Francisco Liriano dominates, Pirates mash Carlos Rodon for 11-0 win

Francisco Liriano pitched eight fantastic innings and the Pirates quickly got on White Sox rookie Carlos Rodon for an 11-0 victory, the team's fifth in a row.

Liriano struck out 12 and walked one, allowing just two hits. He finished the night with 99 strikeouts in 82 2-3 innings on the season.

The Pirates got a little BABIP luck early, but it was quickly apparent they had Rodon's heat squared up and they put five runs on the board in the first inning, including a two-run triple to the right-field gap by Francisco Cervelli.

They chased Rodon with Josh Harrison's RBI single in the fourth. The lefty lasted 3 2-3 innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits.

The Pirates kept going against human punching bag Hector Noesi. Marte scored when he doubled, moved to third on a throw and went home on a Gordon Beckham error.

As a Pirates fan, I had to have some sympathy for how pathetic the White Sox looked, knowing we've been there before. Beckham's error was one of three the Sox made. Even clean hits looked a little worse with Melky Cabrera and Avisail Garcia bumbling around the outfield corners. Robin Ventura challenged a tag play with his team down 11-0 in the seventh, which seemed a lot like something a manager would do when his job is slipping away.

The Pirates, though, improved to 10-3 in June. They totaled 18 hits, four each by Harrison (4-for-4, 3 runs, 1 walk) and Marte (4-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs). Andrew McCutchen, Jung-Ho Kang, Francisco Cervelli, Jose Tabata and Jordy Mercer had two hits each. Outside of Liriano, Sean Rodriguez was the only starter without a hit.