Pirates pitching tight roped throughout the Reds lineup and the offense did just enough as the Buccos got the victory 3 – 1 for their second series victory in a row.
The Reds left 12 men on base with their only run coming from a Zach Cozart solo shot in the third.
Pirates’ starter, Jeff Locke didn’t get off to the start he wanted as he would hit Shin-soo Choo to start the game and balk him to second on a throw-over to first. He would then get Zack Cozart to ground out to third before walking Joey Votto to make it first and second with one out. He would get Todd Frazier to ground to third to get the 5 – 4 – 3 double play to end the threat.
He would again face trouble in the second after a lead-off double by Jay Bruce but Bruce would not leave second as Locke would get two more ground outs to third and a fly out to Andrew McCutchen to get out of it.
Cozart would finally get the Reds on the board in the third by sending a Locke 2 – 2 fastball into the Left Field Loonies section to make it 1 – 0. “Pitch was supposed to be in, another one of those issues I’ve had during spring training and early on this season, it’s just when that ball has to be in, it has to be in”, said Locke. “Right when it left my hand I knew it was going to be trouble.”
The Pirates would get that run back in the 4th with 2 out. Cutch would walk and Garrett Jones would follow with a double to the North Side Notch to tie things up at 1. Cutch’s speed allowed him to score from first easily and without a play.
The Reds, again, threatened in the 5th. After Cueto grounded out to the pitcher, Choo and Cozart hit back-to-back singles to set up first and third with one out. Votto would then come up and rocket a ball towards third but Pedro Alvarez would make a leaping catch to save a run. Frazier would then walk to load the bases but Locke would get Bruce to line out to short to end yet another Reds threat. “He (Locke) was able to make pitches and a couple of balls were hit at people. It was just the way it worked”, said manager, Clint Hurdle.
Locke would be done after five innings giving up only a single run on 8 base runners. Cueto would also come out in the 5th, but due to an apparent arm injury to his right triceps (strain) suffered after a pitch to Travis Snider with one out.
Alfredo Simon would come in to take over and he would not have the same success as Cueto did. He would allow Snider and Clint Barmes to each single before pinch hitter, Josh Harison, moved Snider to third on a fly out to right. Marte would then come up and knock Snider in with a RBI single to extend his hitting-streak to 7 games and give the Pirates a 2 – 1 lead.
Justin Wilson would come in and pitch a scoreless 6th. He would then allow a lead-off double by Cozart and a walk to Votto. Wilson would then strikeout Frazier and Votto would flyout to deep center. Hurdle would then bring in Jared Hughes to get the final out (a Xavier Paul groundout) to end yet another Reds threat.
The Pirates would get some insurance in the 7th. Pedro Alvarez drew his third walk of the season and advanced to second on a Snider groundout. He would move to third on a Barmes fly out to right and score on a Jose Tabata pinch-hit double to make it 3 – 1. “It’s one of the hardest things to do in baseball and the ball was blistered”, said Hurdle “We haven’t got a lot of results out of our pinch-hitters, we’ve had some good at-bats, better at-bats, but anytime you can add on a run late against that lineup over there, it’s beneficial for your bullpen and anyone involved.”
The ball would be handed over to the dynamic duo of Mark Melancon and Jason Grilli (5th save) where they would shut the game down from there. Final score: Pirates 3, Reds 1. Pirates take the series and look for the sweep tomorrow afternoon at 1:35.
Starters Lines:
Locke (W, 1 – 1): 5 IN, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB (1 IBB), 1 HB, 1 Balk, 1 HR
Cueto (ND): 4 1/3 IN, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s
Tomorrows Starters:
(PIT) Phil Irwin (1st start)
(CIN) Mat Latos (0 – 0, 4.05 ERA)
