Dbacks 2, Pirates 1: Weaver Secures Series Split

It was a pitcher’s duel in PNC Park tonight. Luke Weaver took the mound for the Diamondbacks, and Trevor Williams toed the rubber for the Pirates. Both pitchers successfully worked around one out hits in the first, and Williams recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first.

Weaver was the first to blink in the bottom of the second, but only a little. He gave up a lead off single to Colin Moran, but got Bryan Reynolds to strike out swining. Francisco Cervelli did not go down as quietly. He doubled, brining Moran home. He would stay on second however, as Cole Tucker and Williams both struck to end the inning. 1-0 Pirates

The Dbacks went down in order in the third. Pittsburgh put together a bit of a threat, with Adam Frazier getting a lead off single and Gregory Polanco also getting a single one out later, putting runners on the corners. However, Weaver got another strike out, this time from Josh Bell and a ground out from Moran, ending the inning and stranding the runners.

Top of the fourth, the Dbacks put together a threat of their own. Jarrod Dyson singled to left field, but ended up being replaced on the basepaths by Eduardo Escobar after the latter grounded into a fielder’s choice. David Peralta also grounded out, moving Escobar to second and bringing up Adam “The New Tony Clark” Jones. He doubled to right and brought Escobar home to score, tying the game. He would finish the inning on second, however, after Christian Walker struck out swinging for the third out. Tied at 1

The next inning and a half was quiet. The Pirates managed the only hit in the bottom of the fourth, but it was erased on a double play. In the fifth, both teams sat down in order. The Diamondbacks would take the lead in the sixth, but it required an assist from NYC. Jarrod Dyson walked with one out to get things going. He then went to third on an Escobar double.

Next, David Peralta hit a ground ball to second. Adam Frazier, the Pirates second baseman fired home. The call on the field was the tag was applied and Dyson was out. However, the replay clearly showed Dyson easily beating the tag, and so the Diamondbacks appealed and the call was overturned. That was all the scoring, though, as Jones popped out, and Walker grounded out, for the final two outs. 2-1 Diamondbacks

That was pretty much the ball game. Luke Weaver ended up going 6.1 innings, six hits, one earned run, one walk, and seven strike outs. Trevor Williams was almost as good, going seven full innings, with only four hits and one walk, but two of those runners came around to score, and that ended up being the difference.

Chafin finished off the sixth inning by throwing one pitch and getting a double play. Bradley pitched the seventh, and was a little shaky, starting the inning by walking JB Shuck on four pitches, but was able to work through it and record a scoreless inning. Holland pitched the ninth, and recorded the save.

Close games like this always seem to lead to some pretty impressive WPA%. Weaver racked up a 21.9% WPA, Holland 18.7%, Bradley 13.5 (though one has to wonder how much of that was related to the two runners he put on during his inning), Chafin 11.1%, and Escobar 12.3% The only Diamondback with a significant negative number was Christian Walker, at -11.2%

303 comments tonight. DC had 62, MikeMono had 35, and Jack Sommers had 34. All present were:

AZPerson, AzDbackfanInDc, CA_Yankee_Fan, Craig’s City Counsell, Diamondhacks, GuruB, Jack Sommers, Jim McLennan, Johnneu, Keegan Thompson, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, MikeMono, NikT77, asteroid, dbrowell, edbigghead, kilnborn, onedotfive, since_98, suroeste

No red comments, so no COTN. Another 4:05 start tomorrow, as Merrill Kelly faces off against Jordan Lyles. See you there!