Pirates comeback falls short, lose to Diamondbacks 6-4

The Pittsburgh Pirates got a two-homer night out of Michael Chavis, with the second one coming in the eighth inning to bring the Buccos back into the game, but they would get no closer in a 6-4 defeat to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Chavis hit his first dinger in the sixth, a two-out shot that got the Buccos on the board and trimmed Arizona’s lead to 2-1.

Prior to that, the Diamondbacks got two off of starter Zach Thompson, who went four and two-thirds innings, giving up two runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

Duane Underwood then let Arizona break the game open, as he gave up four runs on five hits in just a single inning of action, and with Pittsburgh’s bats once again having a quiet night, it appeared that was all she wrote, but the Buccos made some noise in the eighth.

First, Ke’Bryan Hayes scored on a Ben Gamel double to make it 6-2, and then Chavis came on to smack his second homer of the night to get Pittsburgh within striking distance.

But unfortunately for the Bucs, that’s as far as the comeback went, as former Bucco Mark Melancon pitched the ninth, giving up just a walk, for his 16th save of the season.

Thompson took the loss for Pittsburgh to fall to 3-9 on the year, while Hayes, Chavis, and Oneil Cruz all went 2-for-4 on the night. Gamel had the Bucs’ only other hit.

The Buccos will return against Arizona again tonight for another late game.