Pirates 4, Diamondbacks 0
Pirates 4, Diamomdbacks 0: Erik Bedard allowed two hits in seven innings
and retired 17 in a row as host Pittsburgh improved its major
league-best record at home to 34-16.
Bedard (6-12), who is tied
for the major league lead in losses, struck out five en route to his
second win in nine starts. He is 3-2 with a 1.91 ERA in his last six
home outings.
Bedard retired the Diamondbacks in order in the
first inning. After yielding a leadoff double to Paul Goldschmidt in the
second, he set down every Diamondback until Goldschmidt singled with
two outs in the seventh. Goldschmidt was easily thrown out by rookie
left fielder Starling Marte trying to stretch it into a double.
Rookie Wade Miley (12-7) allowed an unearned run and six hits in six innings as the Diamondbacks lost their third straight game.
Jason
Grilli pitched a perfect eighth inning and Chad Qualls retired the side in order in the ninth
for the Pirates, who improved to 53-0 when leading after seven innings and
55-0 after eight.
The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the fourth
inning, thanks to the hustle of MVP candidate Andrew McCutchen. After
blooping a leadoff single to center field, he took off for second when
Chris Young had trouble handling and finding the ball. Shortstop Willie
Bloomquist let Young's throw get away, allowing the alert McCutchen
to take third and score on Gaby Sanchez's groundout one batter later.
Pittsburgh
added three runs in the eight inning on a run-scoring infield hit by
Neil Walker, an RBI single by Travis Snider in his first at-bat at PNC
Park and a sacrifice fly by Rod Barajas.
McCutchen went 2-for-4 to improve his major league-leading average to .369. Sanchez also had two hits as Pittsburgh cut Cincinnati's lead in the NL Central to 3 1/2 games.
GAME
NOTEBOOK: Marte went 1-for-3 in his home debut and is 11-for-45 (.244)
in his first 11 games. ... Bloomquist (back) returned to the lineup
after missing six contests and went 0-for-4. ... Arizona fell to 4-3 on its 10-game road
trip. ... Miley lowered his ERA to 2.85. ... Bedard lost at Arizona 5-1
on April 16. ... The Pirates are 24-11 since June 27. ... McCutchen is
37-for-77 (.481) in his last 21 home games. ... Snider is 4-for-16 in
six games since being acquired from Toronto.