Diamondbacks halt Bucs’ winning streak

By Paul Zeise

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH

It probably wasn’t a good sign for Pirates starter Gerrit Cole that three of the first seven batters he faced Monday night hit the ball off the outfield wall for extra base hits.

But a rough patch early doesn’t necessarily translate into a bad outing for Cole as he has often shown the uncanny ability to shake it off, settle in and dominate opposing hitters for the next six or seven innings.

That was not the case, Monday, though as Cole never really was able to find his “A” game and he labored through 62/3 innings while giving up four runs on nine hits and as a result the Pirates saw their four-game wining streak come to a crashing halt.

The Diamondbacks took advantage of Cole’s rough night and also got a strong start from Jeremy Hellickson and won, 4-1, in front of a crowd of 27,365 in the first of a three-game series at PNC Park.

Arizona (58-59) had lost three of four coming into the game while the Pirates (69-47) lost for only the third time in their last 13 home games.

A.J. Pollack hit a ball off the right field wall to get things started for the Diamondbacks in the top of the 1st inning and he then scored when David Peralta hit an RBI double off the same wall.

Peralta then advanced to third on a passed ball and he scored on a single by Welington Castillo and the Diamondbacks led 2-0 before the Pirates even came to the plate.

Things weren’t much better for Cole in the second inning as Chris Owings doubled off the center-field wall and then scored on a little bloop single by pitcher Jeremy Hellickson and it was 3-0 Arizona.

Cole worked a perfect third inning and appeared to be back on track but then in the fourth inning, Jake Lamb hit a one-out solo homer and the Diamondbacks lead was 4-0.

Pedro Alvarez, who has been swinging a hot bat lately, nearly brought some rain with a towering homer into the right field bleachers in the bottom of the 5th to pull the Pirates to within 4-1.

The Pirates then chased Hellickson in the bottom of the 6th inning as Starling Marte reached on an error and Andrew McCutchen walked to set up first and second with only one out.

But reliever Randall Delgado cleaned up the mess as he struck out Aramis Ramirez and then got Jung Ho Kang to ground out to third base to end the inning.

The Pirates again threatened in the bottom of the 7th as Alvarez singled, Francisco Cervelli walked and then Travis Ishikawa hit a short single to right to load the bases with only one out.

Once again, though, the Diamondbacks bullpen proved up to the task as reliever Addison Reed struck out Polanco and then got Marte to swing at a pitch off the plate and foul out to Peralta.

Daniel Hudson relieved Reed for the 8th inning and worked himself into a jam as pinch hitter Michael Morse and second baseman Neil Walker hit two out singles to set up Alvarez with a chance to tie the game with one big swing of his bat.

But Hudson struck out Alvarez to end the inning and the threat and then Arizona closer Brad Ziegler pitched a scoreless 9th to preserve the win and earn his 20th save.

Hellickson (9-8) lasted 51/3 innings but allowed only three hits and one run and considering how the Pirates got to him the last time they faced him, an 8-0 win in April.

The tough start by Cole (14-7) was a continuation of a troubling trend recently as he is 1-4 in six starts since the All Star break and a 3.37 ERA (his era before the All Star break was 2.30).

He has given up at least three runs and at least five hits in five of the six outings and he has not recorded a win in his four starts in the month of August.

If there was one silver lining for the Pirates it was that Cole — whose final line was 62/3 IP, nine hits, four runs (all earned), five strikeouts and a walk — did at least find a way to get into the 7th inning and thus preserve the bullpen arms a little bit.