Daniel Hudson relieved Reed for the 8th inning and worked himself into a jam as pinch hitter Michael Morse and second baseman Neil Walker hit two out singles to set up Alvarez with a chance to tie the game with one big swing of his bat. The Diamondbacks send Chase Anderson to the bump for his first meeting with Pittsburgh in 2015.
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Hellickson was pitching hastily, by his standards, getting through the Pirate lineup without much fuss, despite giving up a Home Run to Pedro Alvarez in the 5th to make it 4-1.
Gerrit Cole fell to 14-7, losing to the Diamondbacks on Monday after yielding four runs in 6 2/3 innings. 262 in his other 141 at-bats.
The Diamondbacks (58-59) improved to 14-8 in their last 22 games.
Bullpen help is on the way for Arizona Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale. The energy and atmosphere that Pittsburgh fans bring to PNC Park every definitely brings out the best in their hometown team and the Pirates’ home record would certainly indicate that fact as well. Cole did strike out the ultra-dangerous Paul Goldschmidt and got to two strikes against David Peralta. Center fielder A.J. Pollock tripled with one out and scored on Peralta’s double before catcher Welington Castillo capped the inning with an RBI single.
After throwing two balls to Sean Rodriguez, Mike Harkey came out for a chat and Ziegler did his thing and induced a double play and then got Polanco to ground out to end the game. “We were aggressive and able to string some hits together in that first inning”. That is a good offensive club, and we made some mistakes over the plate early and they were able to put the barrel on the ball.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said Cole showed some guts but also said Cole’s pitch location early is what got him in trouble.
NOTES: The Diamondbacks activated RHP Randall Delgado from the 15-day disabled list and optioned INF/OF Jamie Romak to Triple-A Reno.
Having scored one run in their last game, the Pirates are going to have to up their game if they want to win this matchup.
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Hart was initially placed on the disabled list June 24 retroactive to June 22 with left shoulder impingement. The 11th overall selection of the 2011 draft, who has experienced only one stretch of four winless outings in his career, is 8-2 with a 2.76 ERA at home this season. Since surrendering seven runs on July 30, Pittsburgh relievers have allowed more than a run once with a 1.46 ERA over the 14-game span. The group was last charged with a loss on June 25, going 16-0 since for the major’s longest run of positive bullpen decisions on record since 1914.
