Pirates Offense Lifeless in Shutout Defeat to Diamondbacks

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates struggled immensely from the batter's box, as they suffered a 5-0 shutout defeat to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the series opener at Chase Field.

The Pirates have been shut out nine times this season, with their most recent shutout defeat coming vs. the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on May 18.

Pittsburgh drops to 19-36 overall and 6-20 on the road, while Arizona improves to 27-27 overall and 14-13 at home.

Center fielder Oneil Cruz opened up the game for the Pirates with a double in the top of the first inning, but designated hitter Andrew McCutchen popped out and both right fielder Bryan Reynolds and first baseman Spencer Horwitz grounded out to end that scoring chance.

Pirates left-handed starting pitcher Andrew Heaney allowed two singles in the bottom of the first inning, but would get a ground out and post two strikeouts to keep things scoreless.

Heaney allowed another leadoff single to designated hitter Randal Grichuk in the bottom of the second inning and then allowed a double to catcher Gabriel Moreno, putting two runners on for the Diamondbacks with no outs.

Center fielder Tim Tawa hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Grichuk to make it 1-0 Arizona and moving Moreno to third base.

Heaney got shortstop Geraldo Perdomo to ground out, but then allowed a single to second baseman Ketel Marte, scoring Moreno and doubling the Diamondbacks lead at 2-0.

Third baseman Eugenio Suárez added on to the Diamondbacks' advantage in the bottom of the third inning, hitting a changeup out for a solo home run, making it 3-0.