Pittsburgh Pirates win a 7-6 shootout over Arizona

In what turned out to be a very sloppy game, the Pittsburgh Pirates were able to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-6 Wednesday night. The victory put the Pirates 2 1/2 games back of the Cincinnati Reds for the NL Central Division lead.

Neither Kevin Correia or Ian Kennedy, the starting pitcher for their respective ball clubs, had it going tonight. You could tell it was going to be an up and down game by the end of the first inning when both teams combine for five runs.

After falling behind 2-0, Neil Walker gave the Pirates the lead with one swing of the bat. Walker hit his 13th home run of the season a career best. Correia battled, picking up his ninth win of the season and his seventh in a row, going six innings allowing four runs, three earned, and striking out five.

The Pirates would add another run in the third inning when Starling Marte hit a solo home run, his fourth of the year, to the bleachers in right center. The score would remain 4-2 until the fifth inning when the Diamondbacks would score two to tie the game.

The Pirates would get those two runs back in the bottom half of the inning when Walker continued his hot hitting and drove in two more runs with a double to left center. This marked the second time in seven games that Walker drove in five runs. Jordy Mercer added to the offense, hitting his first career home run in the sixth inning in what proved to be the game-winning hit.

Perhaps the key moment of the game came in the seventh inning when Tony Watson came on to face Chris Young with the bases loaded. Watson would strike out Young looking. Young was ejected after arguing about the strike call.

Joel Hanrahan picked up his 33rd save of the season, striking out the side in the ninth.