For the second day in a row, the Pirates found themselves in an early hole against the Reds. And for the second day in a row, their comeback effort fell just short, as Cincinnati hung on for a 5-4 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday at Great American Ball Park.
Trailing, 5-3, heading into the top of the eighth, the Pirates cut the lead to one on a Travis Snider pinch-hit RBI double off of Alfredo Simon, who walked a batter and hit another to load the bases with two outs. Jose Tabata then came to the plate with a chance to tie or take the lead but instead grounded out softly to second base to end the threat.
In the ninth, Andrew McCutchen beat out an infield single for his fourth hit of the game to lead off the inning and advanced on a bad pickoff attempt from Aroldis Chapman before Pedro Alvarez reached on a fielding error to put runners on first and third with no outs. But Chapman got Russell Martin to pop out and struck out Michael McKenry and Jordy Mercer to send the Pirates to their third straight loss dating back to before the All-Star break.
An hour and a half after Saturday’s game began, Pittsburgh starter A.J. Burnett finally threw his first pitch. With rain and potential severe storms threatening, the game started on time but was delayed for one hour and 17 minutes when the winds picked up and rain started to fall after a scoreless top of the first.
When play started back up, Reds center fielder Shin-Soo Choo took the second pitch he saw from Burnett and sent it to left-center field for a leadoff double that sparked a four-run inning for Cincinnati.
Following Choo’s double, Chris Heisey singled and Joey Votto reached on a Jordy Mercer fielding error that scored the first run of the game. After Brandon Phillips made it 2-0 with an RBI single, Burnett recorded his first out of the game. However, a Zack Cozart sac fly and Devin Mesoraco bloop double plated two more runs before Burnett could escape the inning on 25 pitches.
Fortunately for the Pirates, Reds starter Mat Latos also came out flat after the delay. Pittsburgh tagged Latos for two runs in the second, the first of which came on a leadoff homer from Garrett Jones. Two batters later, Clint Barmes reached thanks to a wild pitch on strike three and advanced to second on a Burnett bunt. After a Starling Marte walk, Barmes scored when Cozart missed on a throw to second that would have led to the third out of the inning.
Pittsburgh tacked on its third run in the fourth on a McCutchen home run. However, it was the fourth straight solo shot of the series for the Pirates, who have hit 13 of their last 15 homers with the bases empty.
Meanwhile, Burnett settled in after his rough, weather-delayed first inning. He made it through the second on 10 pitches before striking out the side in the third and working around a leadoff double in the fourth.
Following a scoreless fifth, Burnett once again ran into trouble in the sixth, when he loaded the bases with a two-out walk. A second consecutive walk, to Votto, brought Cozart home from third and ended Burnett’s day after 5 2/3 innings.
Although the Reds scored all five of their runs with Burnett on the mound, only two of them were earned. The 36-year-old right-hander allowed 10 hits while striking out eight and walking just the two batters in the sixth.
McCutchen in the seventh almost sparked another rally with what would have been an easy one-out triple to the gap in right-center field. After rounding second, though, McCutchen tripped and was eventually tagged out in a rundown.
With the loss, Pittsburgh has dropped seven of its last 10 and fell to 56-39 as it tries to keep pace with St. Louis while also fighting off the Reds, who are now just two games behind the second-place Pirates in the National League Central.
