Tom Singer –
Sometimes you’re the broom, and sometimes you’re the mess.
The Pirates had no trouble deciding which they were on Wednesday, when they entered Chase Field hoping to sweep the D-backs and instead were whisked out of town.
With Jonathan Sanchez looking nothing like the left-hander who impressed in Spring Training and in his first start of the season, the Bucs took a 10-2 series-ending loss on the chin. The haymakers were delivered by A.J. Pollock, who drove in four with a pair of homers and added a double for a 10-base day.
Sanchez, who has taken major strides to overcome his reputation for being wild, triggered his quick undoing with flashback wildness — but not to home plate.
He appeared on his way out of mild first-inning trouble when he caught Pollock, on second with a one-out double, taking off for third. With plenty of time for patience, however, Sanchez heaved the ball past third base to allow Pollock to score.
The embarrassing play obviously shook him up, and he never regained his composure or command.
Sanchez followed the throwing error by walking Martin Prado to reignite a rally that led to two more runs. The 3-0 deficit doubled the next inning on Pollock’s three-run homer. By the end of the second, Sanchez had thrown 74 pitches, only 14 fewer than what had gotten him through five on Friday in Los Angeles.
Sanchez finally departed at the outset of an ugly fourth in which the D-backs extended their lead to 10-1 with four runs, two of them on consecutive bases-loaded walks by Chris Leroux.
Josh Harrison snapped left-hander Wade Miley’s shutout with an RBI single in the fourth, and the Bucs added another in the seventh on a single by Starling Marte — converting his fifth consecutive two-hit game.
Miley left during that seventh-inning stir, having allowed five hits and two runs in 6 2/3 innings, with three walks and five strikeouts.
Sanchez was charged with eight hits and nine runs, all earned, in 3 1/3 innings. He walked four and fanned two.
Photo Credits: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
