After getting shelled three times, the Pirates managed to lose by only 3-2 in game four in Cincinnati. The loss completed the four-game sweep and left the Pirates with a five-game losing streak. They’re now 41-71, which means they’re on pace to lose 103 games.
Bryse Wilson actually pitched mostly well, but of course he had one bad inning. He sailed through the first three, but in the fourth he gave up three doubles and a single. That accounted for three runs.
The three runs put the Reds up, 3-1. The Pirates had scored in the top of the inning after Bryan Reynolds doubled. He eventually scored when Anthony Alford rolled one into the hole that third baseman Eugenio Suarez deflected away from shortstop Kyle Farmer with a strange, feet-first slide. Not that they’d have gotten Alford anyway. The RBI was Alford’s first in the majors this year.
The Pirates didn’t have many scoring opportunities to blow, seeing as how those require baserunners. Their only other run came in the sixth, when Ke’Bryan Hayes launched his fifth home run of the year and first in 34 days. The Pirates never threatened after that.
Wilson for his part ended up going six innings. He allowed six hits and a walk, and fanned seven. Reynolds helped out in the sixth with yet another great, diving catch. If only ESPN knew there was a team in Pittsburgh!
Anthony Banda came on in the seventh and couldn’t throw strikes, walking two and leaving with two out. David Bednar got a strikeout to end the inning and had a 1-2-3 eighth. The Reds had no home runs, which was certainly something new.
The Pirates finished with six hits, two by Hayes. Colin Moran cleverly got thrown out trying to bunt his way on with one on and two out in the eighth. Gregory Polanco contributed a standard 0-for-4, but he didn’t strike out, so it feels like he’s just about to get hot. He’ll need to stay in the lineup another seven weeks.
