Diamondbacks homer 5 times, hold off 9th-inning rally to top Pirates

JT Brubaker’s worst enemy returned, as the right-hander set an ominous tone for the Pittsburgh Pirates by serving up long balls.

Brubaker surrendered three home runs, including a two-run shot to Ketel Marte for the go-ahead runs, as the Arizona Diamondbacks went deep five times. Then it almost came back to bite them.

The Pirates staged a late rally with a homer of their own, as Ke’Bryan Hayes hit J.B. Wendelken’s 3-2 sinker for a three-run shot 416 feet to straightaway center with no outs in the bottom of the ninth.

After giving up a single to Bryan Reynolds, Diamondbacks closer Mark Melancon retired the next three batters to clinch an 8-6 win over the Pirates Friday night before 16,444 at PNC Park.

The loss snapped a season-best three-game win streak for the Pirates, who were coming off a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Brubaker allowed a season-high eight hits and five earned runs on 73 pitches in four innings, giving up as many homers as he had strikeouts.

“I look at it as a rough night,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I thought his slider played a little flatter than it’s played previously. His last three outings, he’s thrown the ball pretty well, but today he just left balls up in the zone, and because of it we kind of paid for it.”

Brubaker had given up five homers in 10 starts, and this was his first multi-homer game of the season. He gave up a team-high 28 homers last season, including nine multi-homer games. Brubaker surrendered three homers against the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers and Dodgers.

“Bad nights are gonna happen,” Brubaker said. “But it’s different when bad nights happen when you’re ahead in counts or you’re in the zone. I was behind, got working my way back into accounts and just wasn’t putting myself in a good position to put the guys away or really attacking.”

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Ke’Bryan Hayes hustled for a leadoff double to left-center, advanced to third on Daniel Vogelbach’s groundout to short and scored on a passed ball by Diamondbacks catcher Daulton Varsho.

“We’ve always stressed baserunning, especially with our ballpark, how big it is on the left side of the field,” Hayes said. “Being able to go first-to-third and all those little things, that’s what’s going to help us win ballgames and stay in ball games.”

Arizona answered with two runs in the second. First baseman Christian Walker drove JT Brubaker’s 2-1 slider 420 feet to left field for his 14th homer to tie the game at 1-1. Pavin Smith hit a bloop double to shallow left, reached third on an error by Pirates second baseman Rodolfo Castro and scored on an Alek Thomas sacrifice fly to center.

The Pirates turned to small ball to tie it in the bottom of the second. Jack Suwinski singled to right, reached second when Diego Castillo drew a walk, advanced to third when Tucupita Marcano grounded into a forceout at second and scored when Tyler Heineman hit a comebacker that Merrill Kelly muffed on the mound.

Jack Suwinski singled to right to score Michael Chavis to tie it at 3-3 in the third, but the Diamondbacks used a three-run fifth to take control. Josh Rojas hit a leadoff double, sliding under Castro’s tag at second. The Pirates challenged the call but lost, and Marte followed by driving a 1-0 fastball 367 feet to right for a two-run homer and 5-3 lead.

Brubaker attributed it to missing the mark on pitches thrown high in the strike zone that led to the homers.

“That’s exactly it,” Brubaker said. “Just mistake pitches and mistake pitches can get hit a long way.”

Christian Walker singled and advanced to third on David Peralta’s double but was thrown out at the plate by Castro on Pavin Smith’s grounder. Peralta, however, scored on Anthony Banda’s wild pitch for a 6-3 Diamondbacks lead.

Arizona added back-to-back homers by Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas off Yerry De Los Santos in the seventh inning to stretch its lead to 8-3. It marked the first career multi-homer game for Thomas.

The Pirates got a leadoff homer from Marcano in the ninth and Tyler Heineman drew a four-pitch walk from J.B. to set the stage for Hayes’ homer. But Melancon struck out Daniel Vogelbach, got Chavis to fly out to right and Castro to ground out to second to earn his 11th save.

“We’re in a position to tie the game. We were in a position where they had to bring their closer into the game. If there’s anything, that’s a small victory,” Shelton said. “The biggest thing is these guys continue to battle, regardless of score and regardless of the situation, they continue to play. … So, you know, the one thing I really like about this club is they fight, and they fight to the last out.”