The Cincinnati Reds were blown out for the second time in three days. Pittsburgh put up nine runs on 12 hits and they walked eight times as the Pirates picked up a win to open up the series between the two National League Central division foes.
Bryan Reynolds got the scoring started for Pittsburgh in the bottom of the 1st inning with a 443-foot home run to dead center, putting the Pirates up 1-0. Two innings later they would tack on more. Henry Davis led off the 3rd inning with a walk and then came in to score on a triple by Bryan Reynolds that was just out of the reach of a diving Spencer Steer in right field. Ryan O’Hearn followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0.
Henry Davis would come through with a solo home run in the 4th to push the lead to four. Oneil Cruz then followed up with a double that came off of his bat at 113 MPH. That would be the final pitch from Singer as the Reds made the call to the bullpen with one out in the 4th inning and brought in Zach Maxwell. He walked the first batter he faced but then stranded both runners by retiring the next two hitters. Maxwell wasn’t as lucky in the 5th. He walked the first batter of the inning and then gave up a 425-foot homer to center that made it a 6-0 ballgame. Henry Davis, who had not homered before this game, added a 2-run homer – giving him two in the last two innings.
With the score 8-0 the Reds went back to the bullpen to bring in Sam Moll and he got out of the inning with no further damage. Cincinnati would get a leadoff double from TJ Friedl in the 6th and he came in to score after back-to-back groundouts that moved him up a base. Pittsburgh got that run back in their half of the inning on a bases loaded walk by Pierce Johnson, making it 9-1.
That’s where the score remained the rest of the game with the Reds going down in order in both the 8th and 9th innings, resulting in a win for Pittsburgh that ended their 5-game losing streak and started off the 3-game series with a victory.
Key Moment of the Game
The Pirates 4-run 5th inning. While it was already 4-0 entering the inning there was little doubt left about the outcome of the game by the time the inning was over.
Notes Worth Noting
The loss dropped the Reds to 20-12. With a win earlier in the day by the Cubs, Cincinnati is now tied with Chicago for 1st place in the division. Every team in the division is now over the .500 mark.
The Reds only had three hits in the game and two of those hits came off of the bat of TJ Friedl. On top of just three hits they only had one walk, which was by Spencer Steer and he had the other hit for Cincinnati.
Friedl was hitting just .137 after his game in Minnesota on April 18th. Since then he’s hit .316 and slugged .605 in 10 games. The power has really come around as he’s doubled six times and homered twice during that stretch.
The pitching staff combined to walk eight batters and had just five strikeouts. That might be slightly unfair, though, because Jose Trevino pitched a hitless 8th inning where he had both a walk and a strikeout. They did record 12 outs via the groundball and just one on a fly out…. but perhaps that’s because they gave up four home runs and guys don’t catch those.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Pittsburgh Pirates
Saturday May 2nd, 4:05pm ET
Rhett Lowder (3-1, 3.18 ERA) vs Carmen Mlodzinski (1-2, 4.13 ERA)