Gregory Polanco, Pirates blast Diamondbacks

The Pirates gave Dansby Swanson Aaron Blair Ender Inciarte Shelby Miller a hard time and Gregory Polanco drove in a career-high five runs in the Bucs' 12-1 dismantling of the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

Polanco went 3-for-5, doing his damage on a three-run home run in the first inning and a two-run double in the sixth.

John Jaso was called out on a pickoff play, but that was overturned upon a review that showed a pretty nifty slide to avoid Paul Goldschmidt's tag. That paid off quickly as Andrew McCutchen singled and Polanco turned around a 96-MPH Miller fastball for a blast to right-center.

The Pirates added three runs in the third. After Jordy Mercer drove in two with his double, eighth-place hitter Chris Stewart was intentionally walked only for Francisco Liriano to smack a single to left that plated Mercer.

The Bucs also had three-run innings in the sixth and seventh. Polanco's double off lefty Andrew Chafin came in the sixth, and in the seventh Jaso and McCutchen hit back-to-back run-scoring singles, with Cole Figueroa's rundown allowing David Freese to score the second run on Cutch's hit.

There wasn't much doubt to this one from the early going, but the Pirates did load the bases three times.

Francisco Liriano lost his control in the sixth, walking a couple to load the bases and leaving before Jared Hughes got a ground ball for the final out. Liriano had two strikeouts and five walks, but only two hits in 5 2-3 innings.

Arquimedes Caminero filled the bases in the seventh, hitting Jean Segura in the helmet with a pitch. Fortunately, Segura walked off under his own power. An inning later, Caminero filled them when he hit Nick Ahmed in the chin -- Ahmed also appeared relatively OK.

Caminero has been pretty rough this year, to say the least, and he clearly didn't have his control. The situation could have easily devolved into something much nastier, but it didn't. (Evan Marshall did hit Freese a little ambiguously in between Caminero's plunkings, drawing an umpire's warning to both benches; Caminero was ejected after he hit Ahmed. But it didn't turn into a brawl or beanball war.) Here's hoping Segura and Ahmed are alright.

Unlike in a couple high-scoring games against Atlanta last week, the Pirates didn't have to empty the bullpen to get through the game. Caminero's shaky work had a lot to do with that, but A.J. Schugel got four pretty quick outs at the end, too, leaving Neftali Feliz, Tony Watson and Mark Melancon to be saved for another day.