Pittsburgh Pirates Blow Lead in Loss to Arizona Diamondbacks
By Matt Shetler
The comeback kids did it again. But only for a moment.
The Pittsburgh Pirates never seem to be out of a game and with good reason considering the way they’ve come back to win games regularly this season and after they rallied to take a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning, it looked as if the Bucs would add yet another come from behind victory to their belt. But the usually steady Jason Grilli was shelled for a change as things turned around quickly against the Pirates in a 10-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Trailing 3-2 after six and a half innings, rookie Starling Marte evened up the score quickly a monster shot to straight away center. After a Travis Snider single and a double by Andrew McCutchen, the Bucs took the lead on a sacrifice fly by Neil Walker. But the Bucs had the bases loaded with no one out and only managed to score the one run, which was a big story in this one.
Yet while the Pirates wasted opportunities, they did have a lead after seven innings, which usually means a win with this team.
This time it wasn’t to be as Grilli was rocked, retiring none of the four batters he faced.
Paul Goldschmidt led off the eighth with a double to right and moved to third on a single by Justin Upton. Miguel Monterro tied the game with a single to right on an 0-2 pitch and then Chris Johnson followed with a three-run homer to center to make it 7-4.
The two teams traded run in the first on a single by Goldschmidt and a sac fly by McCutchen. They also did so in the third on a homer by Stephen Drew and an RBI single from Cutch. Drew then made it 3-2 with an RBI single in the fourth of Pirates starter Jeff Karstens and the game stayed that way until.
Karstens battled through six, allowing three runs on eight hits, but the Bucs missed plenty of chances to get him a lead early on, including in the fifth when Karstens failed to get a bunt down. The Bucs eventually loaded the bases with two outs, but Gabby Sanchez grounded out to end the inning. The Bucs also had two on with one out in the sixth and only got one run in the seventh after loading the bases with no one out.
Arizona added three more in the eighth off Jared Hughes, two off which came on another home by Johnson.
Notes: The top three hitters in the Pirates lineup (Marte, Snider, and McCutchen) combined for seven of the nine Pirates hits, with Snider having three of them….Diamondback lefty Patrick Corbin struck out seven in six innings of work….This was the first loss for the Pirates all season when leading after seven innings, as they were previously 53-0.
Winning Pitcher: Brad Ziegler (5-1)
Losing Pitcher: Jason Grilli (1-4)
Save: None
MVP: Chris Johnson, 2-for-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI
LVP: Pedro Alvarez, 0-for-3, walk, error
Play of the Game: Brad Ziegler came in to face one batter and got Michael McKenry to ground into an inning ending double play, which kept the Pirates lead at 4-3.
Home Runs: Marte (3), Drew (2), Johnson 2 (12, 13)
Up Next: Wednesday, August 8 as. Arizona Diamondbacks at 7:05 p.m.
Probable Starters: Ian Kennedy (10-8, 4.15 ERA) vs. Kevin Correia (8-6, 4.49)