Bell stars in D-backs debut after team hits 3 straight HRs in 1st
PITTSBURGH — The D-backs could not have had a better start just four batters into their game against the Pirates on Friday night at PNC Park, as they raced ahead thanks to three homers in a row — four if you count Little League home runs — to start a five-run inning.
Arizona would need those runs and a few more as the team had to hang on for a 9-8 win, and in the process, new addition Josh Bell and Ketel Marte ended up with two-homer games.
It started with Corbin Carroll lining a ball down the right-field line for a triple, and when shortstop Oneil Cruz threw the ball past third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, Carroll came home with the game’s first run.
Carroll showed off his speed on the play, and the D-backs then put on a power display.
Marte, Joc Pederson and Bell followed with back-to-back-to-back home runs to right field leaving the crowd at PNC Park stunned. After Marte’s landed in the right-field seats, Pederson’s cleared them and bounced into the Allegheny River. He is the 50th player to reach the river since PNC Park opened in 2001.
The homer for Bell came on the first pitch he saw since being acquired by the D-backs from the Marlins just prior to the Trade Deadline. It was the first time the D-backs hit three homers in a row since June 10, 2019 vs. the Phillies. Jarrod Dyson, Marte and David Peralta went deep to begin that game.
Bell added a second homer in the seventh to tie the game at 7. The homer came on a 102.9 mph fastball from Aroldis Chapman, making it the fastest pitch hit for a homer since pitch-tracking began in 2008. Bell also homered from both sides of the plate on Friday, marking the second time he’s done that (also on Aug. 9, 2023, with the Marlins).
Then, Marte slugged his second homer of the game in the ninth inning as an insurance run.