Dreams of playing for an NL Central division title crumbled apart in the late innings Sunday for the Pittsburgh Pirates (88-74) at Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark, as the Pirates lost 4-1 to the Reds (76-86).
A Pirates victory would have put pressure on St. Louis to win Sunday afternoon in Arizona. In that scenario, a Cardinals loss would have forced a one-game tiebreaker on Monday for the division. Pittsburgh will now, instead, come home to PNC Park to host Wednesday’s National League Wild Card game against the San Francisco Giants.
Cincinnati plated an early run in the first inning off starter Gerrit Cole, who then clamped down to finish with seven innings, one run on four hits. He walked none and struck out 12 in an impressive, but unrewarded performance. Pittsburgh’s offense tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth on a home run by Neil Walker, his 23rd of the season. Reds starter Johnny Cueto (20-9) pitched eight innings, allowing just that one run on six hits, zero walks and seven strikeouts. He would earn his 20th win of the season when Cincinnati scored three in the bottom of the eighth off Tony Watson (10-2), who suffered just his second loss of the season in 78 appearances.
Jason Bourgeois tripled to open the inning off Watson, though the play was close enough at third that the Pirates challenged, hoping Josh Harrison‘s tag was made in time. It was not, however, and Bourgeois would score two batters later on a one-out single by Cueto, who was allowed to bat by manager Bryan Price. Kristopher Negron added a two-run home run to take a 4-1 lead. Aroldis Chapman finished off the Reds win with his 36th save of the season.
Pittsburgh now has two days off to prepare for the Wild Card game, scheduled for Wednesday, October 1 at 8:07 pm. It will be televised by ESPN. Madison Bumgarner (18-10) will start for the Giants, while the Pirates have yet to announce a starter.
