Arizona Diamondbacks Drop Series in Pittsburgh
The Arizona Diamondbacks dropped two out of three games in Pittsburgh this week. Arizona was able to take game one and send game two into extras but just couldn’t pull out the wins in games two and three. The Diamondbacks put up a valiant fight against a good Pirates ball club, but it just wasn’t enough.
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Game One
Diamondbacks 4, Pirates 1
Arizona came out of the gates strong in game one. They were able to score two in the first, one in the second and one more in the fourth. All of these runs came off of Pirates ace, Gerrit Cole. The four runs would be all Arizona needed to hang on for the win. The Pirates would eventually grab a run in the fifth, but that would be all they got. The Diamondbacks bullpen walked a tight rope working out of multiple jams late, but they threw zeroes up on the board and held on.
Jeremy Hellickson had another really good outing. He only allowed three hits and one run over five innings pitched. He was pulled from the game with tightness in his glute muscle. Hellickson picked up the win and Cole got the loss.
Hellickson: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Game Two
Diamondbacks 8, Pirates 9
Game two started out great for Arizona, they managed to put up two runs in the first and one in the second. The only problem was Chase Anderson also gave up 2 runs in the first and one in the second. Each time the Diamondbacks took the lead, Anderson gave it right back. Pittsburgh’s offense exploded “early” in the game. They added a run in the third, three in the fifth and one more in the seventh.
That’s a big mountain to climb, but Arizona scored three in the eighth and two more in the ninth to tie the game up at 8 and send it to extras. Paul Goldschmidt was the hero driving in the tying runs in the ninth. Unfortunately for Arizona, Pittsburgh walked it off in the 15th inning on an error by Yasmany Tomas.
Chase Anderson did not have good stuff at all, he allowed seven runs with five of them earned in just 4.2 innings. This start was enough for the Diamondbacks front office to demote him and send him to Triple A Reno.
Anderson: 4.2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Game Three
Diamondbacks 1, Pirates 4
The series finale was a disappointing one for Arizona. The Pirates jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second and that would be all they needed to take the series from the Diamondbacks. Pittsburgh did tack on one more run in Arizona’s bats were dead all night against Pirates starter J.A. Happ. Happ only allowed two hits and walked two through six innings. Arizona did manage to get a run across in the ninth but their rally was stopped dead in its tracks.
Robbie Ray Had a decent outing allowing three runs over six innings. He allowed seven hits, but limited the damage to just three runs. He at least kept his team in the game, but the bats were quiet.
Ray: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Arizona falls to 58-61 with the series loss against the Pirates. The Diamondbacks will leave Pittsburgh and head to Cincinnati where they will take on the Reds in a four game set Thursday through Sunday. First pitch on Thursday will be at 4:10 Arizona time.