The Cincinnati Reds had struggled all season against divisional opponents and had never had any luck at all when facing Paul Skenes. Both of those things changed on Friday night in Pittsburgh as they were able to grab a 6-4 win over the Pirates to open up the road series with a victory.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (38-42) | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates (41-41) | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| W: Burke (3-3) L: Montgomery (2-3) SV: Ferguson (1) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Pittsburgh didn’t take hardly any time at all to jump out to a lead in this one. The second pitch that Andrew Abbott threw in the bottom of the first was crushed into the seats in left field by Konnor Griffin to put the Pirates up 1-0.
Cincinnati took little time to get on the board in the top of the 2nd inning. Nathaniel Lowe started the rally with a leadoff double and then he took third base on a single by Eugenio Suarez. Spencer Steer and Tyler Stephenson then both picked up RBI singles that made it 2-1. Blake Dunn and Elly De La Cruz both came through with sacrifice flies that pushed the lead to 4-1.
After giving up the leadoff home run, Andrew Abbott locked in over the next few innings, but the defense would cost the left in the 5th when Eugenio Suarez threw the ball away and allowed the first batter of the inning to not only reach but take second on the error. Back-to-back fly outs to center moved the runner up a base and brought him in to score as Pittsburgh got a run back to make it a 2-run game.
In the 6th inning the Pirates didn’t need help from the Reds defense to put another run on the board as Marcell Ozuna hit a long home run to center to lead off the frame and cut the lead down to a run. Five pitches and one out later it was rookie Esmerlyn Valdez hitting a game-tying home run down the left field line. That ran Abbott from the game as Terry Francona went to the mound and called on Tejay Antone to enter from the bullpen. He would get out of the inning with a groundout and then picking off Jake Mangum after he had singled. Antone returned to toss a scoreless 7th inning to keep the game tied up.
Sal Stewart picked up a 1-out single in the 8th inning. The Reds then sent Noelvi Marte to the plate as a pinch hitter to get a righty-on-lefty match up and it paid off as Marte hit a go-ahead 2-run home run on the 6th pitch of the at-bat.
The bottom of the inning didn’t exactly go smoothly. Brock Burke walked Marcell Ozuna to begin the inning before striking out Ryan O’Hearn. Cincinnati then called on Pierce Johnson to enter the game and while facing his first hitter he took a comebacker off of the bottom of the foot and rushed to make the throw to first after locating the ball, but it pulled Sal Stewart off of the bag to put two men on base. Johnson would rebound to get a strikeout and then induced a grounder to end the threat.
Caleb Ferguson came out of the bullpen for the 9th inning. He would pick up a groundout to begin the inning but then Konnor Griffin picked up a single to bring the tying run to the plate. Ferguson turned around and got a strikeout before Bryan Reynolds laced a liner into right field but Spencer Steer was there to catch it and end the game with the Reds hanging on for a 6-4 win over Paul Skenes and the Pirates.
Key Moment of the Game
Noelvi Marte’s 2-run home run in the 8th inning that broke the tie.
Notes Worth Noting
Three is the magic number (according to De La Soul). And that’s how many wins that the Cincinnati Reds now have against divisional opponents on the season.
While none of the relievers from tonight’s game have been with Cincinnati for the full season the ERA of each pitcher when the game ended tonight was 2.38, 2.83, 3.09, and 1.32. They threw 3.2 innings and walked just one batter while striking out four.
Blake Dunn exited the game in the 6th when he was replaced in the field before the bottom of the inning by Dane Myers. It was announced a few minutes later that he left the game with right elbow discomfort. In the 5th inning he made two strong throws back to the infield.
Emilio Pagan pitched his first rehab game with Louisville. He threw six pitches and retired three batters to complete his outing for the Bats.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Pittsburgh Pirates
Saturday June 27th, 4:05pm ET
Chase Burns (9-1, 2.00 ERA) vs Jared Jones (1-1, 5.75 ERA)