Castro ditches phone, brings bat, Pirates beat D-backs 6-4
PHOENIX (AP) — Rodolfo Castro had two hits to spark the offense one night after a smartphone faux pas, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old Castro mistakenly left his phone in the back pocket of his baseball pants during Tuesday's game, and it came flying out on a headfirst slide into third base. It was not the kind of impression the youngster wanted to make: He's split time between the minors and big leagues over the past two years and had just been recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis.
On Wednesday, he left his phone in the clubhouse but clearly remembered to bring his bat.
The sparse crowd at Chase Field didn't give Castro too much grief for the phone gaffe, though a couple of jeers could be heard during his first at-bat. Castro didn't seem to mind, responding with a single. He added a triple in the sixth inning and scored on Greg Allen's double to make it 5-2.
The Pirates jumped out a 2-0 lead in the third when Ben Gamel's double to the right-center gap brought home Jason Delay and Kevin Newman.
Pittsburgh pushed its advantage to 3-0 in the fourth on a double steal. Tucupita Marcano was able to dart home from third base while the D-backs defense was distracted with Delay, who was caught in a rundown between first and second.
Pirates starter Mitch Keller (4-8) gave up three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander walked one and struck out three.
Colin Holderman, Wil Crowe and Eric Stout combined to give up one run over 3 2/3 innings. Stout got the final out for his first career save, helping the Pirates wiggle out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth.
Diamondbacks left-hander Madison Bumgarner (6-11) allowed five runs and eight hits over six innings, striking out eight and walking two.
Arizona cut the deficit to 3-2 in the fourth on Ketel Marte's RBI single and Christian Walker's sacrifice fly.
The Pirates improved to 5-4 in August. The Diamondbacks had a three-game winning streak snapped.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Pirates: The club hopes All-Star reliever David Bednar (lower back tightness) can begin throwing in the next week.
UP NEXT
The teams wrap up their four-game series Thursday, when the D-backs send RHP Merrill Kelly (10-5, 2.86 ERA) to the mound against RHP JT Brubaker (2-10, 4.49).
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