PITTSBURGH (AP) — Isiah Kiner-Falefa had three hits, including a first-inning homer, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the skidding Seattle Mariners 7-2 on Saturday.
Rowdy Tellez and Jared Triolo also connected for the Pirates, who have won the first two games of the three-game series following a 10-game losing streak. Joey Bart added a pair of doubles.
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PITTSBURGH (AP) — Isiah Kiner-Falefa had three hits, including a first-inning homer, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the skidding Seattle Mariners 7-2 on Saturday.
Pittsburgh Pirates' Rowdy Tellez rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Pittsburgh Pirates' Bryan De La Cruz hits a single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo, right, hands the ball to manager Scott Servais, left, during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Pittsburgh Pirates' Rowdy Tellez, right, is greeted by third base coach Mike Rabelo, left, as he rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Pittsburgh Pirates' Rowdy Tellez watches his two-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Pittsburgh left-hander Bailey Falter (6-7) matched a career high with eight strikeouts while allowing two runs in 5 2/3 innings. He permitted eight hits and walked none.
“I’m not a guy that punches a lot of tickets, so that’s always nice to see,” Falter said of the strikeouts. “But I’m not really too worried about that. Just want to go out there, put up zeros and get these guys in the dugout as quick as possible.”
It was the fifth consecutive loss for Seattle, which began the day in second place in the AL West.
The Pirates had to hang on in the ninth inning after the Mariners loaded the bases on a walk and two hit batters by Domingo German. David Bednar relieved with a five-run lead and retired three straight batters for his 22nd save.
Kiner-Falefa hit his first home run since he was acquired in a July 30 trade with Toronto, a 406-foot drive off Luis Castillo. It also was the first time the veteran infielder led off the first with a homer.
“I felt like I got it pretty good,” Kiner-Falefa said. “Really good pitcher on the mound, so tried to get under the ball and got it. It felt good to get that out of the way and have a little momentum right there.”
Kiner-Falefa’s eight home runs are a career high for the seven-year veteran.
“Just try to play my game, just try to continue to hit the ball hard and swing at good pitches,” he said. “Felt like I’ve always key-holed myself into being a slap hitter, so trying to get my swing off and help the team and drive in runs.”
Victor Robles hit a tying RBI single for Seattle in the second, but the Pirates went ahead to stay when Tellez connected for a two-run shot in the fourth.
Triolo’s solo homer in the seventh off JT Chargois lifted Pittsburgh to a 5-2 lead.
Castillo (10-12) permitted four runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked three.
The right-hander had pitched at least six innings in each of his last seven starts.
Robles, Jorge Polanco and Mitch Haniger had two hits apiece for the Mariners. Randy Arozarena struck out in each of his five at-bats.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: Haniger (quadriceps) was removed from the game after the fourth inning and replaced in right field by Luke Raley.
Pirates: DH Andrew McCutchen (left knee inflammation) was placed on the 10-day injured list, and INF Alika Williams was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis. ... SS Oneil Cruz (left ankle discomfort) was in the lineup as the DH a day after departing in the seventh inning when he was injured running the bases. ... LHP Ryan Borucki (left triceps inflammation) was scheduled to begin a rehab assignment Saturday night with Indianapolis.
UP NEXT
The three-game series concludes Sunday with RHP George Kirby (8-9, 3.42 ERA) starting for the Mariners against RHP Jake Woodford (0-4, 5.87). Kirby is the only pitcher in major league history with at least 50 career starts to have more starts (81) than walks (58).
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Seattle Mariners' Mitch Haniger celebrates in the dugout after scoring during the second inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Pittsburgh Pirates' Rowdy Tellez rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Pittsburgh Pirates' Bryan De La Cruz hits a single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo, right, hands the ball to manager Scott Servais, left, during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Pittsburgh Pirates' Rowdy Tellez, right, is greeted by third base coach Mike Rabelo, left, as he rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
Pittsburgh Pirates' Rowdy Tellez watches his two-run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes stormed back from big early drops to finish higher, led by a handful of highly influential Big Tech companies. The S&P 500 gained 1.1% Wednesday after erasing a morning wipeout of 1.6%. A majority of the index’s stocks still finished lower for the day, but gains for Nvidia and other tech stocks were enough to drive it to a third straight gain and back within 2% of its all-time high set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 124 points, or 0.3%, after rallying back from a drop of 743 points. The Nasdaq composite jumped 2.2%.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks are falling Wednesday as traders scale back their expectations for how much relief the Federal Reserve will deliver next week when it begins cutting interest rates.
Seven out of every 10 stocks were sinking within the S&P 500, but the index was nevertheless 0.4% higher in afternoon trading after erasing a sharp slide from earlier in the morning. The gain was due almost entirely to the performance of just one highly influential stock: Nvidia.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 76 points, or 0.2%, as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, after erasing almost all of an earlier drop of 743 points. The Nasdaq composite, meanwhile, was up 1.4% thanks to Nvidia and a handful of other Big Tech stocks.
The sharp see-saw trading, where the Nasdaq composite roared back from an earlier 1.4% slide, followed the government's latest update on inflation at the consumer level, which came in close to expectations. Overall inflation slowed to 2.5% in August from 2.9% in July, a touch better than expected. But prices rose more than expected from July into August when ignoring food and energy, and economists say that can be a better predictor of where inflation is heading.
All together, the data seemed to confirm that the Fed will indeed cut its main interest rate at its meeting next week, which would be the first such cut in more than four years. But it bolstered expectations that the Fed will begin with only a traditional-sized move of a quarter of a percentage point instead of the more severe half-point that some had been expecting.
“This isn’t the CPI report the market wanted to see,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.
Investors have a long history of being overly optimistic about how much and when the Fed will cut interest rates, only to send stock prices lower after being confronted with reality. Wall Street loves lower rates because they can goose the economy by making it cheaper for U.S. companies and households to borrow. Cuts also give boosts to investment prices.
The downside of lower rates is that they can give inflation more fuel.
“We believe the market is pricing in more rate cuts than what will occur this year,” said Gargi Chaudhuri, chief investment and portfolio strategist, Americas at BlackRock.
This time, the Fed at least has already indicated it’s about to begin lowering interest rates as it shifts from fighting high inflation toward protecting the job market and keeping the economy out of a recession. With inflation down from its peak of 9.1% two summers ago, the Fed is hoping to ease the brakes off the already slowing economy.
A worry on Wall Street is that the cuts may prove to be too late, with many U.S. shoppers already struggling under the weight of high prices and stretched ability to spend more.
Vera Bradley’s stock dropped 5.9% after the designer of handbags and the parent company of the Pura Vida brand reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It pointed to “stubbornly persistent macro consumer headwinds.”
Elsewhere on Wall Street, Trump Media & Technology Group sank 11.3% to worsen its rough run since March. The company behind former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform has often risen and fallen with expectations for Trump’s re-election chances, and he’s coming off a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Since closing above $66 in early March, the stock has tumbled to $16.53. That affects Trump particularly because he is the company’s largest shareholder.
On the winning side of the U.S. stock market were solar-energy companies, which are seen as doing better under a Democratic White House than a Republican one. First Solar jumped 14.4%.
Big Tech also once again lifted the market. A handful of these behemoths have pulled away from the rest of the stock market, accounting for most of the S&P 500's return through the early part of this year, in large part on hopes about profits coming from the artificial-intelligence boom.
They faltered during the summer on worries that investors had carried the stock prices too high, including a 27% drop for Nvidia at one point, but they've been firming in the last couple weeks.
Beside the 6.8% rise for Nvidia, gains of 1.5% for Amazon and 1.5% for Microsoft were also big forces lifting the S&P 500. Because these companies are among Wall Street's largest by market value, their movements pack more punch on the index than almost every other stock.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.66% from 3.64% late Tuesday. The two-year yield, which more closely follows expectations for Fed action, rose more, to 3.65% from 3.59%.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.5% after a Japanese central bank official was quoted by Japanese media as indicating the Bank of Japan was getting ready to raise interest rates. The comments also pushed the value of the Japanese yen higher against the U.S. dollar, a move that earlier in the summer helped send financial markets around the world reeling.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
The American flag hangs from the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
Currency traders talk near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ), at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Currency traders talk near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ), at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A currency trader walks by the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A currency trader walks by the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
