PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The first of three between the Pirates and Diamondbacks featured a series of major swings and eventually an Arizona 9-8 comeback win after leading by five earlier.
The Diamondbacks lashed out to hit three straight home runs in the first inning, scoring five times while the Pirates answered with four runs in the sixth to take a first lead before former Pirate Josh Bell would tie it driving a two out, 0-2 pitch from Aroldis Chapman over the Clemente Wall. After nearly leaving the game fouling a pitch off his foot, Geraldo Perdomo lined a two-out, 1-2 pitch off over Bryan De La Cruz’s head to give the Diamondbacks the lead back in the eighth inning and Ketel Marte provided insurance with a fifth Arizona home run in the ninth. The insurance was key as Rowdy Tellez drove in Oneil Cruz , after a career-high fifth hit in the ninth.
The win expanded the Arizona Wild Card lead over the Pirates to 3.5 games.
“That’s was a good comeback for us,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “We were down 5-0 in the first and we continued to battle and took the lead. We just didn’t finish it. We did a nice job of moving the ball forward. We did a nice job with runners in scoring position. We had good at bats. We just didn’t finish the game.”
Battlin’
The Pirates comeback from a 5-0 deficit started innocently enough after a Cruz leadoff single, a pair of fielders’ choices got Cruz to third and a two-out, RBI single from catcher Joey Bart in the fourth. A two-out double by Andrew McCutchen in the fifth was followed by an RBI double from Bryan Reynolds and Cruz then drove in Reynolds with a single to make it 5-3.
Arizona would add on in the sixth before the a one-out walk to Bart was followed by a Ke’Bryan Hayes roller that stayed fair off the third-base bag then Jared Triolo was hit by a pitch, shortstop Perdomo made a diving stop on a ball in the hole to force Triolo with Michael A. Taylor at first, driving in a run. McCutchen, Reynolds and Cruz would follow with RBI singles to give the Bucs a first lead at 7-6.
Snakes alive
On the fifth pitch of the game, leadoff hitter Corbin Carroll lined one down the right field line as he hustled to try and make it a triple, the cutoff throw came in from De La Cruz to Oneil Cruz, in a quick attempt to cut down the runner, Cruz threw wildly and Carroll scored, 1-0.
The next three batters- Marte, Joc Pederson and Bell all homered. All went to right field and Pederson’s bounced into the Allegheny River becoming the 50 th player to ever do it. Diamondbacks would add another run driven home by a fielders’ choice for an early 5-0 lead.
Luis Ortiz would make it 5.1 innings giving up six earned runs on six hits with three walks and two walks. He threw 91 pitches, 56 for strikes.
“Definitely that first inning didn’t go my way, it happens,” Ortiz said through interpreter Stephen Morales. “Then after the second inning on, I was hitting my spot and making better pitches.”
“Challenging first inning was in the middle of the plate the whole inning,” Shelton said. “Then to come back and give us five plus was huge for us for where we are at. He settled down and was able to execute pitches. He had a bad inning.”
Cutch moves up
With his two hits, Andrew McCutchen passed Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza with 2128 career hits. The RBI was number 799 as a Pirate.
Rehab success
Acquired from the Blue Jays at the trade deadline, infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa is trying to work back from a knee injury and played a game with the AA Altoona Curve on Friday night switching between shortstop and second base going 2-4 including a double and run scored as the Curve won 9-3.
Hitting .292 with the Blue Jays, Pirates Director of Sports Medicine Todd Tomczyk said Kiner-Falefa could join the MLB team as soon as Sunday.
Currently the Pirates top prospect, 21-year-old right-handed pitcher Bubba Chandler started the Curve game against Richmond giving up three hits, a run, no walks and seven strikeouts over seven innings. The ERA is now 3.70 with 94 strikeouts in 80.1 innings.
Henry heating up
2021 first-round pick, catcher Henry Davis hit his 11 th home run in AAA. In July the right-handed Davis had five doubles, three homers and 14 RBI with a .359 average and .414 on-base percentage in 64 at bats.
Working his way back from Tommy John surgery, former Pirates Minor League Pitcher of the Year Michael Burrows went 3.1 inning giving up seven hits, four runs, a walk and seven strikeouts.
Up Next
The fourth best ERA in the majors since May 6 , Mitch Keller (10-5, 3.30 ERA) starts for the Pirates on Saturday night at 6:40 against LHP Jordan Montgomery (7-5, 6.51 ERA) in his last three starts-11.2 innings, 14 earned runs. Dan Zangrilli starts the North Shore Tavern Leadoff Show at 5:45p on 93.7 The Fan.
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