Pittsburgh Pirates second team to clinch playoff berth

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[September 24, 2015]  (Reuters) - The Pittsburgh Pirates became the second team to earn a berth in the Major League Baseball post-season when they beat the Colorado Rockies 13-7 in Denver on Wednesday.

Corey Dickerson went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and the Pirates, up by just one run entering the ninth inning, broke the game open with six runs to turn a close game into a 13-7 blowout.

The result leaves the Pirates (92-60) mathematically certain to qualify for the playoffs, with just 10 regular season games left.

St. Louis (96-56) were the first team to advance to the post-season.

Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, both teams are in the National League Central, which means the Pirates are almost certainly headed to a one-off wild card game against the Chicago Cubs, who are also in the NL Central.

Each of the divisional winners, three in the NL and three in the American League, advance to the playoffs while the two teams in each league with the next best records earn wild card spots and play each other for the final post-season position.

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It is the third successive year the Pirates have made the post-season. Last year they lost a wild card game against the San Francisco Giants, who went on to win the World Series.

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

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