Pittsburgh Pirates annihilated by Arizona Diamondbacks 4-10 – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates were beaten by the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-10 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, August 7 in second game of their four match series.
Pirates’ starting pitcher Jeff Karstens gave up eight hits and three runs over six innings pitched and relief pitcher Jason Grilli took the loss after allowing four hits and four runs in 0.1 inning, which ballooned his ERA to 2.66.
"It's just a night you don't want to have as a reliever," Pirates’ reliever Grilli said in a post game interview. "We just took the lead and it wasn't the plan to give the lead right back."
Andrew McCutchen had an excellent time on the plate as he hit a sacrifice fly to centre in the first inning and earned an RBI single to left in the third inning to level the score 2-2.
Rookie Starling Marte and Neil Walker took complete advantage of Takashi Saito’s unforced errors in the seventh as Pittsburgh came from behind for a 4-3 lead but Hurdle and his men were unable to hold their nerves under pressure.
Diamondbacks scored four runs in the eighth and three in the ninth to register an emphatic win. Third baseman Chris Johnson produced a match winning performance with his two home-runs in closing stages of the game.
"It's a lot of fun to look at the scoreboard and see what this team is doing and what that team is doing," the Arizona Diamondbacks’ third baseman said. "Every game means something. Every at-bat means something."
"I think he is comfortable in Arizona," Diamondbacks’ manager Kirk Gibson said of Johnson.
After emerging victorious in series opener, the Pirates were expecting to grab another easy win on Tuesday to close the gap between themselves and the National League Central Division leaders Cincinnati Reds.
Credit goes to Arizona who raised their game to a higher level to outclass their opponents in almost all aspects of the game.
Right now, Clint Hurdle and company are placed second on the league standings and it will be interesting to see if they can replace the Reds to reach the playoffs.
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