Johnson Leads D-backs to 10-4 Win

Chris Johnson lead the Arizona Diamondbacks’ (56-54) offensive explosion in route to a 10-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates (62-47) on Tuesday evening.

The offense got started in the top of the first inning when Arizona first baseman Paul Goldschmidt grounded out to the pitcher to score Stephen Drew and put the D-backs up 1-0.

Pittsburgh would respond in the bottom of the first when Andrew McCutchen hit into a fielder’s choice to center, scoring Starling Marte, and tying the score at 1-1.

Drew would add to the Arizona lead with a solo home run in the top of the third to put the D-backs back on top 2-1. McCutchen would again tie up the score in the bottom half of the inning off an RBI single to left field, scoring Travis Snider.

Drew added an RBI single in the top of the fourth to put Arizona back on top 3-2.

Pittsburgh would put together an offensive strike in the bottom half of the seventh inning when Marte added a solo homer to center to tie the game, and Neil Walker would hit a sacrifice fly to score Snider from third and put the Bucs on top 4-3.

As it appeared that Arizona would let yet another late lead escape their grasp, Arizona showed some resolve and put together a comeback in the top half of the eighth inning. Miguel Montero would lead off the scoring with an RBI single to right field, scoring Goldschmidt and advancing Justin Upton to second. With two runners on and no outs, Arizona third baseman Chris Johnson pounded a three-run blast to center field to put the D-backs up 7-4.

The offense wouldn’t be finished on the evening as Montero would add an RBI ground rule double in the ninth, followed by a second home run by Johnson to put Arizona up 10-4. With the two blasts, Johnson has collected 5 home runs, 10 hits, and 15 RBIs in only eight games played with Arizona since being acquired from Houston before the trade deadline.

Arizona’s offensive explosion was supported by another strong start by rookie starter Patrick Corbin, who allowed only six hits, two earned runs, and seven strike outs over six innings pitched.

Arizona sends starter Ian Kennedy to the mound tomorrow evening in game three of the four game series.