Gregory Polanco, Charlie Morton key 5-1 Pirates win

Gregory Polanco and Charlie Morton led the Pirates to a 5-1 victory over a distinctly bad-looking Diamondbacks team Wednesday night.

Polanco led off the bottom of the first with a double, then headed to third as Gerardo Parra struggled to field the ball in right. Polanco then came home on Starling Marte's groundout. Then in the second, Pedro Alvarez and Jordy Mercer led off with singles. Morton bunted into a double play after that, but Polanco golfed a breaking pitch to right, giving the Pirates a 3-0 lead.

In the third, Paul Goldschmidt singled, moved up on a groundout, and then came home on a bloop hit by Aaron Hill. That was all Morton would allow, and he left after six innings and five strikeouts (although he walked three and threw a wild pitch). Meanwhile his counterpart Chase Anderson labored, leaving after 3.2 innings, a bunch of deep counts, and 88 unimpressive pitches thrown.

The Pirates added two runs off Matt Stites in the eighth. Mercer (who went 3-for-3 with a walk) led off with a single. He got erased when Travis Snider grounded into a force out, but Snider moved up on Didi Gregorious' throwing error. Then Marte brought Snider home with a double to left, and came home himself when Ender Inciarte and David Peralta couldn't decide who would field what became an Andrew McCutchen single.

The Diamondbacks didn't have such a great game defensively, in case that weren't obvious. They also struggled to get things going offensively, managing just one extra-base hit.

With the victory, the Pirates moved to 44-40, passing the Reds and tying St. Louis for second place in the NL Central.