{"id":56157,"date":"2022-08-10T05:14:48","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T09:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=56157"},"modified":"2022-08-10T05:14:48","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T09:14:48","slug":"diamondbacks-pirates-20220810","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2022\/08\/10\/diamondbacks-pirates-20220810\/","title":{"rendered":"Tommy Henry Earns First Career Victory as Diamondbacks Defeat Pirates"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Diamondbacks 6, Pirates 4<\/h2>\n<p>PHOENIX, Aug. 9 \u2014 Rookie left-hander Tommy Henry pitched seven scoreless innings in his first home start, leading the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2022\/04\/06\/diamondbacks-preview-2022-improvement-looms\/\" target=\"_self\">Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> to a 6\u20134 victory over the visiting <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2022\/04\/06\/pittsburgh-pirates-preview-2022\/\" target=\"_self\">Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> Tuesday night. First baseman Christian Walker went 3-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored, and left fielder Jake McCarthy went 2-for-4 with three RBI to lead the offensive charge for the Diamondbacks.<\/p>\n<p>The Diamondbacks took an early 1\u20130 lead, taking advantage of a leadoff double by third baseman Josh Rojas off Pirates starter Zach Thompson. After center fielder Alek Thomas walked, second baseman Ketel Marte grounded into a 3\u20136 force play. A hit-and-run single to right by Walker scored Rojas and advanced Marte to third. The score, however, stayed at 1\u20130 through the end of the inning, as right fielder Daulton Varsho and McCarthy popped and grounded to short, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>The lead became 2\u20130 in the third. Walker doubled with one out and advanced to third on a follow-up fly to right by Varsho. An infield single by the speedy McCarthy plated Walker before designated hitter Seth Beer lined to short for the third out.<\/p>\n<h3>Henry Frustrates Pirates as Diamondbacks Build Lead<\/h3>\n<p><a id=\"aFcDcqTURk1P_7JMDUi4eQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1413931314\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'aFcDcqTURk1P_7JMDUi4eQ',sig:'bxygtE0QfXfmMqXy0fb13M3RqcUR17edBL3QW2VCUCE=',w:'594px',h:'421px',items:'1413931314',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"oxhhVVZVRWNgD6OCHK6EYA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1413932622\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'oxhhVVZVRWNgD6OCHK6EYA',sig:'HguPU1xxtW8ufz57owPZ08oDeuXiePonoOnS2RV4ZM0=',w:'594px',h:'385px',items:'1413932622',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Henry put up zeroes in each of the first five innings. In each of the first three, he only allowed one baserunner \u2014 all with two out. Third baseman Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes singled in the first. Designated hitter Oneil Cruz singled in the second, and center fielder Bryan Reynolds walked in the third. In the fourth, Henry allowed two baserunners \u2014 again with two out. Second baseman Rodolfo Castro walked and advanced to third on a single by Cruz. In an odd, humorous moment, Castro\u2019s mobile phone popped out of his back pocket as he dove into third. Third base umpire Adam Hamari chuckled as he pointed to the phone lying near the base. Rojas said he and Hamari both felt like Castro simply forgot he had it in his pocket. Left fielder Greg Allen, up next, grounded to third, getting Henry out of the jam.<\/p>\n<p>The scoreless streak ended for Henry in the sixth \u2014 with two outs, of course \u2014 on a deep drive to left-center by first baseman Michael Chavis. It bounced off the top off the wall and landed in the bleachers for a paint-scraping solo home run. Henry responded, however, with a 1\u20132\u20133 top of the seventh.<\/p>\n<h4>Blowing It Open<\/h4>\n<p><a id=\"gOmUblxjR19WZ8jt4JNI5Q\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1413930502\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'gOmUblxjR19WZ8jt4JNI5Q',sig:'8MedtxtMWq196XHFjQRzwKNXhTQ02rYL4-2nyRRWRo8=',w:'594px',h:'409px',items:'1413930502',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Diamondbacks blew the game open in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Duane Underwood Jr. Consecutive singles by shortstop Geraldo Perdomo and Rojas led off the frame. An unassisted groundout to first by Thomas advanced the runners to second and third. Both scored on a follow-up single by Marte. A single by Walker \u2014 his third hit of the game \u2014 and a walk by Varsho loaded the bases for McCarthy. With the infield in, McCarthy stroked a single up the middle. This brought in both Marte and Walker, making the score 6\u20131 as Varsho took third.<\/p>\n<p>Exit stage left for Underwood. In came Yohan Ramirez to clean up the mess. After Emmanuel Rivera, who replaced Beer as the DH in the bottom of the sixth, popped to Chavis near the mound, catcher Carson Kelly \u2014 the ninth hitter of the inning \u2014 bounced to third, ending the four-run inning.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Devenski took the mound for the Diamondbacks in the top of the eighth. He retired shortstop Kevin Newman and Reynolds on grounders to short and second, respectively. Hayes kept the two-out pattern going, singling on a sharp grounder to the right side. That brought up right fielder Ben Gamel, who ripped a liner to right-center. Varsho, on his horse, tracked the ball and dove but couldn\u2019t quite reach it. Hayes scored all the way from first to get the Pirates on the board as Gamel coasted into second with a double. Chavis brought in Gamel with a 424-foot two-run homer to the left-field bleachers \u2014 his second dinger of the game \u2014 making the score 6\u20134. It remained that way for the rest of the game, as Mark Melancon pitched a scoreless ninth for his 16th save of the season.<\/p>\n<h3>Postgame Reflections<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cA great day for Tommy,\u201d manager Torey Lovullo beamed afterward. \u201cIt&#8217;s not a secret recipe. When we get good starting pitching, we give ourselves a very good chance to win a baseball game, and Tommy was fantastic today. We saw more of a relaxed type of result. He was landing that secondary stuff. Minus all the anxiety and excitement of making his first major league start, he did a really good job following a game plan and pitching through seven innings. I made a decision, three times around the lineup at 88 pitches, taking him out of the game. Just felt like it was the right time for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henry added, \u201cI felt like I could breathe a little bit today, settle in a little bit\u2026. Felt a little more calm and able to get into a groove.\u201d Every runner who reached base against him did so with two out, something Henry said helped him relax. \u201cIf you&#8217;re gonna have a runner on, you&#8217;d like it to be with two outs. So yeah, I&#8217;d say so. You&#8217;re just continuing to try and find a groove (and) stay in the groove. The flip side of that, though, is you\u2019re so close to finishing an inning. (You\u2019re) a little sloppy with the third hitter of the inning, (when) you could have been out of there with nobody on. There are areas to improve, but yeah, that helped a lot tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>Christian Walker<\/h4>\n<p>All three of Christian Walker\u2019s hits went to the opposite field, something the Pirates \u2014 who shifted him to pull \u2014 certainly did not expect. Walker explained his approach. \u201cI took a couple of (big) swings early off Thompson, really trying to drive the ball. Maybe trying to do a little too much with hitting the ball hard or trying to split a gap or something. I felt like he had enough movement with the cutter and the sinker that made it difficult to take a max-effort swing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I took a couple of big swings early and realized (I should) do a little bit less. Focus on hitting the ball hard, not trying to really hit it in the air or trying to put it in the gap or anything like that. It was just about trying to shorten up a little bit, still trying to hit a ball hard and smash a baseball but taking a little bit of pressure off and not trying to do too much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Pirates pitchers kept attacking him with cutters, mostly over the outer part of the plate. \u201cA lot of outer third spin,\u201d he said. \u201cThe second hit \u2014 the double down the right-field line \u2014 was a cutter, but it backed up a little bit on him. It ended up, actually, up and in. That one I caught a little deep but kind of by accident. The others were spin away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOff Underwood, same thing. Cutter, outer lane. It&#8217;s tough to pull that pitch in the air, a good cutter, especially outer third, moving away from a righty. So to be able to let it travel a little bit and slap it the other way felt good. I wasn\u2019t necessarily aiming to right field today. That\u2019s just how it happened to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5>Defense, Once Again<\/h5>\n<p>The best fielding first baseman in the majors added yet another highlight-reel play to his resume Tuesday night. It made for the second out of the ninth. Allen, a switch hitter batting left-handed against the right-handed Melancon, ripped a liner toward the hole on the right side. It was destined for shallow right, but Walker had other ideas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith a lefty, chances are if they hit a ball towards me, it&#8217;s going to be hooked. It&#8217;s going to be moving towards the line. So off the bat, it felt like it was going to be in the four hole. It doesn&#8217;t hurt anything \u2014there&#8217;s not really much of a risk there to dive and just throw a glove out there. It had enough of a hook on it that it ended up working back to me and just barely stayed in with a little bit of a snow cone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walker landed and rolled on his back to complete the catch, holding the glove up to both let the umpires see that he caught it but to also allow the ball to fall more securely into the glove on its own.<\/p>\n<h3>Looking Ahead<\/h3>\n<p>Henry (1\u20131) earned the first win of his major league career, while Thompson (3\u20139) took the loss. The Diamondbacks (50\u201359) and Pirates (44\u201366) play again Wednesday in the third game of their four-game set. Madison Bumgarner (6\u201310, 3.96 ERA, 95 ERA-minus) and Mitch Keller (3\u20138, 4.21 ERA, 104 ERA-minus) will start for the Diamondbacks and Pirates, respectively, in a lefty-righty matchup. First pitch will be at 6:40 pm Arizona Time.<\/p>\n<h4>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"OSYis9nbT21hK9GwquZ7lQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1242413031\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'OSYis9nbT21hK9GwquZ7lQ',sig:'R3xErOLvKo5C2hk-vN7wVZIMCogI9oEaagNLYW2XY8M=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1242413031',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/h4>\n<h4>Players\/managers mentioned:<\/h4>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/henryto01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tommy Henry<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/walkech02.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Walker<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=mccarja02,mccart000jak&amp;search=Jake+McCarthy&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake McCarthy<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rojasjo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Rojas<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=thompza01,thomps017zac,thomps016zac,thomps010zac&amp;search=Zach+Thompson&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Thompson<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thomaal01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alek Thomas<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/marteke01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ketel Marte<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/v\/varshda01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daulton Varsho<\/a>, <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/beerse01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seth Beer<\/a>, <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cruzon01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oneil Cruz<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reynobr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryan Reynolds<\/a>, <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/castrro01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rodolfo Castro<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/allengr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Greg Allen<\/a><\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hayeske01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Ke&#8217;Bryan Hayes<\/strong><\/a>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/chavimi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Chavis<\/a>, <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/u\/underdu01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Duane Underwood Jr.<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/perdoge01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Geraldo Perdomo<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/ramiryo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yohan Ramirez<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/riverem01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Emmanuel Rivera<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=kellyca02,kelly-004car&amp;search=Carson+Kelly&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carson Kelly<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/devench02.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Devenski<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/n\/newmake01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Newman<\/a>,<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gamelbe01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Gamel<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/melanma01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mark Melancon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/lovulto01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Torey Lovullo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bumgama01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Madison Bumgarner<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kellemi03.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mitch Keller<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Diamondbacks 6, Pirates 4 PHOENIX, Aug. 9 \u2014 Rookie left-hander Tommy Henry pitched seven scoreless innings in his first home start, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 6\u20134 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates Tuesday night. First baseman Christian Walker went 3-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored, and left fielder Jake [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2901,"featured_media":56158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,1071,26],"tags":[2517,5147,486,645,94,5542,5904],"class_list":["post-56157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diamondbacks","category-mlb","category-pirates","tag-christian-walker","tag-jake-mccarthy","tag-mark-melancon","tag-nl-central","tag-nl-west","tag-tommy-henry","tag-zach-thompson"],"modified_by":"Evan Thompson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}