Field Level Media
May 15, 2019
Josh Bell smashed two long home runs, Joe Musgrove pitched seven scoreless innings and the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates snapped a nine-game losing streak against Arizona with a 6-2 win over the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night in Phoenix.
Bell drove in four runs and has hit safely in 14 consecutive games, the longest current streak in the majors.
Bell's first homer came with two outs in the fifth. He drove an 0-2 fastball from Luke Weaver an estimated 446 feet over the center-field fence for a 3-0 lead. He took reliever Zack Godley's first pitch of the eighth inning 460 feet to right to give the Pirates a 4-0 edge.
Musgrove (2-4) allowed one hit -- an Eduardo Escobar single to lead off the fourth -- and threw only 75 pitches while facing two over the minimum. Of his 21 outs, he got 19 on four pitches or fewer. Musgrove struck out five and walked two.
Weaver (3-2) pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits, striking out five and walking two.
Arizona's Carson Kelly hit his third homer of the season to cut the lead to 6-1 in the eighth. The Diamondbacks put together consecutive two-out hits off Michael Feliz in the ninth to make it 6-2.
Pittsburgh rookie shortstop Cole Tucker, who grew up in the Phoenix area as a Diamondbacks fan, hit a two-run home run off Godley in the eighth in front of family in the stands. It was his second career home run.
Arizona had won all five games against Pittsburgh this season and the final four meetings of last season.
Pittsburgh's Starling Marte had three hits for the second consecutive game. Melky Cabrera went 3-for-4.
Musgrove looked more like the pitcher who took a 1.54 ERA into May than the one who had been rocked for 15 runs (13 earned) in 5 2/3 innings across two starts this month. The right-hander didn't throw more than 15 pitches in any inning and no at-bat lasted more than six pitches.
The Pirates left the bases loaded in the second but took the lead on Bell's RBI groundout in the third.
--Field Level Media