The Pirates stormed back to erase a six-run deficit but fell to the Diamondbacks 8-7 in 12 innings on Tuesday night at PNC Park.
The Diamondbacks took a commanding lead early on, with Geraldo Perdomo tripling off the right field wall and Gabriel Moreno bringing him home via a groundout to second base against Bubba Chandler in the top of the first inning. This was followed by a strong second inning, where Tim Tawa plated a run on a fielder’s choice to short and Corbin Carroll hit a sharp grounder that ate up second baseman Brandon Lowe, resulting in another run for the Diamondbacks.
The Pirates struggled to keep up with the Diamondbacks' offense, allowing Nolan Arenado to tack on another run with an RBI single to left field in the top of the third inning. The deficit continued to grow, with a Lowe error at second base on a Perdomo grounder allowing Ryan Waldschmidt to score from second base in the top of the fourth inning. The Diamondbacks extended their lead further, with Moreno legging out a double play ball to extend Arizona’s lead against Isaac Mattson in the top of the sixth inning.
The Pirates finally woke up in the eighth inning, scoring three runs against Diamondbacks reliever Ryan Thompson. Ryan O’Hearn got Pittsburgh on the board with an RBI double to right, and Endy Rodríguez plated another with a base hit up the middle. Marcell Ozuna followed with an RBI infield single.
The game continued into extra innings, with the Pirates fighting to catch up. After Jake Mangum doubled to start the inning, Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds hit back-to-back home runs off Paul Sewald to erase the six-run deficit and tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The back-and-forth battle continued, with the Diamondbacks taking the lead once again. Ildemaro Vargas hit a sharp grounder to Jared Triolo at shortstop, which took a high hop and allowed Tyler Locklear to score from second against Gregory Soto in the top of the tenth inning.
The Pirates refused to give up, with Rodríguez moving from second to third on a Tyler Callihan sacrifice bunt and scoring when Triolo hit a grounder to first base which was bobbled by Tyler Locklear in the bottom of the tenth inning.
In the end, the Diamondbacks emerged victorious, with James McCann driving in the game-winning run with an RBI single to right off Wilber Dotel in the top of the 12th inning. The win gives the Diamondbacks a crucial lead in the Wild Card standings, with the Pirates trailing by just two games.
Source: Yahoo Sports