Bucs suffer consecutive shutout losses to D'Backs in Arizona
PHOENIX — Arizona right-hander Max Schrezer pitched with a one-track mind Sunday.
"Completely, let's get after them," he said. "Let's get ahead as fast as we can."
Scherzer pounded the strike zone, getting ahead of Pittsburgh hitters and making sure the Arizona offense didn't need to give him much help. The Diamondbacks' 9-0 victory over the Pirates was the first win for Scherzer since June 23.
Scherzer (6-6) gave up five singles in seven innings, struck out eight and did not walk a batter for only the second time in his 26 career starts. He threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of first 24 batters he faced and reached a three-ball count only twice.
Of his 109 pitches, 85 were strikes.
"For a strikeout pitcher to have that much strike zone command, it is really dominant," Arizona manager A. J. Hinch said.
"From the first inning on, you could tell. He was challenging hitters with his fastball the first time through the order, then he mixed in his other pitches the next two times. What a great performance on all fronts, from dominating stuff to first-pitch strikes."
Mark Reynolds and Gerardo Parra had two-run homers, and Parra had four RBIs while finishing a triple short of the cycle.
Reynolds' 26th homer gave Arizona (43-56) a 4-0 lead in the third inning. Parra's homer, his fifth, capped the scoring in the eighth inning.
Both homers came with two outs as Arizona scored seven of its nine runs with two outs.
"That really demoralizes the other team," Hinch said.
"We are playing well right now, scoring runs and making it easy on our pitchers," Reynolds said.
The Diamondbacks had eight extra-base hits, including a double and a triple by Stephen Drew, who extended his hitting streak to eight games. They had 25 extra-base hits in winning three of four during the series.
Pittsburgh (43-55) was shut out for the second straight game, and its 11 shutouts lead the major leagues.
"They have a good pitching staff," said Pittsburgh's Freddy Sanchez, who was 0 for 12 with seven strikeouts in the series. "As bad as we are pressing and not doing well, you have to give credit to those guys, too."
Arizona recorded back-to-back shutouts for the first time since blanking Washington on May 31 and June 1, 2008. The Pirates have been shut out on consecutive days twice this season, the first time in interleague play at the Chicago White Sox on May 22-23.
"You get behind a guy like that, it's going to be tough. He got into a good groove," Pittsburgh manager John Russell said. "Spotting them four runs early, it's awfully tough to come back, especially we've been struggling the last couple of games scoring runs."
