Arizona Diamondbacks 11, Pittsburgh Pirates 1

Today was my first game back at Chase Field since Opening Day, so the full recap will be up after I survive the trek up the I-17. I typically try to attend one game per home stand, but I decided to avoid the New York Yankees crowd a few weeks ago.

Chris Archer made his first start today since April 26th for the Pittsburgh Pirates returning from the 10 day injured list. His command was horrendous in the top of the first walking three of the first four batters he faced to load the bases with one out. Ketel Marte then singled to center to score Jarrod Dyson, and Christian Walker reached on an error scoring Eduardo Escobar. Arizona’s third and final run in the inning came in thanks to a Nick Ahmed sac fly putting the Pirates in an early 3-0 hole.

Archer settled down in the second and third innings retiring six straight and the first two in the fourth inning but then came completely off the rails. After recording those first two outs in the fourth, the D’backs went double, walk, stolen base, two run single, stolen base, two run homer. That gave Arizona a seven run advantage putting the game well out of reach with Zack Greinke on the mound.

Greinke was dealing through two outs in the eighth before calling to the training staff and being pulled from the game in the middle of a 2-2 count with 95 pitches thrown. I’ve not seen official word on his injury at the time of this quick recap, but he appeared to be grimacing while stretching his back. David Peralta was also removed himself in the bottom of the seventh with right lat tightness.

Unfortunate as the injuries are, Arizona comes out on top of the series finale with an 11-1 victory.