Pirates bullpen blows 4-run lead, as Diamondbacks rally to win 3-game series

The Pittsburgh Pirates want to be a playoff contender, and they got a taste of what it’s like to be in a wild-card race Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After blowing a four-run lead by giving up a three-run homer to Joc Pederson and a solo shot to Ketel Marte, the Pirates rallied to within one run in the ninth inning as they fed off a PNC Park crowd of 32,624.

Where the Diamondbacks did damage with two strikes, the Pirates couldn’t produce a comeback of their own. With runners on first and third, A.J. Puk retired the final two batters to preserve a 6-5 win for the Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon to clinch the three-game series.

“Not finishing. I think that’s the story of the two games we lost in this series,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We did not execute pitches with two strikes, and we have to. If you leave the ball on the plate — I mean, this is one of the best offenses in baseball — you leave the ball on the plate with two strikes, they’re going to do damage. And we saw that.”

The Pirates (56-55) wasted an opportunity to gain ground on the Diamondbacks (60-52) in the wild-card chase, blowing a late lead and losing by one run for the second time in three days.

All-Star rookie right-hander Paul Skenes was far from dominant in allowing two runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts in 5¹⁄₃ innings. Skenes had his second-lowest strikeout total and tied for his most walks in his 13th career start.

“Yeah, he was erratic. He was kind of all over the place,” Shelton said. “I mean, it’s the first time we’ve really seen him scatter the ball a little bit.”

Skenes threw only 12 of his 40 four-seam fastballs for called strikes or whiffs, and never touched 100 mph with his heater against Arizona, which started a lineup featuring four left-handed hitters and four switch hitters who refused to chase pitches outside the strike zone.

“They definitely didn’t help,” Skenes said. “They’ve got a good lineup. They are not going to let me, or anybody else, get away with just not throwing strikes. They are going to grind it out. It was one of those days.”

Even so, the Pirates spotted Skenes a four-run lead, thanks to their newcomers acquired at the trade deadline. Second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a leadoff double to left and scored on a single to left by right fielder Bryan De La Cruz to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first frame.

Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson got himself into trouble in the bottom of the second, hitting Joey Bart with a pitch and walking Ji Hwan Bae before giving up a double to Yasmani Grandal that put the Pirates ahead 2-0. Kiner-Falefa followed with a two-run triple off the Clemente Wall for a 4-0 lead.

Meantime, Skenes neutralized the Diamondbacks for five innings but was at 84 pitches while dealing with the heat and humidity when Shelton sent him back out for the sixth. The Pirates used five relievers in their 4-2 win Saturday, when a 68-minute rain delay kept Mitch Keller from returning, so Shelton had little choice but to ride his horse.

It backfired when Corbin Carroll hit a leadoff triple off the Clemente Wall, then scored on Marte’s groundout to second to cut it to 4-1 in the sixth. When Pederson followed with a single to center, Grandal made a mound visit while Hunter Stratton warmed up in the bullpen.

But Shelton left Skenes in to face Josh Bell for a four-pitch walk before bringing in Stratton, who then gave up an RBI single to Jake McCarthy that cut it to 4-2.

The bullpen blew the lead in the seventh after another curious decision. Shelton chose righty Colin Holderman, who surrendered a pair of home runs in a three-run 10th inning against Arizona on July 28, over lefty Jalen Beeks despite the hitting matchups.

Holderman walked Perdomo and Carroll, with Shelton taking exception to two pitches at the bottom of the strike zone that were called for balls against Carroll. That set the stage for Pederson’s blast. With two outs, Pederson drilled Holderman’s 99.8-mph sinker 410 feet to left for a three-run homer to give the Diamondbacks a 5-4 lead.

“It started a little rough, we made some pitches, and we were one pitch away, which I executed down and away at 100 mph,” Holderman said. “Normally that works, but he made a better swing, put it backside, deepest part of the yard. Tip the cap.”

Then, in the eighth, the Pirates brought in Beeks for his fourth appearance in five games after being acquired from Colorado. After a walk and a single, Arizona had runners on second and third when the Pirates turned to Jake Woodford, who struck out pinch hitter Gabriel Moreno to end the frame. But Woodford gave up the solo shot to Marte — his 27th of the season — in the ninth as Arizona made it 6-4.

The Pirates were rejuvenated in the bottom of the ninth by the return of Andrew McCutchen, who pinch hit for Jared Triolo after being removed from Saturday’s game with left quadriceps tightness. McCutchen drew a leadoff walk, and Grandal singled off the glove of first baseman Kevin Newman, a defensive replacement for Bell.

Then, with runners on first and second base, Kiner-Falefa attempted a bunt but popped up to closer Ryan Thompson. It was another curious call by Shelton, who attempted to explain his rationale.

“Play for the tie and then get (closer David) Bednar in the game and see where we could go there,” Shelton said. “(Kiner-Falefa has) done a pretty good job bunting throughout his career, and it was a tough pitch.”

Bryan Reynolds battled through a 10-pitch at-bat before lining an RBI single to right to score McCutchen and cut it to 6-5, giving the Pirates hope that they could pull off a comeback.

Instead, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo opted for a left-on-left matchup of Puk against Oneil Cruz with runners on first and third. After working a 3-0 count, Cruz fouled off seven consecutive pitches before going down swinging at a four-seamer high and inside. De La Cruz flied out to right to end the game.

“It’s just frustrating when you don’t win,” Reynolds said. “It happens. You’ve just got to bounce back from it. We were right there in all of them. Sometimes things happen. They got the better end of it twice. We’ve just got to move forward and get a hot streak.”