Sedona Red Recap: Loss to Pirates, Pollock’s injury overshadow Goldschmidt’s big day

PHOENIX — No position players remained when the Arizona Diamondbacks lost their second starting outfielder of the day.

A.J. Pollock singled to put runners on the corners with an out in the 10th inning and the D-backs trailing 6-4, but he did so after tweaking his right groin. That set up this situation: pitcher Patrick Corbin was up to pinch-hit and ace Zack Greinke entered as Pollock’s pinch-runner.

Corbin struck out, Paul Goldschmidt was walked and Jake Lamb grounded out with the bases loaded to seal the Pittsburgh victory Sunday at Chase Field.

“I think we’re building things, we’re just not finishing. Whether we need to make adjustments or not or be situationally aware, we need to close out those moments,” said manager Torey Lovullo. “We had runners on base all day long. And I’ll take that.”

Pirates starter Ivan Nova has been one of baseball’s best this season by doing two things: ranking first in MLB with 0.56 walks per nine innings and ranking ninth by allowing home runs at the same rate heading into Sunday.

So it was uncharacteristic the Diamondbacks coerced a walk, a hit batter and two home runs off Nova in the 10-inning loss. Arizona can thank Goldschmidt for the bombs and three of the team’s runs.

Nova allowed a one-out single to David Peralta — who said he is not concerned after leaving the game with a tweaked glute — in the first inning before a high, 92-mph sinkerball dropped right into Goldschmidt’s zone for a two-run homer to left field.

The first baseman would find even more power in the fifth inning, accelerating a 94-mph sinker 112 mph the opposite direction for an estimated 453-foot bomb that struck the center field videoboard and brought comparisons to Richie Sexson’s 200th career home run back in 2004.

Characteristically, the first baseman wasn’t as concerned with the depth of his solo shot.

“Honestly, I don’t really care, to be completely honest. I felt good I got it out of there,” he said of the solo shot that pulled Arizona within 4-3.

Outside of his success, scoring opportunities were sparse against Nova.

And sparse wasn’t good enough to win on a rough afternoon for D-backs starter Robbie Ray, who lasted just four innings, allowing six hits, four earned runs, including two home runs. He tallied two strikeouts and three walks while tossing 88 pitches.

“He gave us what he could. I thought his final inning, his fourth inning, was his best inning and hopefully, he can build on that for his next start,” Lovullo said.

Meanwhile, Nova allowed his sixth and seventh home runs this year. He also recorded his fifth walk to Chris Herrmann and later on showed disgust in the sixth when he beaned pinch-hitter Brandon Drury to load the bases with an out.

But like he did with the other 14 hits, Nova got out of that jam with a double-play off Pollock’s at-bat.

The D-backs placed only three runners in scoring position until the eighth, when former reliever Daniel Hudson walked three batters and with two outs found the bases loaded. Replacing him, Wade LeBlanc walked pinch-hitter Jeff Mathis, the last position player available, scoring the D-backs’ game-tying run.

Lamb led off the ninth with a single, Chris Owings reached safely on a bunt, but Herrmann’s bunt attempt that followed was a pop-up to the pitcher. Then, Nick Ahmed hit into a double-play that squashed what began a promising chance for a walk-off. The blown opportunity bit Arizona in the 10th, when the Pirates took the lead off Jose Osuna’s two-run home run off Tom Wilhelmsen.

“I want to make sure everybody understands how hard it is to situationally hit. We didn’t do it perfect today. You got to give some pitchers some credit every once in a while,” Lovullo said. “They made pitches and (we) had some very good hitters not execute.”

THE GOOD

In the third inning after a Josh Bell home run that made it a 4-1 Pirates lead, a groundball by Pittsburgh’s Francisco Cervelli got under the glove of Lamb with still no outs. But the D-backs made up for the error when Herrmann placed a throw to second, allowing shortstop Nick Ahmed to take Cervelli out on the stolen base attempt.

THE BAD

Diamondbacks starter Robbie Ray allowed a single, hit the second Pirates batter and walked two others all within his first full inning. Arizona trailed 1-0 by the end of it and needed 27 Ray pitches to get out with limited damage. He threw 24 or more pitches in his first three innings before needing 12 in his fourth and final frame.

Andrew McCutchen tied the game up to lead off the top of the third, smacking a slider on a 1-0 pitch to left field and tying the game up, 2-2. Before Ray had even earned the first out of the third, he’d thrown 67 pitches and the Pirates led 4-2 after a Gregory Polanco single followed by a Bell home run off a high fastball that landed in the right-field stands.

STAT OF THE GAME

1-for-9: The D-backs went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

NOTED

— Pollock will be evaluated for his right groin injury on Monday and he had no updates as far as its severity.

— Peralta left the game for reliever Archie Bradley before the eighth inning due to tightness in his right glute.

— Former D-back Daniel Hudson made his first appearance at Chase Field since leaving Arizona as a free agent this past offseason. He pitched the bottom of the eighth inning and was chased after three walks.

— Goldschmidt’s second home run tallied at 453 feet was the 16th-longest in MLB this year.

— A crowd of 34,088 attended on Mother’s Day.

UP NEXT

The New York Mets open a three-game series with the Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Monday with right-hander Zack Wheeler (2-2, 4.18 ERA) facing Arizona’s Zack Godley (1-0, 2.25 ERA).

It’ll mark Godley’s third start in place of Shelby Miller in the rotation. Godley is coming off a win over Detroit: a seven-frame game of one run scored against him.

First pitch is schedule for 6:40 p.m. with a pregame show starting on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station, 40 minutes prior.

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