers while he was with Colorado, allowing one run in five innings with five walks in a 12-1 victory for the Rockies.
The Rangers’ Yu Darvish makes his first major league start since Aug. 9, 2014. He had been out with elbow problems.