Pirates come back to beat D-backs
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates pounded out 11 hits, two of them home runs, Wednesday as they erased a three-run deficit in a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
At 26-19, Pittsburgh is seven games over .500 for the first time this season.
Pirates starter Jeff Locke evened his record at 3-3 while allowing four runs on seven hits through 7 1/3 innings.
Sean Rodriguez and David Freese hit homers and Gregory Polanco was 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Pirates, who won for the fifth time in their past six games.
Those homers came off of Diamondbacks starter Rubby De La Rosa (4-5), who had been stingy in going 3-1 in his past four starts but had skipped his last scheduled start because of groin soreness. He gave up five runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Yasmany Tomas' two-run homer in the second helped stake Arizona to an early 3-0 lead before Pittsburgh's offense came alive. Rickie Weeks Jr. hit a solo homer for the Diamondbacks in the fifth.
Arizona took a 3-0 lead in the second. With two outs, Lamb walked and scored on Chris Owens' double down the left field line. Tomas followed with his sixth home run inside the foul pole.
Rodriguez hit his fifth homer in the fourth to make it 3-1, but Ahmed replied with his second homer off the left field foul pole in the fifth, increasing the Diamondbacks' lead to 4-1.
Polanco, with a double, and Starling Marte, with a groundout, each drove in a run in the Pirates' fifth to cut it to 4-3. Freese followed with his third home run, a two-run, 451-foot shot into the Pittsburgh bullpen, to give the Pirates a 5-4 lead and chase De La Rosa.
There might have been worries about hit batsmen after two Diamondbacks were knocked out of Tuesday's games after taking pitches to the head area, but instead there was a delay after the first inning as plate umpire Chris Guccione sought medical assistance.
Guccione got hit in the mask with a foul tip from Freese in that inning. He was attended to Pittsburgh trainer Todd Tomczyk but continued until the end of the inning. Sean Barber, who began the game working at first base, moved behind the plate.
NOTES: SS Nick Ahmed, one of two Diamondbacks knocked out of the game on Tuesday after being hit in the head area with a pitch, was in the starting lineup. The other, 2B Jean Segura, was available off the bench. ... Arizona's Rickie Weeks Jr. started in right field for the first time in his career. ... Pirates 2B Josh Harrison was a late scratch from the lineup because of illness. ... Pittsburgh placed RHP Arquimedes Caminero, who was ejected after hitting Ahmed and Segura, on the 15-day disabled list with a left quadriceps injury and placed LHP Tony Watson on the paternity list. The Pirates recalled RHP Rob Scahill and LHP Kyle Lobstein from Triple-A Indianapolis. ... As of Wednesday afternoon, Pirates RHP Ryan Vogelsong remained in Allegheny General Hospital, although Hurdle said he might be released soon. Vogelsong sustained facial fractures Monday when he was hit by a pitch near his left eye.