Bedard, Bucs blank D-backs

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

The Diamondbacks were flummoxed by Erik Bedard’s dominance on Monday night.

They didn’t get much help from him afterward, either. To Bedard, it was simple.

Bedard allowed two hits over seven innings, and the Pittsburgh Pirates opened a season-long 11-game homestand with a 4-0 win over Arizona.

“That’s just what you try to do — make some good pitches, get some outs and get the hitters back out there,” Bedard said. “And that’s what I tried to do.”

Bedard did not walk a batter and faced just one over the minimum, striking out five.

He retired 17 in a row until his final batter, Paul Goldschmidt, singled. Goldschmidt was thrown out at second base trying to stretch the hit by left fielder Starling Marte to end the seventh.

“I don’t know; he just stayed off the barrel somehow,” Diamondbacks centerfielder Chris Young said. “I thought we had a pretty good approach with him; we just couldn’t get anything going.”

Bedard (6-12) leads the majors in losses but lowered his home ERA to 2.38. Pittsburgh has won 23 of its past 29 games at PNC Park.

“He pitched exceptional tonight,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “He pitched to four spots, he got the ball inside, he mixed in his breaking ball for strikes, he got it for chase, he worked with a very good tempo and rhythm tonight. You can’t pitch much better than that.”

Jason Grilli and Chad Qualls each worked a perfect inning to preserve the shutout, the Pirates’ sixth this season and second in the past week.

Andrew McCutchen had two hits and scored two runs for the Pirates, who began the day 41/2 games behind Cincinnati in the National League Central.

“We broke out an old fashioned baseball game today: Pitching and defense,” Hurdle said. “We had one run, and we added on a little bit late.”

Rookie Wade Miley did not allow an earned run over six innings for Arizona, which has lost three in a row.

Goldschmidt had both Diamondbacks hits.