Escobar, Diamondbacks batter Pirates

Eduardo Escobar drove in three runs with a homer and a triple, Robbie Ray reached a strikeout milestone, and the Arizona Diamondbacks cruised past the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-3 on Monday night in Phoenix. Escobar tripled into the right field corner to knock in two in the second inning, and he hit his eighth home run of the year when he led off the fourth with a blast to right. He singled in the eighth to finish a double shy of the cycle.

Arizona scored in each of the first five innings to storm back after the Pirates took a 2-0 lead off Ray (3-1) in the first inning. The left-hander settled down to pitch five innings, allowing six hits and two runs (one earned). He walked two and struck out six. When Ray fanned pitcher Nick Kingham (1-1) to end the fourth, he recorded his 800th career strikeout to become the second-fastest left-hander (125 games) to reach that level.

Clayton Kershaw (128 games) had been second behind Frank Tanana (120). Kingham, making his 10th appearance and second start of the season, allowed seven runs and 10 hits in four innings, striking out two and walking one.

Christian Walker homered for Arizona and had two hits. Jarrod Dyson added two hits, two runs and two stolen bases. David Peralta went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. After Pittsburgh scored twice in the first inning, the Diamondbacks tied the game in the bottom of the inning on Peralta's RBI single and Ketel Marte's RBI double.

The Diamondbacks led 5-2 after two innings, posting a higher run total than they had achieved in any of their previous seven games. Pittsburgh's Josh Bell went 2-for-4 with an RBI to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, the longest active streak in the majors. He struck out with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh with the Pirates down 8-2.

Diamondbacks reliever Jimmie Sherfy, called up Monday from Triple-A Reno, struck out three in a row in the seventh after allowing three singles to load the bases. Arizona has won five consecutive games over Pittsburgh this season, nine in a row dating to last season and 13 of the past 14 going back to May 2017.

--Field Level Media

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