Pittsburgh Pirates Snap 6 Game Losing Streak

The Pittsburgh Pirates snapped their 6 game losing streak on Saturday night

On Saturday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates were looking to snap a 6 game losing streak. Thankfully, they were able to do just that. This came courtesy of a 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

With the win, the Pirates are now 15-22 on the season. It was their first win of their current 7 game road trip, making them 1-5 on the trip thus far.

Trevor Williams started for the Pittsburgh Pirates and was looking for a bounce back outing after his disaster of a start against the Dodgers earlier this week. Despite a rocky start, this is the exact sort of start that Williams put together.

In the first inning, Trevor Williams kept the Diamondbacks off the scoreboard. However, he loaded the bases in the process and needed 27 pitches to do so. Leading off the bottom of the 2nd inning Nick Ahmed hit a home run to make it 1-0 Arizona. This was followed by a Jeff Mathis double. After this, Williams would cruise.

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Williams would retire the final 12 batters that he faced on Saturday night. He pitched 5 innings allowing just the 1 run on 4 hits, a walk, and 4 strikeouts. This was his third career start and by far the best.

To be honest, had the pitcher’s spot not come up with 1 out and a runner on second base in the top of the 6th inning Trevor Williams would have pitched deeper into the game. In his 5 innings pitched Williams threw 77 pitches, 48 for strikes.

In the top of the 4th inning, the Pirates crossed home plate for the first time. Gregory Polanco and David Freese hit back-to-back singles to start the inning, and then Josh Bell walked to load the bases with no one out.

Francisco Cervelli then hit into a double play. However, Polanco would score on the play to tie the game at 1. Jordy Mercer was then intentionally walked to bring up Trevor Williams. Williams hit a ground ball to Diamondbacks’ second baseman Brandon Drury, however, Drury booted the ball allowing Freese to score to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead.

The Bucs would then add to their lead in the top of the 5th inning. Josh Harrison doubled to start the inning, took third on an error by Arizona left fielder Yasmany Tomas, and would then score on a double by Andrew McCutchen. This made it 3-1 Pirates.

In the top of the 6th, the Bucs would extend their lead to 4-1 when pinch-hitter John Jaso ripped a single to right field to score Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli singled to start the inning and advanced to second base on a groundout by Jordy Mercer.

Juan Nicasio took over on the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the bottom of the 6th inning. After retiring Paul Goldschmidt to start the inning he walked Jake Lamb. However, Nicasio would get Yasmany Tomas to line into a 5-3 double play to end the inning.

He then remained in the game to start the 7th inning. He gave up a base hit to Brandon Drury to start the inning. Drury would then take second on a wild pitch by Nicasio, and advance to third on a ground out.

Nick Ahmed then hit a sawed off ground ball to first baseman Jose Osuna, keeping Drury at third base. Ahmed should have been retired on the play for the second out of the inning, however, Nicasio did not cover first base. This led to Nicasio being lifted for Felipe Rivero with runners on the corner, 1 out, and the Pirates leading 4-1 in the bottom of the 7th inning.

Felipe Rivero would get pinch-hitter Chris Owings to foul out to first base for the second out of the inning. Another pinch-hitter, A.J. Pollock, would then foul out to third base to end the inning. Preserving the Pirates’ 4-1 lead through 7 innings.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, the Pirates stuck with Felipe Rivero. He would give up a one-out solo home run to Paul Goldschmidt to cut the Pirate lead to 4-2, but retired the other 3 batters he faced in the 8th inning. This included a pair of strikeouts to give him 22 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings pitched this season.

Pirate closer Tony Watson pitched the bottom of the 9th. This was his first outing since his first blown save of the season on Tuesday night. To start the inning he got Brandon Drury to ground out to second base. Then, Nick Ahmed would hit his second home run of the night to cut the Pirate lead to 4-3.

Tony Watson then got Jeff Mathis to fly out to center field for the second out of the inning. Daniel Descalso then pinch hit for the Diamondbacks and drew a walk. This brought up A.J. Pollock with two outs. Watson would get Pollock to pop out to third base to end the game.

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The final game of this 4 game series is scheduled for 4:10 PM tomorrow. Ivan Nova will start for the Pirates, while the Diamondbacks send Robbie Ray to the mound. With a win, the Pirates will split their series with the Diamondbacks and finish this road trip 2-5.

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