The Arizona Diamondbacks will vie for their sixth straight series victory on Saturday evening when they play the second contest of a three-game set against the host Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Diamondbacks started the series opener with a flourish on Friday, as the first four batters came around to score immediately following their at-bat as part of a five-run first inning. Ketel Marte, Joc Pederson and former Pirate Josh Bell hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the first before Marte and Bell added solo shots later in the game to propel Arizona to a 9-8 victory.
Bell was making his Diamondbacks debut after he was acquired from the Miami Marlins earlier this week.
Geraldo Perdomo ripped a go-ahead RBI double in the eighth inning for the Diamondbacks, who rebounded from squandering an early five-run lead to move a season-best eight games over .500.
“They’re fighters,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said of his players. “They had every reason to feel sorry for themselves. They didn’t. They had every reason to shut down, and they didn’t. They believed they were going to win this game even when things were looking very, very desperate.”
Marte made sure of that by proving insurance in the ninth inning, launching a shot well over the right-field wall and into the Allegheny River. He is batting a robust .368 (42-for-114) since June 23 with 11 homers, 32 RBIs and 26 runs in that stretch.
Bell has gone deep seven times in his past eight games. He is hitting .438 (14-for-32) with 11 RBIs in that span.
Arizona has won four straight games and eight of its past nine.
Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz collected a pair of RBI singles Friday night to highlight his career-high five-hit performance. The solid offensive performance came after his throwing error allowed Corbin Carroll to score following a game-opening triple.
“It just feels good to have a 5-for-5 game,” Cruz said. “But the most important thing is you learn from your mistakes. And today, I was able to bounce back.”
Pittsburgh, as a team, did the same and secured a 7-6 lead in the sixth inning when Cruz’s infield single scored Andrew McCutchen.
“That was a good comeback for us,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said after his team’s second straight loss. “We were down 5-0 in the first, and we continued to battle and took the lead. We just didn’t finish it.
“We did a nice job of moving the ball forward. We did a nice job with runners in scoring position. We had good at-bats. We just didn’t finish the game.”
Pittsburgh will look for a fast start on Saturday against Arizona left-hander Jordan Montgomery (7-5, 6.51 ERA). He will be opposed by Pittsburgh right-hander Mitch Keller (10-5, 3.30).
Montgomery escaped with a no-decision on Monday after allowing six runs on nine hits in four innings against the Washington Nationals. Montgomery, 31, is 1-3 with a 2.63 ERA in four career starts vs. the Pirates.
Keller, 28, settled for his third straight no-decision on Sunday after permitting two runs on as many hits in seven innings against Arizona. He is 1-0 with a 2.49 ERA in four career starts vs. the Diamondbacks.
