Pirates-Dbacks recap: Offense Continues To Slump

As the Diamondbacks had their chances in nearly each inning, the Pirates relied on A.J. Burnett to take care of the mess. Capitalized by his seven inning near shut down performance and Starlin Marte’s go ahead single in the 9^th, the Pittsburgh Pirates made it two in a row beating Arizona 2-1 early Saturday night.

Reed had not pitched in a few days, and after taking down the first two batters in the ninth he seemed to settle down. But a double by Neil Walker set the stage for Marte’s single that went up the middle. Arizona tried to make thing interesting twice in their half. Tuffy Gosewisch singles, but with Nick Ahmed coming in as a pinch runner, he was caught stealing. Cliff Pennington drew a walk, but Yasmany Tomás grounded out to second to close the deal.

The Good:

Once again their starting pitching are doing what they are asked to do. Rubby De La Rosa went seven strong allowing just one run on four hits. They bullpen handled their ground aside from Reed’s blown chance to keep it a tie in the 9^th. Chris Owings is also beginning to spark, going 2-for-3 with a run scored.

The Bad:

It has been pretty nerve wrecking to see how weak the Diamondbacks offense has gotten. They have men on, but once again runs aren’t coming in. Another 1 hit performance with a man at least two bags away has plagued the team all year, this time on 9 occasions.

Next Up:

Arizona will look to avoid the sweep tomorrow as Jeremy Hellickson (1.2, 4.58 ERA) faces off with Francisco Liriano (0-1, 3.00 ERA).