Diamondbacks 10, Pirates 2

To say the D-backs had difficulty with Vance Worley in the early going, would be putting it mildly. He was perfect the first time through our order, with the first base-runner not coming until the 13th batter, Miguel Montero walking to lead off the fifth inning. We were hitless until the sixth, when Didi Gregorius walked, and was bunted over by Brandon McCarthy. Ender Inciarte got our first hit, with an RBI single, and David Peralta immediately followed with a two-run homer, to give Arizona the lead. However, it was still close until the D-backs broke things open with a seven-run ninth, getting eight hits during the inning.

Meanwhile, Brandon McCarthy wobbled a bit through 5.2 innings, scattering eight hits and a pair of walks, but keeping the damage to two runs and striking out six. Oliver Perez mopped up the final out of the sixth, before Evan Marshall and Brad Ziegler put up zeroes to take us to the ninth. Fortunately, the late offensive outburst made things a good deal less stressful than the thought of Addison Reed coming into the game with a one-run lead. Instead, we got to see Matt Stites protecting a lead of a rather larger size. He closed things out, and the team leaves Pittsburgh in a better frame of mind than it seemed they might.