Pirates 2 - 1 Diamondbacks
Final
  for this game

Burnett takes another crack at win No. 1

Apr 25, 2015 - 12:28 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - A.J. Burnett has been the Pittsburgh Pirates' best pitcher this season, but has no wins to show for it. He'll try to change that on Saturday when the Pirates resume a three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Burnett did not get a decision on Monday against Chicago, as he allowed just a run and eight hits in six innings of his team's 5-2 loss.

The Pirates have lost all three of Burnett's starts this season, but he has given up no more than two runs in any outing and has yielded just two over 12 2/3 innings over his last two.

"He's the old bull that's been around," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "He's out there going, 'I'm gonna get you or you're gonna get me. Not gonna be a whole lotta Mickey Mousing going on around here.'"

Burnett has faced the Diamondbacks seven times and is 4-3 against them with a 4.08 ERA.

Arizona, meanwhile, will turn to righty Rubby De La Rosa, who suffered his first loss his last time out. De La Rosa lost to the San Francisco Giants last Saturday, as he gave up four runs (3 earned) and nine hits over 6 2/3 innings to drop him to 2-1 on the year to go along with a 6.00 ERA.

"He just left too many pitches up," D-backs manager Chip Hale said. "Once he started pitching down, he had some success. He battled. He gave up four runs -- tonight it wasn't good enough, but he's getting better each time out. It's improvement."

Pittsburgh won its third straight game on Friday, as Neil Walker and Josh Harrison drove in two runs apiece to power the Pirates to a 4-1 victory.

Gerrit Cole (3-0) surrendered just one run on seven hits with seven strikeouts over 7 2/3 frames for his seventh straight winning decision.

"I keep trying to stay aggressive," Cole said. "The delivery stayed good for the whole game."

Chris Owings drove in Arizona's lone run and Josh Collmenter (1-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs and six hits in six-plus innings of work.

"He was really good," Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said of Collmenter. "I think he controlled the zone and moved his fastball where he wanted to."

Pittsburgh was 4-3 against the D-backs last season.






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