PITTSBURGH (AP) — Joc Pederson’s three-run home run in the seventh inning rallied the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 6-5 win on Sunday as Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes got a no-decision after taking a shutout into the sixth.
Pederson hit a two-out drive to left-center field off struggling Colin Holderman (3-4) to turn a 4-2 deficit into a one-run lead. Pederson’s 17th homer 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 too much with two strikes. I was just trying to battle, and I was able to get a barrel on it.”
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 for the ninth time in 11 games.
The Pirates got within 6-5 on Bryan Reynolds’ one-out RBI single in the ninth off Ryan Thompson. However, A.J. Puk relieved with runners on first and third and struck out Oneil Cruz on an 11-pitch at-bat 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. “Come in and battle a really good hitter and eventually get him out.”
Holderman has a 7.94 ERA in his last 12 appearances, raising his season mark from 1.21 to 3.07.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton defended his decision to leave the right-handed Holderman in the game to face the left-handed-hitting Pederson.
“Holdy’s got to be better,” Shelton said. “He’s got to make a pitch. He’s pitched in that spot for us all year and it didn’t work.”
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 only the third time the 22-year-old did not make it through 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 has struck out 107 in 86 innings.
“It was definitely better at the start, wasn’t executing pitches (later in the game),” Skenes said. “It’s really what it comes down to. Just didn’t feel great. 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 made a stand,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “He’s got great stuff, but we wanted to run him down a bit, make him throw 15-plus pitches an inning and we were eventually able to wear him down.”
Carroll had two hits to extend his on-base streak to 21 games and Pederson and Jake McCarthy also had a pair of hits.
Paul Sewald (1-2) pitched a scoreless sixth for the win two days after being removed from the closer’s 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 had been 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA in his previous five starts.
All four runs off 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 got from Miami in a trade on Tuesday. Grandal hit a run-scoring double in the second and Kiner-Falefa followed by driving a two-run triple off the right-field wall.
The Diamondbacks chased Skenes during a two-run sixth that started with a triple by Carroll. Carroll scored on a groundout by Marte and McCarthy greeted Hunter Stratton with an RBI single.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: DH Andrew McCutchen (strained left quad) was out of the lineup after being injured Saturday night but pinch hit in the ninth inning and drew a walk.
UP 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 for Pittsburgh.
ORIOLES 9, GUARDIANS 5
CLEVELAND (AP) — Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run homer and Adley Rutschman drove in three runs as the Baltimore Orioles beat the MLB-leading Cleveland Guardians 9-5 on Sunday.
Henderson went deep in the fourth inning against Gavin Williams (1-4) for his 29th home run of the season, giving the Orioles a 6-2 lead. Three batters earlier, rookie Jackson Holliday hit a solo homer as Baltimore split the four-game series.
“Give our guys credit for coming back for the split by winning the last two,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “They’re a tough team to play and this is a tough place to play. It was a good day for us offensively.”
Eloy Jiménez had three hits and Colton Cowser extended his hitting streak to 17 games, tying the Orioles’ rookie record set by Trey Mancini in 2017. Baltimore entered the day tied with the New York Yankees atop the AL East.
The Orioles banged out 15 hits for the second straight game after going four weeks without reaching that number. Henderson and Cowser scored three times apiece.
“It’s just a matter of time until we all start clicking again,” said Henderson, who homered for the first time since July 14. “To be able to go on out there and tack on more runs and help the bullpen today, it was huge.”
Corbin Burnes (12-4) won his third straight decision and recorded his 1,000th career strikeout. The 29-year-old right-hander worked five innings and gave up a season-high five runs, four earned.
Josh Naylor hit a 420-foot, three-run homer and Steven Kwan singled twice and stole two bases for the Guardians, who have won five of their last seven and are 67-44 overall. They also have the best home record in baseball at 35-17.
“Baltimore is young, they’re fun, they’re exciting, they can pitch and play defense,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “That’s a really, really good team and I feel like we’re very evenly matched.”
Williams, who has lost all four of his starts at Progressive Field this year, allowed six runs in four innings. Connor Gillispie made his major league debut with three innings of one-run relief.
“The Orioles are good,” Williams said. “If you make a bad pitch, they’re going to hit it. I mean, even the good pitches you make, they’re going to put the bat on the ball.”
Baltimore is 2-2 on its longest road trip of the season, a 10-game set that ends in Tampa Bay on Aug. 11.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: C Adley Rutschman (lower abdomen) was struck by a foul ball from Lane Thomas in the third, delaying play for several minutes. Rutschman, despite being in visible agony, remained in the game.
Guardians: RHP Tanner Bibee (right shoulder tightness), who last pitched on July 29 at Detroit, will not start in the upcoming home series against Arizona. He is tentatively scheduled to face Minnesota next weekend.
UP NEXT
Orioles: RHP Grayson Rodriguez (13-4, 3.86 ERA) works Tuesday in the opener of a three-game series against Blue Jays RHP Chris Bassitt (8-10, 4.02 ERA).
Guardians: LHP Logan Allen (8-4, 5.67 ERA) will be recalled from Triple-A Columbus to start Monday against Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (9-5, 3.56 ERA).
TWINS 13, WHITE SOX 7
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The woeful Chicago White Sox lost their 20th consecutive game Sunday, the majors’ longest skid in 36 years and one short of the American League record, as Chris Flexen was chased early in a 13-7 defeat against the Minnesota Twins.
Royce Lewis hit a three-run homer off Flexen in a six-run second inning that gave Minnesota an 8-0 cushion. The White Sox (27-87) rallied and cut it to 10-7 in the eighth, but couldn’t get any closer.
Chicago’s franchise-record losing streak is the longest in the big leagues since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles dropped 21 games in a row — the AL mark — to begin the season. The NL record is held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 straight.
The major league low belongs to the 1889 Louisville Colonels, an American Association team that endured a 26-game slide during a 27-111 season.
Next up, the White Sox head to Oakland for a three-game series beginning Monday night against the Athletics, who are last in the AL West.
Chicago’s losing streak is tied with four other clubs for the third-longest since 1900. The latest defeat dropped the White Sox 60 games below .500 for the first time in franchise history. They are on pace to finish 38-124, which would be the most losses since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders of the National League went 20-134.
Chicago last won on July 10 against Minnesota, 3-1 in the first game of a doubleheader.
The White Sox have been outscored 131-48 during the losing streak. Their seven runs and 12 hits Sunday were both their most in a game during the skid.
Flexen (2-11) didn’t make it out of the second inning. The right-hander allowed eight runs — six earned — and seven hits. He also walked three batters.
Minnesota took advantage of a two-out error by second baseman Brooks Baldwin to score twice in the first. Cole Sands (5-1) pitched two scoreless innings in relief to earn the win.
Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson went four innings, allowing three runs in his first start since a clunker against the Mets. He was handed an 8-0 lead before allowing two runs in the third and another in the fourth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
With the Twins leading 8-3, Manny Margot pinch-hit for Twins center fielder Byron Buxton in the bottom of the sixth after Buxton ran into the wall to make an inning-ending catch. Buxton was slow to get up after the grab but jogged off the field and appeared OK. The Twins said Buxton was removed for precautionary reasons and has been medically cleared.
UP NEXT
White Sox: Had not announced a starting pitcher for Monday’s series opener at Oakland.
Twins: RHP David Festa (1-2, 6.98 ERA) makes his fourth career start Monday when Minnesota opens a three-game series in Chicago against the Cubs.
