Archer Lit Up In Return, Pirates Drop Series In Arizona

Chris Archer was hit hard in his return off the IL and Arizona coasted to an 11-1 victory in the series’ rubber match.

Walks haunted Archer (1-3) throughout his 3.2 innings. He walked three of his first four batters faced, all of whom scored in the first.

Archer then got into a groove of retiring 10 straight batters, but a two out walk to pitcher Zack Greinke sparked another four run inning for the DBacks. Eduardo Escobar eventually chased him with a two run shot to right field.

Archer finished his afternoon with only four hits on his ledger, but he was on the hook for seven runs- six earned- and four walks. He struck out five and allowed a home run.

Greinke (6-1) continued his recent dominance against the Pirates, going 7.2 innings of shutout, four hit ball. It’s his third straight outing without allowing a run to Pittsburgh, totaling 20.2 IP.

The only Pirate who seemed to have Greinke’s number was Josh Bell, who ripped a double and single against the right-hander. both of which had an exit velocity well north of 100 MPH. He went 2-4 Wednesday.

The Pirates got their only run with two outs in the ninth on a Melky Cabrera base hit.

Montana DuRapau cleaned up the fourth inning before handing the ball off to the recently required Chris Stratton. Stratton surrendered two home runs- one of which was an inside the parker by Blake Swihart- in his four innings pitched.

On Deck

The Pirates will head to San Diego to conclude their three city road trip. Trevor Williams (2-1, 3.40) will start in his hometown against Eric Lauer (2-4, 5.75) Thursday, with first pitch coming at 10:10 p.m. Eastern time.

NUMB3RS

1. Starling Marte extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a fourth inning single. Bell pushed his streak to 15 games.

2. Greinke picked up his ninth career steal in the fourth inning. That is the tied for the third most for a pitcher since 1950, per Andrew Simon.

3. Bell is slashing .429/.467/1.143 in the second inning this year (15 PAs). He doubled to open the second Wednesday.