Joc Pederson homers for 2nd straight game, helps the Diamondbacks beat the Pirates 4-3
AP Baseball Writer
PHOENIX (AP) — Joc Pederson hit a solo homer, Zac Gallen navigated six solid innings and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 on Friday night.
The D-backs have won three straight games and nine of 12.
Down 3-1 heading into the sixth, Arizona responded with three runs off Luis Ortiz and Carmen Mlodzinski.
Pederson started the inning with a homer that traveled 453 feet, deep into the seats in right. Gabriel Moreno singled home Christian Walker to tie it, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. scored on a wild pitch from Mlodzinski (2-4).
Pederson homered for the second straight game. The 32-year-old hit his 200th career homer in an 8-6 victory in Kansas City on Wednesday, which was another come-from-behind win.
“We’re gritty,” Pederson said. “That’s what it takes to be a good team. Sometimes you get knocked down and you’ve got to get up, fight back and finish the game strong. Our team’s doing a great job.”
The D-backs improved to 54-50, which is the first time they’ve been four games over .500 this season.
Gallen (8-5) pitched into the seventh, but was pulled after walking the first two batters of the inning. Kevin Ginkel wiggled out of the jam, striking out Andrew McCutchen and Oneil Cruz before Nick Gonzales grounded out.
Ryan Thompson threw a scoreless eighth and Paul Sewald worked the ninth for his 16th save. Gurriel finished with three hits — all singles.
“Just a hard-fought win against a good baseball team,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “Those are the types of things we’ve been doing a lot lately. We hang in there, duke it out, find a little crack and then string together some good at-bats.”
Gallen gave up three runs on five hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out six.
“I know I’ve got to keep us in the game,” Gallen said. “We’ve been pretty great offensively. Just got to give our guys a chance to get us back in it.”
The Pirates scored two runs in the first after Joshua Palacios hit a bases-loaded single that scored McCutchen and Gonzales. Pittsburgh pushed the advantage to 3-0 in the second on McCutchen’s RBI double into the right-center gap.
Ortiz gave up three runs on five hits over five innings. He walked three and struck out four. The Pirates were just 1 of 11 at the plate with runners in scoring position.
“We had strong at-bats but we didn’t finish,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We had first and second in the seventh, then second and third in the eighth and did not have productive at-bats.”
The D-backs cut it to 3-1 in the third when Corbin Carroll led off the inning with a triple. He was brought home on All-Star Ketel Marte’s sacrifice fly.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates 1B Rowdy Tellez (back spasms) left mid-game and was replaced by Connor Joe. The team said Tellez is day to day. Tellez was also hit by a pitch on the finger earlier in the game, but Shelton said that wasn’t a problem.
UP NEXT
The D-backs start RHP Brandon Pfaadt (4-6, 3.74 ERA) on Saturday. The Pirates counter with LHP Marco Gonzalez (1-1, 2.70 ERA).
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
