CINCINNATI — Pirates manger Clint Hurdle had a feeling Reds starter Mat Latos was due for a loss. A dominant performance from Charlie Morton and a big first inning from the Pirates’ offense turned Hurdle’s feeling into reality, as Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati, 4-0, on Tuesday at Great American Ball Park.
Entering the game, Latos was 10-0 in his last 21 starts. He suffered five blown saves during his unbeaten streak, including two against the Pirates this season.
In the second leg of a four-game series, Morton out-pitched Latos, handing the Reds starter his first loss since August 24. Morton, in just his second start following Tommy John surgery last year, didn’t surrender a run through 5 1/3 innings, allowing just three hits while striking out two.
He carried a no-hitter into the fourth before giving up a single to Joey Votto with two out. Morton’s only baserunner to that point was Shin-Shoo Choo, whom he hit on his first pitch of the night after much of the talk before the game regarded Reds closer Aroldis Chapman’s 100-mph fastball that just missed Neil Walker’s chin on Monday.
Hurdle lifted Morton with one out in the sixth after Zack Cozart struck out, but reached on a wild pitch. The situation quickly got dicey for reliever Tony Watson, who surrendered a double to the first batter he faced. He escaped, though, by striking out Brandon Phillips and breaking Jay Bruce’s bat on a ground ball back to the mound.
The Pirates scored all the runs they needed in the first inning. Starling Marte led off the game with a triple, and thanks to a Russell Martin single, scored just two pitches later.
After an Andrew McCutchen strikeout and a pair of walks, the scoring continued on a Pedro Alvarez single that brought home Martin and Garrett Jones. The three-run first gave Pittsburgh an early advantage, but it also forced Latos to use 32 pitches and helped limit him to only five innings.
Pittsburgh added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a Marte single, and Watson retired the Reds in order in the bottom half of the inning.
With the win, the Pirates (42-29) got back to one-half game behind the Reds for second place in the National League Central.
