The Pittsburgh Pirates game into Wednesday night’s game, the 138th of the regular season, without a grand slam. One swing of Jung Ho Kang’s bat in the sixth inning changed that, and his first career grand slam led the Pirates to victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
On the mound, J.A. Happ also continued his string of success, allowing two runs over six innings while striking out a season-high 10 batters. It was the first time he struck out 10 or more batters since Aug. 7, 2014.
Despite all of that, the Pirates nearly lost to the rallying Reds. Tony Watson escaped a bases loaded jam late in the eighth inning as the Pirates held on for a 5-4 victory.
The running line this season by Pirates manager Clint Hurdle is that Jung Ho Kang would receive a lineup card for each first he accomplished. In a recent homestand, Hurdle said that Kang was running out of firsts, however the sixth inning grand slam off Keyvius Sampson [2-4] would prove otherwise. The home run was Kang’s 15th of the season. Gregory Polanco [single], Andrew McCutchen [walk] and Aramis Ramirez [single], also scored on the one-out hit.
Kang’s hit broke open the game, which had been tied at 1-1.
The Pirates scored in the first inning when McCutchen’s sacrifice fly scored Polanco, who doubled to leadoff the game. The Reds countered with a Todd Frazier home run, his 31st of the season.
Happ [5-1] was removed after six-plus inning when he allowed Joey Votto to double and Brandon Phillips to reach on an Aramis Ramirez error at first base.
In came Joakim Soria, who limited the damage to a Frazier sacrifice fly.
Earlier in the season, Watson surrendered a go-ahead home run to Frazier, and in this game, Watson encountered additional trouble loading the bases with no outs. Ivan DeJesus Jr. cut the deficit to 5-3 with a sacrifice fly. After Votto and Reds manager Bryan Price were ejected, Phillips recorded an RBI ground out.
Watson was not yet out of the inning, however, as he intentionally walked Frazier, to bring up Jay Bruce, who struck out to end the Reds comeback chances in the frame. Bruce now has one hit in 19 career at-bats against Watson, good for a .053 batting average.
Watson earned his Major League-leading 35th hold for escaping the jam. Mark Melancon pitched the ninth inning and earned his league-leading 44th save of the season.
The Pirates return home Thursday evening for a four-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers. A.J. Burnett [8-5 3.06 ERA] will return to the mound for the Pirates will Wily Peralta [5-8 4.21 ERA] gets to toe the rubber for the Brewers. Burnett is 2-7 with a 4.35 ERA in 12 career starts against the Brewers.
Photo credit: Joe Robbins/Getty Images
