Pittsburgh Pirates Sweep Arizona Diamondbacks To Win Five In A Row
By Larry Snyder
The Pittsburgh Pirates claimed their first sweep on the road Sunday when they shutout the Diamondbacks 8-0 in Arizona.
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The Bucs are 11-8 after winning their fifth in a row. Clint Hurdle‘s squad produced a season-high 14 hits in a single contest with the victory over the D-backs.
In picking up his first victory this season, Francisco Liriano kept Arizona off the scoreboard as he hurled 63 of his 108 pitches for strikes over six 1/3 innings. In his 200th career start, the 6-foot-2, 225-pound lefthander permitted just two hits while striking out seven and walking six.
Pedro Alvarez got the assault of the Arizona scoreboard rolling in the first with a two-out ground ball single to right off D-backs starter Jeremy Hellickson that scored Josh Harrison and Gregory Polanco.
The Pirates final three runs came in the ninth off Diamondbacks reliever Daniel Hudson. Polanco doubled to right to bring home Harrison from second. Andrew McCutchen’s sacrifice fly to center pushed Polanco across the plate from third. With one out, Sean Rodriguez hit a single to right that scored Neil Walker from third.
Pittsburgh’s barrage was led by Polanco who went 3-for-5 at the plate and scored three runs. Walker, who is on a nine-game hitting streak, went 3-for-4 and joined Alvarez with two RBIs. He concluded the series 7-for-12.
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Starling Marte and Harrison both went 2-for-5 with their bats while McCutchen, Rodriguez and Chris Stewart contributed one hit apiece.
Hellickson surrendered four earned runs on seven hits in picking up his third loss against one victory for Arizona. He struck out six and walked two. The 6-foot1, 190-pound righthander delivered 64 of his 105 pitches for strikes.
For the crew of the Jolly Roger, righthander Jared Hughes answered Hurdle’s first call to the bullpen to close out the seventh for Liriano. In the eighth, righty Arquimedes Caminero kept the D-backs in check as he fired eight of his 13 pitches for strikes. Taking the mound in the ninth, lefthander Antonio Bastarto struck out two as he racked up nine strikes on 17 pitches.
“A sweep wasn’t in our minds,” Hurdle told the team’s web site. “We were approaching it one pitch, one game at a time, and wound up building some momentum. We’re just playing better baseball, and it continues to start with our mound work.”
Up Next: The Pirates head to Wrigley Field to begin a three-game set Monday with the Cubs. The first pitch is set for 8:05 p.m. Chicago (10-7) will send righthander Jason Hammel (1-1, 5.19 ERA) to the hill and the Bucs will counter with Vance Worley (2-1, 4.00 ERA).
The 27-year-old will be making his fourth start of the season. His last start was a 4-3 victory over the Cubs Wednesday at PNC Park. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound righthander is 3-0 with a 1.97 ERA in five career starts against Chicago. The game will be on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.
From The Clipboard: The time of the game was 3:18 and the attendance at Chase Field in Phoenix was 32,353…With his next home run, Alvarez will tie Hall of Famer Paul Waner and former outfielder Bill Robinson at 109 for 17th place on the team’s all-time home run list…Since 2012, Pittsburgh has gone 16-9 at Wrigley Field.