Adrian Del Castillo had three singles in his first day back in the majors, Brandon Pfaadt pitched seven shutout innings, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3 in a series matching National League wild card contenders.
Del Castillo drove in a run and scored twice after being recalled from Triple-A Reno on Friday, when the Diamondbacks made a series of moves that included placing second baseman Ketel Marte on the restricted list after his home was burglarized during the All-Star break.
Pfaadt (10-6) gave up four hits — three singles and a double — and hit a batter. He struck out six, did not walk a batter and retired 11 in a row before Willson Contreras opened the seventh with a double.
Geraldo Perdomo had two hits and two RBIs for Arizona, which had lost three of four and eight of 12 before the break. Perdomo leads major league shortstops with 67 RBIs.
Victor Scott II hit a two-run homer off John Curtis in the Cardinals’ three-run ninth.
Pedro Pages, Ivan Herrera and Masyn Winn each had two hits for the Cardinals, who have lost nine of 13.
Del Castillo, who had four homers in 29 games with the Diamondbacks last season, had four homers in 14 games with Reno this year.
Andre Pallante (5-6) gave up six runs on nine hits before leaving with two outs in the fifth inning. He was struck in the right hip area by Del Castillo’s line drive that went for a single and gave up an RBI double to Blaze Alexander before being replaced.
Pallante struck out three and walked two. He entered the game as the National League leader in ground ball percentage but induced just four ground-ball outs.
Arizona took the lead in a three-run second. Del Castillo singled with one out before consecutive two-out singles by Alek Thomas and Jose Herrera drove in the first run. After Corbin Carroll walked to load the bases, Perdomo singled in two.
Del Castillo had an RBI single in a two-run third to give the Diamondbacks a 5-0 lead. Josh Naylor walked and Eugenio Suarez singled before Del Castillo singled in a run. The other run was recorded on an Alek Thomas groundout.
Arizona’s final run came across on Del Castillo’s double-play grounder with the bases loaded in the seventh.
–Field Level Media
