Cole Lifts Pirates In 8-3 Win To Sweep Diamondbacks
PITTSBURGH (The Sports Xchange) -- Right-hander Gerrit Cole hit a three-run homer and the Pittsburgh Pirates broke the game open in the eighth inning on Thursday for a 8-3 victory and a series sweep against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Pittsburgh finished its homestand 8-2, winning for the fifth time in six games against Arizona this season. The Pirates have won each of the past five series between the clubs.
Pinch-hitter Josh Harrison smacked a two-run double off of the right-field wall in the sixth to break a 3-3 tie.
Paul Goldschmidt's bases-loaded, two-run single in the sixth had forged the 3-3 tie for Arizona.
Pittsburgh added three runs in the ninth.
Cole pitched only five innings, working out of several jams, and didn't get a decision after winning his previous three starts. But he launched a three-run homer in the second and added a double in the fourth.
On the mound, the right-hander gave up an unearned run and seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
A.J. Schugel (1-1) was credited with his first major-league win.
Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin (3-3) allowed five runs (four earned) and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Arizona scored in the first when leadoff hitter Jean Segura and Michael Bourne hit back-to-back doubles. The run was unearned because during Segura's at-bat, Pittsburgh's Francisco Cervelli and David Freese collided in front of the Diamondbacks dugout while chasing a pop foul. The ball dropped and Freese was charged with an error.
The Pirates had runners at second and third with no out in the bottom of the first but did not score.
The Diamondbacks threatened again in the second but left the bases loaded when Cole got Goldschmidt to fly out.
Cole's second career homer in the bottom of the second gave Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead.
Both teams continued to threaten -- including Cole's two-out double off of the center-field wall in the fourth -- before Arizona tied it in the sixth.
Corbin singled with two outs, his second base hit of the game, and he and Segura scored on Goldschmidt's bases-loaded single up the middle to make it 3-3.
After Pittsburgh's two-run sixth, Jung Ho Kang hit a bases-loaded single followed by Starling Marte's double to raise the Pirates' lead to 8-3 and their hit total to 12.
NOTES: After two games off in a row, Pittsburgh C Francisco Cervelli returned to the lineup. ... RF Gregory Polanco, who had been regularly hit third in the Pirates' batting order, was dropped to seventh. ... Pittsburgh 1B John Jaso was given the day off. ... Wednesday's win was Clint Hurdle's 457th as Pirates manager, tying him with Hall of Famer Pie Traynor for sixth all-time in club history. It also moved Hurdle to within nine wins of 1,000 for his career. ... Arizona 2B Jean Segura, who was hit in the head with a pitch Tuesday and did not play Wednesday, returned to the lineup Thursday. ... The other Diamondbacks' player hit in the head area Tuesday, SS Nick Ahmed, was given the day off. ... Arizona special assistant to the president and CEO and Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson will work with pitchers at Double-A Mobile the next two days. ... Umpire Chris Guccione, who left Wednesday's game after taking a foul tip off of his mask, did not work Thursday's game. He was replaced by Ben May, who worked third base.
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