Vance Worley and the Pirates were able to hold the Diamondbacks hitless through five innings, but a seven-run ninth proved costly as the Diamondbacks avoided the sweep with a 10-2 victory on Thursday night.
The loss drops the Pirates to 0-8 when having a chance to sweep a series.
The Pirates (44-41) gave Worley a lead scoring once in the third and fourth. Jordy Mercer doubled to start the third, advanced to third on a Worley groundout and scored on a Gregory Polanco groundout. Neil Walker started the fourth off in the same way with a double. He advanced to third on a Russell Martin single and scored on an Ike Davis RBI single. They could have put more on the board in the fourth, but Pedro Alvarez grounded into a 5-3 double play to kill momentum.
Worley was in control of the game over the first five innings running a no hitter into the sixth inning. He would slip up in the sixth though, allowing the Diamondbacks (36-51) to take control of the game.
Worley walked DiDi Gregorius to begin the inning. Ender Inciarte then ended the no-no with a RBI single and David Peralta followed with a two-run home run into the first row of the Clemente seats to give the Diamondbacks the 3-2 lead.
“It’s a funny game,” said Worley. “I didn’t trust the pitch. I was trying to do too much with it and then that’s why I was bouncing it and getting behind in the count.”
The Diamondbacks would add seven more in the ninth against Ernesto Frieri and Jeanmar Gomez to pull away.
That Pirates –who recorded eight hits through five innings — were only able to get two men on base from the sixth inning on.
“I really like how we worked [McCarthy]. we pushed his pitch count to a very good place. The double play in the fourth cut down some momentum that we were building. We had one run in, first and second with no outs and he was able to get through that and cut off that inning then we didn’t score another run the rest of the game.”
Final Score: Diamondbacks 10, Pirates 2.
Starters Lines
Worley (L, 2-1): 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K’s, 1 HR. 87 Pitches (59 Strikes).
McCarthy (W, 3-10): 5 2/3 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 IBB, 6 K’s. 100 Pitches (69 Strikes).
The Pirates now begin a three-game series with the Phillies starting tomorrow evening.
Tomorrow’s Starters
(RHP) Gerrit Cole (PIT): 6-4, 4.02 ERA
(RHP) Roberto Hernandez (PHI): 3-7, 4.26 ERA
First pitch is set for 5:05.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
