Anthony Alford and Michael Chavis homered Tuesday night to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates past the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2.
The Pirates have won four of their past five games, including the first two in this series after being swept by the Diamondbacks in the teams’ earlier series.
The teams are at the bottom of the National League standings, but the Pirates have moved 4 1/2 games up on Arizona.
Pittsburgh starter JT Brubaker (5-13), who had lost nine consecutive decisions and had not won since May 29, pitched five scoreless, four-hit innings, with three walks and six strikeouts.
Chris Stratton pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save, handing the Diamondbacks their fourth loss in five games.
Arizona starter Madison Bumgarner (7-8) allowed four runs and six hits in six innings, with three walks and five strikeouts.
Each team loaded the bases with two outs in the second inning, each by issuing an intentional walk to face the pitcher, a strategy that worked as each side stranded all three runners.
Chavis led off the third with his third homer, his first as a member of the Pirates, an estimated 424-foot shot to left to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. He was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis after coming over from Boston near the trade deadline.
Ke’Bryan Hayes followed with a standup triple off the wall in right, and Bryan Reynolds drove in Hayes with a sacrifice fly to push the score to 2-0.
In the fourth inning, Ben Gamel drew a leadoff walk. Kevin Newman flied out to left, where David Peralta crashed into the wall making the catch, but stayed in the game.
Alford, a day after he came off the Injured List, promptly hit his first home run to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead.
In the eighth against Pittsburgh reliever Chasen Shreve, Asdrubal Cabrera opened with a double to center and later scored when pinch-hitter Ketel Marte hit his seventh homer of the year to cut the deficit to 4-2.
–Field Level Media