Pederson's HR rallies D-Backs past Pirates to spoil Skenes' solid start
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Joc Pederson’s three-run home run in the seventh inning rallied the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 6-5 win on Sunday as Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes got a no-decision after taking a shutout into the sixth.
Pederson hit a two-out drive to left-center field off struggling Colin Holderman (3-4) to turn a 4-2 deficit into a one-run lead. Pederson’s 17th homer of the season came after Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll walked.
The home run came off a 100-mph fastball.
“I was in battle mode with two strikes,” Pederson said. “I wasn’t trying to do too much with two strikes. I was just trying to battle, and I was able to get a barrel on it.”
Ketel Marte added a solo home run, his 27th, in the ninth inning off Jake Woodford to give the Diamondbacks an insurance run. Arizona won its sixth straight series and for the ninth time in 11 games.
The Pirates got within 6-5 on Bryan Reynolds’ one-out RBI single in the ninth off Ryan Thompson. However, A.J. Puk relieved with runners on first and third and struck out Oneil Cruz on an 11-pitch at-bat and then got Bryan De La Cruz to fly out for his second save.
“That’s probably one of the most fun outings I’ve ever had in the big leagues,” Puk said. “Come in and battle a really good hitter and eventually get him out.”
Holderman has a 7.94 ERA in his last 12 appearances, raising his season mark from 1.21 to 3.07.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton defended his decision to leave the right-handed Holderman in the game to face the left-handed-hitting Pederson.
“Holdy’s got to be better,” Shelton said. “He’s got to make a pitch. He’s pitched in that spot for us all year and it didn’t work.”
Skenes allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings against the highest-scoring team in the NL while striking out four and walking three. It was only the third time the 22-year-old did not make it through six innings in his 14 major-league starts.
The strikeouts were Skenes’ second-lowest total. He had three against San Francisco on May 23 in his third start. Overall, he has struck out 107 in 86 innings.
“It was definitely better at the start, wasn’t executing pitches (later in the game),” Skenes said. “It’s really what it comes down to. Just didn’t feel great. It was one of those days.”
Skenes’ streak of eight consecutive quality starts ended and his ERA rose to 1.99 as the Pirates lost for the third time in four games.
“I think the world thought their starting pitcher was going to have a really good day but our guys in that clubhouse made a stand,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “He’s got great stuff, but we wanted to run him down a bit, make him throw 15-plus pitches an inning and we were eventually able to wear him down.”
Carroll had two hits to extend his on-base streak to 21 games and Pederson and Jake McCarthy also had a pair of hits.
Paul Sewald (1-2) pitched a scoreless sixth for the win two days after being removed from the closer’s role by Lovullo.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa doubled and tripled in his second game with the Pirates since being acquired from Toronto at Tuesday’s trade deadline. Yasmani Grandal had three hits and Reynolds finished with two.
Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson gave up four runs and six hits in five innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. He had been 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA in his previous five starts.
All four runs off Nelson came in the first two innings as the Pirates took a 4-0 lead.
Kiner-Falefa led off the first with a double and scored on a single by De La Cruz, who the Pirates got from Miami in a trade on Tuesday. Grandal hit a run-scoring double in the second and Kiner-Falefa followed by driving a two-run triple off the right-field wall.
The Diamondbacks chased Skenes during a two-run sixth that started with a triple by Carroll. Carroll scored on a groundout by Marte and McCarthy greeted Hunter Stratton with an RBI single.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: DH Andrew McCutchen (strained left quad) was out of the lineup after being injured Saturday night but pinch hit in the ninth inning and drew a walk.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: RHP Zac Gallen (9-5, 3.56) starts Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Cleveland. Gallen has won both career starts against the Guardians.
Pirates: Begin a three-game home series against San Diego on Tuesday night with LHP Bailey Falter (5-7, 3.95) scheduled to start for Pittsburgh.
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This story has been corrected to show that Marte has 27 home runs, not 20.
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