Potential trade target Brandon McCarthy allows 2 runs, strikes out 6 in win over Pirates

Win: Brandon McCarthy (3-10)

Loss: Vance Worley (2-1)

The Pirates failed to complete their first sweep of the season, suffering a 10-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night. The game got away from the Pirates in the 9th inning when Arizona scored seven runs on eight hits, sending 11 batters to the plate. Reliever Ernesto Frieri (19.29 ERA), acquired last week in the Jason Grilli trade, entered the game with the Pirates trailing just 3-2 but things quickly went south as Frieri allowed five hits and five earned runs, facing six batters.

• Vance Worely (2-1, 2.28 ERA) had another efficient outing, allowing four hits and three earned runs in seven innings. Worley retired the first 12 batters of the game but ran into trouble in the sixth.  Worley walked Didi Gregorius, a .222 hitter, to leadoff the inning and Arizona would score three times in the inning, highlighted by David Peralta’s two-run homer to put the Diamondbacks up 3-2. Worley said afterwards he lost command of his two-seam fastball which played a part in the bad sixth inning.
• Diamondbacks starter Brandon McCarthy (3-10, 5.01 ERA) has been mentioned as a possible trade target for the Pirates. He picked his third win of the season, allowing eight hits and two runs in 5 2/3 innings. McCarthy struck out six . Other than being a veteran starter, McCarthy’s is extremely inconsistent but what has the Pirates intrigued is a career best 7.53 K/9 for McCarthy. However, he does little for the Pirates who are getting solid pitching from the likes of Jeff Locke and Worley of late.
• Pirates officials believe Francisco Liriano, currently on DL,  is primed for a bounce back second half and feel statistics such as Liriano having the lowest overall contact rate at 68 percent among NL pitchers, point to that.