Joc Pederson’s three-run home run in the seventh inning helped the Arizona Diamondbacks come back to win 6-5 on Sunday, while Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes did not get a decision after pitching a shutout into the sixth inning.
Pederson hit a two-out drive to left-center field off struggling Colin Holderman (3-4), changing a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 lead. Pederson’s 17th homer of the season came after Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll had walked.
The home run was hit 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 provide an insurance run. Arizona won its sixth straight series and nine of its last 11 games.
The Pirates got close, making it 6-5 with Bryan Reynolds’ one-out RBI single in the ninth off Ryan Thompson. However, A.J. Puk came in with runners on first and third and struck out Oneil Cruz after an 11-pitch at-bat, 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, which has raised his season ERA from 1.21 to 3.07. Pirates manager Derek Shelton defended his choice to keep 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, striking out four and walking three. It was only the third time in his 14 major-league starts that he did not finish six innings.
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 batters in 86 innings.
“It was definitely better at the start, but I wasn’t executing pitches (later in the game),” Skenes said. “That’s really what it comes down to. Just didn’t feel great. It was one of those days.”
Skenes’ streak of eight straight quality starts ended and his ERA rose to 1.99 as the Pirates lost for the third time in four games.
“I think everyone expected their starting pitcher to have a really good day, but our guys in that clubhouse stepped up,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “He’s got great stuff, but we wanted to make him throw a lot of pitches each inning, and we were eventually able to wear him down.”
Carroll had two hits, extending 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 inning 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, striking out seven and walking two. 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 acquired from Miami in a trade on Tuesday. Grandal hit a run-scoring double in the second and Kiner-Falefa followed with a two-run triple off the right-field wall.
The Diamondbacks chased Skenes during a two-run sixth inning that began with a triple by Carroll. Carroll scored on a groundout by Marte, and McCarthy greeted Hunter Stratton with an RBI single.
