Defensive Miscues, Silenced Bats Lead To Pirates 3-0 Loss To Diamondbacks

Defensive miscues in the sixth inning and a strong outing from the Arizona Diamondback’s starter cost the Pittsburgh Pirates in their 3-0 loss Monday night in the first game of a four-game set at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Geraldo Perdomo began the sixth by reaching on an error committed by third baseman Michael Chavis. After it appeared the Pirates had Perdomo picked off of first base, Bligh Madris dropped the throw from Manny Bañuelos, and Perdomo advanced to second.

Josh Rojas followed with a bunt down the first base line, and he reached after nobody covered the bag. Arizona capitalized on the miscue as Perdomo scored on a double play ball off the bat of Alek Thomas, putting the D-backs ahead 1-0.

Ketel Marte provided a pair of insurance runs for Arizona with a single in the eighth to pad the D-backs’ lead and put them up three.

In a bullpen game, Tyler Beede got the start for Pittsburgh and was solid. Beede pitched 3.2 shutout innings. He allowed just two hits, walked one, and struck out two.

As good as the Pirates’ pitchers were, Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen was even better. He blanked the Bucs across seven innings as they managed just three hits against him. Gallen sat down eight batters on strikes.

Bryan Reynolds was the only Pirates player to reach base multiple times. Reynolds collected a base hit in the first and later drew a walk.

The second of four games in Arizona is on Tuesday night. Zach Thompson (3-8, 5.15 ERA) will get the ball for the Pirates. He will face Tommy Henry (0-1, 7.20 ERA).

Takeaways

• Bounce Back Beede: Beede’s first go-around as an opener with the Pirates didn’t go so well. It took the right-hander 42 pitches to record four outs. In that outing against Milwaukee, Beede was charged with four earned runs. In this one, however, Beede was strong for most of his outing. The 29-year-old lowered his season ERA to 3.57 (3.31 with the Pirates) and has been a quality pickup for the club since being claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants.
• Bañuelos Has Been Strong: Ever since a disastrous first outing with the Pirates in which Bañuelos allowed five earned runs, the southpaw has yielded just a single run over his last 10 appearances, a span of 10 innings (0.90 ERA). Bañuelos has struck out 10 and allowed just six hits during that stretch.
• It’s The Little Things: Not only did defensive woes lead the way to the Diamondbacks’ eventual game-winning run, but a costly mistake on the base paths from Reynolds in the seventh erased a potential chance for the Pirates to look to tie the game. The seemingly minor mistakes make all the difference in a close ballgame.