Pirates pitchers continued throwing batting practice at the Great American Ballpark in an 11-3 loss to the Reds. In losing all six of their games in Cincinnati this year, the Pirates have been outscored 58-15. Counting three home games, they’re 1-8 with a run differential of 79-24 against the Reds.
Mitch Keller had another of those starts that the Pirates will probably try to portray as progress, but it wasn’t. He lasted five innings, giving up four runs on seven hits. He walked four and hit one, threw only 57 of 100 pitches for strikes, and threw first-pitch strikes to only 11 of 24 batters. He avoided worse damage partly due to three double plays.
The Pirates got good games from Bryan Reynolds and recently recalled Anthony Alford, each going 3-for-4. After getting zero extra-base hits in his first go-round in Pittsburgh this year, Alford doubled his first two times up in this game. Reynolds drove in all three Pirate runs with an RBI triple in the third inning and a two-run home run in the eighth. That was Reynolds’ 19th of the year.
What chance the Pirates had to make some headway early got TOOTBLANed away. After Alford’s first double, in the second, he went for third and broke too early. Reds starter Vladimir Gutierrez threw to third to catch him. In the third, Hoy Park singled with one out, but he got picked off. That proved costly as Ke’Bryan Hayes followed with a double and Reynolds hit his triple.
The bullpen quickly removed what precious little doubt there could have been about the outcome. Keller left after five with the score 4-1, and Chasen Shreve gave up two in the sixth. Chris Stratton came on to get some work in the eighth and managed to record only one out. He gave up four runs, the last three on a home run by Jesse Winker. Nick Mears got the last two outs in the inning, but not before he allowed a solo shot to Joey Votto.
In the series, the Reds have six doubles and nine home runs. The Pirates have five doubles, a triple and one homer. On the season, the Reds have 44 extra-base hits against the Pirates, including 21 home runs. The Pirates have 24 extra-base hits and eight longballs.
