PHOENIX – Brandon Lowe again gave the Pirates a quick lead with a 436-foot homer in the first inning of their 4-2 victory over the Diamondbacks on Thursday at Chase Field. He did it with a 435-footer the day before.
His two-out, two-strike single in the fifth could be considered, if not the bigger, then the more critical plate appearance.
Lowe triggered the Pirates’ go-ahead, two-run fifth, in which four straight hitters reached base to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead, and Joey Bart’s homer in the sixth gave Mitch Keller (4-1) enough support to win his third straight decision.
“I was just trying to pass the baton,” said Lowe, who singled on a 1-2 knuckle curve, the fourth straight knuckle curve Arizona starter Zac Gallen threw him in that plate appearance.
The relay began.
Bryan Reynolds laid off a 3-2 slider to work a six-pitch walk, moving Lowe to second, before Ryan O’Hearn grounded a single into right on a 1-2 slider to tie the game.
Spencer Horwitz followed with another single to right for the second run of the inning, and the Pirates had all they needed in support of Keller. The Pirates forced Gallen to throw 33 pitches that inning, possibly taking its toll when Bart homered with two outs in the sixth.
“It was just that [patience], the mentality of nobody selling their at-bats,” Lowe said. “Everybody is going up there and not trying to do anything that they are not capable of doing.
“No one was trying to hit a 500-foot home run. It was just, ‘Go up there, run off a good approach, take good swings.’”
O’Hearn, hitless with a walk in the first two games of the series, saw three four-seam fastballs from Gallen before taking the slider to right field, a ball that ticked off the end of diving first baseman Ildemaro Vargas’ glove.
O’Hearn is now 7-for-15 with two doubles, a homer and five RBIs in six games against Gallen.
“I’ve been scuffing a little bit, so it was good to come through there personally,” O’Hearn said.
“And the guys are just having great at-bats. Hitting the ball hard. Swinging at strikes. Found a couple of holes there, and that’s all we needed. That’s the plan. Getting the pitch to hit, being stubborn with that. When our offense gets cooking, that’s what’s going on.
“We don’t have a lot of guys who are trying to hit home runs. Quality at-bats and passing the baton and getting guys on base. Then the big homers come.”
Lowe’s 871 feet of homers put the Pirates ahead in each win in Phoenix as they prepare for a three-game weekend stop in San Francisco, where they swept the Giants last season for the first time since 2016.
“Absolutely energizes everybody in the dugout, not just the hitters,” Lowe said about getting an early lead. “Our pitcher gets to go out there with a lead. You’re kind of pitching a little bit with house money there for a little bit.
“Any time you can score early, whether it is a home run or just [putting] some good swings together, it’s huge for the team.”
Lowe did both in support of Keller, who gave up runs in the first and third as Arizona took a 2-1 lead.
Keller retired 10 in a row after giving up a homer to Corbin Carroll in the third, but he said Bart helped get back in the groove.
“The first couple of innings were pretty sporadic,” said Keller, who gave up both of his walks and three of his four hits in the first three innings.
“I give all the credit to Joey. In between innings he was pumping me up, getting me going, locking me back in. Honestly, that’s kind of what I needed. I needed that positivity he was bringing.
“Just got into attack mode.”
Bart would not get into specifics, other than to say that he tried to challenge Keller a little bit.
“I told him, ‘Let’s go. … Let’s do better.’ In a nice way.”
Gregory Soto pitched the ninth for his third save, his second in as many games, with the first coming when he saved Paul Skenes’ 1-0 win Wednesday built on Lowe’s 435-foot homer.