Gregory Polanco makes costly mistake, bullpen takes advantage as pirates fail to sweep Arizona

The Pittsburgh Pirates TV broadcast crew brought their brooms, but the only sweep made Wednesday night at PNC Park was another disheartening loss under the proverbial carpet.

Bryse Wilson came off the injured list to pitch five scoreless innings, but Gregory Polanco made a costly mistake and the bullpen took the lead in a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks forward. 8,357.

For the 11th time this season, the Pirates (46-80) missed a chance to win a streak sweep, remaining the only baseball team to have failed to sweep at least one streak this season. Losing to the Diamondbacks (42-85), who have the worst record in the NL, only added to the insult.

Subsequently, Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said he “had been informed” that AT&T SportsNet broadcasters, Greg Brown and Matt Capps, began broadcasting the game with brooms on their shoulders.

“A close friend of mine sent me a picture of the diffusers with the broom in their booth,” Lovullo said. “Look, this is part of the game, and I know everyone is inspired for different things and different reasons. We should be motivated enough to go out there and do our job. This is sport. This is what professional sport should be.

The fact that the Pirates spoiled Wilson’s strong start was exacerbated by Polanco’s blunder in right field, which allowed the tied point to score in the sixth inning and a handful of fans chanting “DFA” against the oldest player on the team. Polanco was placed on waivers on Sunday but cleared Tuesday and was back in the starting lineup.

Despite a slow start against Diamondbacks left-hander Tyler Gilbert, who threw a hit against the San Diego Padres in his first major league start on August 14, the Pirates rallied to take a 2-0 lead. .

Gilbert put out the first 10 hitters he faced before Ke’Bryan Hayes hit one from the Clemente wall to right field with a putout in the fourth. Hayes took third place on a passed ball and scored on a sacrificial volley online to Jacob Stallings right field.

The Pirates increased their lead to 2-0 in the fifth, when Polanco (2 for 4) scored a brace on the straight and scored on a field to the left of Michael Chavis.

After being activated from the 10-day injured list, Wilson allowed two hits and two walks while striking out seven. Wilson credited “some minor mechanical changes” he made while on IL, leading to a career-high 15 swings and misses and tying his career-best strikeout record.

“I feel like the biggest change was having a firm landing leg, walking, landing and having that stick and being firm so I could be more on top. of the ball instead of coming back, ”Wilson said.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton warned Wilson, who was suffering from right arm fatigue, would be on a controlled number of shots, so he was called out after throwing 74 shots in five innings.

Nick Mears replaced Wilson in the sixth and gave Pavin Smith a 352-foot home run as the Diamondbacks reduced him to 2-1. After Mears stepped Christian Walker, he was pulled out for southpaw Anthony Banda. With two outs, David Peralta hit a right-field rocket that popped Gregory Polanco’s glove and rolled towards the wall, a mistake that saw Walker tie the game to make it 2-2.

Banda took out Varsho at bat to leave Peralta stranded in third place to break the deadlock. Soon Banda had more problems. Carson Kelly crushed his 1-1 change in the left-field bleachers for a solo homerun and a 3-2 Diamondbacks lead. David Peralta added a two-point brace to leave Kyle Keller in the eighth and extend Arizona’s lead to 5-2.