Pirates shut out Arizona Diamondbacks, earn series sweep: By the Numbers

The Arizona Diamondbacks’ offense has been quiet of late, and its silence was deafening Sunday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pirates starter Francisco Liriano only allowed two hits to Arizona in 6.1 innings, although he walked six batters.

D-backs starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson gave up two runs in the first inning and only lasted 4.2 frames, throwing 105 pitches in that span. He was on the hook for four Pirates runs before exiting.

The Diamondbacks needed to use five pitchers throughout the afternoon, and Pittsburgh tacked on a few runs in the final two innings.

Arizona tied its season low with three hits and was shut out for the first time all year in an 8-0 loss to the Pirates, who have won five straight.

The D-backs were swept at home in the weekend series — their first three-game skid of the year — and fell to 8-10 on the season. Pittsburgh recorded it first-ever three-game sweep in Arizona, and improved to 11-8 on the year.

The Pirates will head to Chicago on Monday to take on the Cubs for a three-game series, while Arizona will stay at home for three straight contests against division rival Colorado.

Here’s a look at Sunday’s shutout at Chase Field, by the numbers:

1

Two years removed from drawing 54 walks with the Los Angeles Angels, D-backs outfielder Mark Trumbo earned his first base on balls in his 16th appearance of the season. As a team, the D-backs drew seven walks in the loss. Trumbo finished the afternoon 0-for-3, his batting average falling to .267.

1/9

Pirates star outfielder Andrew McCutchen finally got his first hit of the three-game series: a fifth-inning single to left. After going 1-for-2 Sunday with two walks, one RBI and one run, McCutchen finished the series just 1-for-9 with three walks, two runs, one RBI and two strikeouts. At the end of the weekend, he’s batting .186 for the season.

2.1

Reliever Andrew Chafin spelled Hellickson for 2.1 innings and was the only D-backs pitcher to not give up a hit or a run. Chafin struck out two batters while throwing 25 pitches, and his performance atoned for his most recent outing — April 22 against Texas, when the left-hander gave up four earned runs and three hits in just two-thirds of an inning. The 24-year-old pitcher lowered his ERA to 4.66 with his extended work out of the bullpen Sunday.

3

Paul Goldschmidt went hitless for the third time in four games, but he walked twice and stole his third bag of the year — the third-highest total on the team. The first baseman’s batting average fell to .270 after going 0-for-2 Sunday, but his 14 walks are tops on the D-backs.

4 (part I)

Pirates second baseman Neil Walker added three more hits and another double to his fantastic series performance against Diamondbacks pitching. Walker doubled in each of the three games, tallying four total doubles. Also, each game was a multi-hit performance for the 29-year-old switch hitter, and he finished the series with four RBI and three runs scored. He’s now batting .300.

4 (part II)

One of the few bright spots for Arizona was Ender Inciarte’s leadoff single in the first inning, the first of just three D-backs hits. Inciarte finished the game just 1-for-4 — now batting .319 — but is on a four-game hitting streak. Infielder Chris Owings also had a hitting streak going — five games — entering the contest, but that came to an end with an 0-for-4 performance.

6/13

Hellickson has allowed 13 earned runs in four starts this season, and six of them have come in the first inning — after he allowed two in the frame Sunday. The first-year Diamondback needed a whopping 32 pitches to get out of the opening frame, ending up with 105, his second-highest total of the season.

8.10

Former starter Daniel Hudson had his second straight rocky outing out of the bullpen. The right-hander got the final out of the eighth inning, but had to be replaced with two outs in the ninth, as he had given up four hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly in a full inning of work. Randall Delgado came in and immediately surrendered a single that plated one of Hudson’s baserunners. The 28-year-old Hudson ended up being charged with three earned runs on the afternoon, his second straight appearance with that many allowed. His ERA jumped from 4.76 to 8.10 with the forgettable showing.

9

The D-backs’ starting rotation had a streak of nine straight quality starts before Hellickson allowed seven hits and four earned runs in just under five innings — although he did tie his season high with six strikeouts. The 28-year-old right-hander’s record fell to 1-3 with the performance, and his ERA went up to 5.24.

9/10

In four at-bats, A.J. Pollock got one of the Diamondbacks’ three hits. He’s now hit safely in nine of his last 10 outings, and the lone hitless game in that stretch was when he made a pinch-hit appearance on April 18 in San Francisco. The 27-year-old outfielder also stole his fourth bag of the year in Sunday’s loss, tying Owings for the team lead.

July 6-8, 2001

Arizona managed just two runs in the entire series — one on Friday and one on Saturday. That’s the lowest total the team has had in a series of three games or more since July 6-8, 2001, against the Oakland Athletics at home.