Ketel Marte drives in 3, Diamondbacks stretch winning streak to 4 with 9-5 victory over Pirates
AP Sports Writer
PHOENIX (AP) — Ketel Marte homered and had three RBIs, pinch hitter Joc Pederson hit a two-run triple and the Arizona Diamondbacks stretched their winning streak to four games with a 9-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.
Jake McCarthy went 5 for 5 with an RBI and Arizona had 13 hits to win for the 10th time in 13 games. The Diamondbacks have won or split eight straight series (7-0-1).
“That’s what we’ve been doing all year,” Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt said. “We know the team we have and are becoming. If the batting stays hot and the pitching stays where it’s at, we can go on quite a run.”
The Diamondbacks jumped on the Pirates early, taking a 4-1 lead after Marte’s two-run homer and Corbin Carroll’s solo shot.
Oneil Cruz hit a 472-foot homer in the first inning and the Pirates tied it at 4 with three runs in the fifth inning off Pfaadt (5-6).
“We had good swings,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We executed with runners in scoring position. We put the ball in play. Bae did it, Connor did it, Michael did it. We just couldn’t hold them.”
It was all Arizona after that.
Marte and Geraldo Perdomo hit sacrifice flies in the fifth inning, then Pederson had a two-run triple off Quinn Priester (2-6) in the sixth.
“There’s a lot of winning players in that clubhouse and I think that that’s catalysts for some very, very good results,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “Even on bad days, I felt like there was always a positive side, something that was was very encouraging, that was making us feel like it’s going to be OK.”
Both starters started slow after a ceremony inducting Randy Johnson and Luis Gonzalez into the Diamondbacks’ first hall of fame class pushed the first pitch back 20 minutes.
For Pfaadt, it came in the form of Oneil’s mammoth homer well over the pool deck in right-center.
Marco Gonzales gave up a run in the first inning on Christian Walker’s single before escaping a bases-loaded jam. Carroll then hit a solo homer in the second inning and Marte followed with a two-run shot near the same spot to put Arizona up 4-1.
Gonzales was lifted after a single and a walk with one out in the third inning. He allowed four runs on seven hits with three walks.
“I thought my command was off,” Gonzales said. “I just didn’t like the way the ball was coming out. I didn’t really give myself a chance.
Pfaadt retired 11 straight batters before running into trouble in the fifth inning.
Joey Bart hit a run-scoring single, Ji Hwan Bae a sacrifice fly and Michael A. Taylor tied it at 4 on an infield single. Connor Joe also drove in a run against Pfaadt with a groundout in the sixth inning.
Pfaadt allowed five on seven hits in six innings.
“The linescore didn’t indicate what he did today,” Lovullo said. “They had that one inning with three runs and that kind of threw everything off.”
PUK ARRIVES
Arizona left-handed reliever A.J. Puk joined the team after being traded from Miami for two prospects Thursday. He worked around a walk in the eighth inning to stretch his scoreless streak to 17 2/3 innings over 15 appearances.
Right-hander Thyago Vieira was designated for assignment to make room on the roster.
TRAINER’S TABLE
Pirates: 1B Rowdy Tellez was out of the lineup after leaving Friday’s game with back spasms. … 2B Nick Gonzales left in the seventh inning with left groin discomfort.
UP NEXT
Pirates RHP Mitch Keller (10-5, 3.34 ERA) was set to face Diamondbacks RHP Yilber Diaz (1-1, 5.40) in the series finale Sunday.
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