Pirates Pounded 11-4

J-Hay opened with a knock into center off Patrick Corbin, so at least tonight's no-hit watch can be cancelled. With two gone, Gregory blooped a ball the opposite way that fell in for a double and plated Josh. Tyler Glasnow gave up a two-out walk that was erased on a caught stealing to end the frame 1-2-3. J-Bell walked with one gone in the second, enough action to turn the order over. Man, trying to get that clean third out - Ty struck out Chris Drury with two gone on a hook; Stew whiffed on the catch to allow him to get to first. But again, no damage but to the pitch count. It was a quiet third for the Bucs, but loud for the D-Backs. It began with a NASA launch long ball, then the pitcher walked. That was followed by a triple, double, pair of singles (the D-Backs hit for the cycle with the first one), out, and another homer. Josh Lindblom finished up.

Gregory is starting to look comfortable at the dish (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

The Pirates chipped away in the fourth. With two outs, Jose Osuna worked a free pass and J-Bell's 430' bomb to left center made it 7-3. The Snakes saw and raised, plating four times. Oddly, Josh struck out the side in between six knocks. The Pirates added one more in the fifth on three straight two-out raps with Gregory chasing home Jordy while Arizona took a break from scoring. The nines traded zeroes in the sixth. Elizabeth-Forward HS grad JJ Hoover came in for the seventh and tossed a goose egg; Johnny Barbato took the ball and drilled Iannetta in the face. He thankfully left the field under his own power; the game is ugly enough without a beaning and fortunately it didn't lead into any warfare (although there was a bit of payback later). A walk followed but JB worked out of it.

Andrew Chafin answered the phone for the eighth and breezed through it while Barbato tossed another zippo with a knock and a couple of loud outs. Tom Wilhelmsen closed it out. He banged Stew on the leg with two outs, so the score was settled before the night ended.

Tyler took two steps back tonight (photo MLB Pipeline)

The Bucs are committed to Tyler learning his craft at this level; we'll see how much longer that holds true after a big step backward. Today's problem was with his fastball; his location was AWOL; a couple of the hit parade knocks came off two strike heaters down the middle. And with Trevor Williams on the hill tomorrow, this probably wasn't the game to burn out your long men.

Notes:

• Gregory had two hits and J-Bell had a bomb & a walk; they each had two RBI to account for the Bucco runs - and all four came home with two outs.
• Fran Cervelli sat tonight with a sore knee first banged up in the LA series and aggravated last night.
• RHP Nick Kingham has been promoted to Indy after a successful rehab outing at Hi-A Bradenton.
• Altoona 2B Kevin Kramer extended his on-base streak to 29 games while Bradenton SS Cole Tucker's string reached 21 games tonight. Tucker had a day - he went 4-for-6 (2b, 3B, 2-HRs) with seven RBI. The Marauders set a franchise run-scoring record in its 20-2 win. Chris Tripodi of MiLB.com has the story on Cole's en fuego evening.

Michael Ryan notched #300 at the helm (photo MLB.com)

• With Altoona's 7-1 win over New Hampshire, Curve manager Michael Ryan picked up his 300th career win skippering in the Pirates organization. The Indiana PA native has been in the system since 2013, with prior stops at West Virginia and Bradenton.