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Bedard bounces back to lead Pirates to win over Diamondbacks
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Neil Walker looks for the call as he slides into home safely.
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After one of his worst outings of the season, Erik Bedard responded with perhaps his best.
Bedard was almost unhittable as he paced the Pirates to a 4-0 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight at PNC Park.
Bedard pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits to pick up his sixth victory of the season. He struck out seven without issuing a walk.
He retired 17 consecutive batters between the second and seventh innings, when he surrendered a two-out single to Paul Goldschmidt. But even Goldschmidt did not stay on the bases for long; as he tried to stretch his single into a double, he was thrown out at second on a dart by Starling Marte in left field.
After holding onto a one-run lead for most of the game, the Pirates (62-46) rattled off four consecutive one-out singles in the eighth inning and added three insurance runs.
Goldschmidt had both of the Diamondbacks' hits against Bedard, who allowed nine runs, eight earned, last week against the Chicago Cubs. In 10 home starts, Bedard has a 2.38 ERA while he has posted a 6.75 ERA in 11 starts on the road this season.
He got some help behind him, too. In addition to Marte's strong arm, Josh Harrison made three diving plays at third base to help preserve the Pirates' small lead throughout the game.
Arizona (55-54) committed three errors.
Diamondbacks starter Wade Miley took the loss, allowing one earned run on six hits in six innings.
Andrew McCutchen went 2 for 4 with two runs. He sparked the Pirates offense in the fourth inning with a leadoff single and some speed.
McCutchen dropped a bloop single into shallow centerfield that Diamondbacks centerfielder Chris Young couldn't corral. McCutchen sprinted to second on the error and likely would have been out had shortstop Willie Bloomquist cleanly fielded Young's throw.
He didn't.
The ball ricocheted off Bloomquist's glove, and McCutchen sped to third on the second error of the play. He scored when the next batter, Gaby Sanchez, grounded out to short as the Pirates took a 1-0 lead.
The Pirates had a chance to add to their lead in the fifth inning when back-to-back hits -- a single by Rod Barajas and a double by Clint Barmes -- put runners on second and third with no outs. After Bedard grounded out to short, Miley loaded the bases by walking Marte. But Josh Harrison hit into an inning-ending double play.
They also botched a scoring opportunity in the seventh, when Barajas and Presley stood on second and first, respectively, with one out before Marte grounded into a double play.
Bedard got into a bit of trouble in the second inning, when he allowed a leadoff double to Goldschmidt, who advanced to third with one out when Justin Upton grounded out to first. But Bedard struck out Miguel Montero and got Chris Johnson to ground out to third to end the inning.
First Published August 6, 2012 9:47 pm
