PHOENIX -- Seven pitchers used. Fifteen strikeouts recorded.
Heady stuff, huh?
Well, the issue is, it didn't have to take Arizona's army of relievers to do the job. It just happened to work out that way, with the Diamondbacks spoiling an efficient and in-character start by Mitch Keller by walking off the Pirates, 3-2, in 10 innings. Corbin Carroll's walk-off single to right field off of fellow All-Star David Bednar was the final blow that sent 31,801 fans home happy while the visitors continued to look for answers to remedy their anemic offense.
“Yeah, well, today was almost like a spring training day when you never see the same guy twice," Derek Shelton said. "I think they may have seen one guy twice, and that’s challenging. I think the one thing they did really well today is they threw a ton of strikes. They were ahead the entire time, and when you’re ahead you’re able to execute your offspeed stuff for a put-away.”
If the mindset of the offense -- one that knew it had to game plan for a bullpen day coming from Arizona -- was in "spring training" mode, then it surely showed. Half of the outs recorded by Diamondbacks pitching were strikeouts. Jack Suwinski struck out looking three times and has struck out looking in five of his eight plate appearances over the two games here. Nick Gonzales was also punched out three times, while Bryan Reynolds and Carlos Santana struck out twice each.
Suwinski was the Pirates' temporary offensive hero in the sixth, as his ground-rule double to right field scored Jason Delay, who walked to lead off the inning. But, his struggles over this series should not be overlooked because of that.
"Yeah, you just see what they’re throwing, see what the other guys know, see if anyone else has faced him, and watch some video, check the scouting report, go up with a plan, and commit to it," Suwinski said. "... Just looking for something in. A lot of stuff away all day. Just staying with the approach and got something, and just tried to stay on it the best I can.”
Suwinski struck out looking on low-and-outside sliders in the first and fifth innings, and he stared at a 94-mph fastball over the heart of the plate for his third backwards K in the ninth. His double was off of a middle-in four-seam fastball.
He can try to justify the approach, but the true justification was lost for Keller, who gave a proper encore to close his All-Star-worthy first half by tossing seven scoreless innings while allowing one hit and striking out four across 99 pitches. He permitted five walks, but Arizona hitters went 0-for-9 with those five walked batters on base.
"I think my sweeper was pretty good today," Keller said. "We kind of leaned on that a lot, early in counts, late in counts. That was probably the big thing that got me out of some innings and I felt really comfortable with that. ... Just tried to attack the zone as early as possible. They were swinging early on stuff and they helped me out on that end because I think I ended up with five walks. So, it's not great, but yeah, them swinging first pitch, I mean our defense made some really good plays out there for me today."
Colin Holderman entered for Keller in the eighth, and the lead vanished on his second pitch as a 91-mph cutter left over the heart of the plate was sent by Alek Thomas over the wall in right field to tie the game at 1. Holderman allowed a single to Geraldo Perdomo after, but retired the next three D-backs to end the eighth at a draw, and it sat at that score through nine innings.
From Santana's strikeout to end the sixth to the Pirates' final out recorded on a Josh Palacios pinch-hit groundout in the 10th, nine of the final 15 hitters sent to the plate struck out.
Jared Triolo singled in Santana to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead in the 10th, but the Pirates were beat in nearly the same fashion as the Diamondbacks took to them on Friday -- by utilizing timely small-ball and speed to their advantage.
Pinch-hitter Jake McCarthy bunted a ball right to Bednar, who short-armed the throw to Santana, which allowed McCarthy to reach safely and starting runner Dominic Canzone to go to third. Canzone then scored as Thomas rocketed a grounder to Santana, who was caught in a no-man's land as neither of Bednar nor Gonzales covered first base, allowing Canzone to score and McCarthy to go to second.
"I was going to get the ball also because if he doesn't make the play, I can possibly dive and save a run," Gonzales said. "So, I wasn't able to get to first base there. I was going after the ball."
From there, Perdomo sacrificed Thomas to second and McCarthy to third, and Ketel Marte was intentionally walked before Carroll golfed his walk-off down the right-field line.
“Yeah, I mean, we’re picking our poison," Shelton said. "We know we’re getting to Carroll there, but we’re trying to create the force, trying to get a punch out with (Bednar) and we got the foul tip we couldn’t catch -- but you can’t hang your hat on that -- and then he put a ball in play."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
Video to come.
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: 2B Ji Hwan Bae (ankle), OF Andrew McCutchen (elbow), 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes (lower back)
• 15-day injured list: LHP Jose Hernandez (calf)
• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), RHP Wil Crowe (shoulder), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Henry Davis, RF
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Jack Suwinski, CF
4. Carlos Santana,1B
5. Ji-Man Choi, DH
6. Nick Gonzales, 2B
7. Jared Triolo, 3B
8. Tucupita Marcano, SS
9. Jason Delay, C
And for Torey Lovullo's Diamondbacks:
1. Geraldo Perdomo, SS
2. Ketel Marte, 2B
3. Corbin Carroll, RF
4. Christian Walker, 1B
5. Lourdes Gurriel, Jr., LF
6. Emmanuel Rivera, 3B
7. Dominic Canzone, DH
8. Gabriel Moreno, C
9. Alek Thomas, CF
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates have one left here in the desert before the All-Star break, with Sunday's game beginning at 4:10 p.m. EDT. Carmen Mlodzinski (1-1, 2.61 ERA) will take the ball for the Pirates while Arizona will trot out right-hander Zach Davies (1-4, 6.52) for the first-half finale. I will have you covered in Phoenix while Alex Stumpf sticks around in Seattle for the All-Star weekend festivities.
BETTING ODDS
Get the latest from our friends at Caesars Sportsbook Arizona!
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
Visit our team feed for all the latest around the clock and our team page for everything else.
