Charlie Morton became victim of the big inning once again as the Reds struck for three in the fifth en route to a 5-2 victory over the Pirates on Wednesday night.
The Pirates held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 thanks to a bases loaded walk by Travis Snider in the first and an Andrew McCutchen solo shot in the third. The solo shot for Cutch was his third homer in as many games as the centerfielder remains the only offense for the Bucs as of late.
“There’s times when our approach has been good,” said manager Clint Hurdle. “We can continue to just talk about how stubborn we can get with our approach and to stay with our approach. We had a lot of 1-0 counts tonight that turned into outs. We did some things that put us in a good position and gave us shots and opportunities, but we have to continue to work for that consistency that we’re going to need.”
The Reds struck that dreaded big inning off of Morton in the fifth when he hit Devin Mesoraco to lead off the inning. Morton then walked Ramon Santiago and both advanced a base on Alfrado Simon’s sac bunt. Billy Hamilton then hit an RBI single to tie things at two. A Chris Stewart errant throw on Hamilton’s stolen base allowed the Reds to take the lead and Jay Bruce finished off the scoring for the Reds with a RBI groundout.
“I was pulling my fastball, just pulling it and it was hard to get back in the zone,” said Morton. “I was throwing into the left-handed batters box when I was trying to go in on a righty. It was similar to what happened against the Brewers.”
The Reds also were able to run on Morton for four stolen bases — twice in the fifth inning –, but Morton wasn’t rattled by that.
“In the fifth inning, it’s not exactly me worrying about the runners as much as I didn’t make my pitches,” said Morton.
Justin Wilson and Jeanmar Gomez both pitched scoreless innings of relief while Bryan Morris allowed a Reds insurance run in the eighth.
Final Score: Reds 5, Pirates 2
Starters Lines
Morton: 6 IN, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 IBB, 4 K’s, 1 HP. 108 Pitches (59 Strikes).
Simon: 6 2/3 IN, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K’s, 1 HR. 112 Pitches (69 Strikes).
These two will be back at it tomorrow afternoon for the final game of the four game set.
Tomorrow’s Starters
(RHP) Brandon Cumpton (PIT): First start of 2014
(LHP) Tony Cingrani (CIN): 1-2, 3.22 ERA
First pitch is set for 12:35.
(Photo Credit: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images North America)
