PITTSBURG – Joc Pederson’s three-run home run in the seventh inning lifted the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 6-5 victory on Sunday, with Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes taking a no decision after suffering a shutout in the sixth.
Pederson hit a two-out shot to left-center field off the struggling Colin Holderman (3-4) to turn a 4-2 deficit into a one-run lead. Pederson’s 17th home run 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 much with two strikes. I was just trying to fight and I managed to get it right.”
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 ninth time in 11 games.
The Pirates got within 6-5 on Bryan Reynolds’ RBI single in the ninth by Ryan Thompson. However, AJ Puk relieved with runners on first and third and struck out Oneil Cruz on an 11-pitch hit 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. “Go in and fight a really good hitter and eventually get him out.”
Holderman has a 7.94 ERA in his last 12 starts, increasing his season mark from 1.21 to 3.07.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton defended his decision to leave right-handed Holderman in the game to face left-handed Pederson.
“Holdy has to be better,” Shelton said. “He has to make a proposal. He offered us this spot all year and it didn’t work out.”
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 just the third time the 22-year-old had failed to make it past 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 struck out 107 hits in 86 innings.
“It was definitely better early on, there was no shot execution (later in the game),” Skenes said. “That’s really what matters. I just didn’t feel good. 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 stepped up,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “He has great qualities, but we wanted to run him over a little bit, make him throw more than 15 pitches an inning, and eventually we wore him down.”
Carroll had two hits to extend his on-base streak to 21 games and Pederson and Jake McCarthy also had two hits.
Paul Sewald (1-2) scored the scoreless sixth for the win, two days after being removed from the striker 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 was 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA in his previous five starts.
All four runs against 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 received from Miami in a trade on Tuesday. Grandal hit a double in the second and Kiner-Falefa followed with a two-run triple off the right field wall.
The Diamondbacks chased Skenes during a two-run sixth that started with a Carroll triple. Carroll scored on a groundout by Marte and McCarthy complimented Hunter Stratton with an RBI single.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: DH Andrew McCutchen (left quadriceps strain) was out of the lineup after being injured Saturday night, but homered in the ninth inning and got a walk.
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 in Pittsburgh.
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This story has been corrected to show that Marte has 27 home runs, not 20.
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This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
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