The Pirates unleashed the new order, in the form of Michael Chavis and Anthony Alford, on the old, aka Madison Bumgarner, and came away with a 4-2 win. Tomorrow they’ll have their 11th chance to get their first sweep of the season.
Maybe more importantly than anything else, J.T. Brubaker went five innings without allowing a gopher ball, or even a run for that matter. He walked three and gave up four hits, but the latter were just three singles and a double. He also fanned six.
Brubaker didn’t breeze through. He left the bases loaded in the second by getting Bumgarner, who has 19 career homers, to line out. In the third, a double and a wild pitch put a runner on third with nobody out, but Brubaker struck out the side. In the fifth, a pair of two-out singles but runners at the corners, but Brubaker got a fly out.
Brubaker left with a 4-0 lead. Chavis opened the scoring in the third with his first Pirate home run, first hit in fact, and third home run overall in the majors this year. Ke’Bryan Hayes followed with a triple and scored on a fly ball by Bryan Reynolds. Chavis finished 2-for-4, although it wasn’t all glorious. In the seventh, he got picked off second with two outs, depriving Yoshi Tsutsugo of a pinch-hit opportunity.
In the fourth, Alford hit his first major league home run of the year. It scored Ben Gamel, who’d walked.
Duane Underwood, Jr., followed Brubaker with two scoreless innings. It was his sixth straight outing without allowing an earned run. Chasen Shreve wasn’t so successful, giving up a double and a home run to account for the D’backs’ runs. Shreve has a 6.52 ERA in August.
Chris Stratton had a 1-2-3 ninth, gaining his second save. The win stopped Brubaker’s nine-game losing streak.
