Jesse Winker went off as he homered and drove in six runs as the Cincinnati Reds picked up their 60th win of the season by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-3 on Saturday night at Great American Ball Park.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Pirates (41-70) |
3 | 9 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (60-51) |
11 | 14 | 0 |
|
W: Gutierrez (7-3) L: Keller (3-9 |
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| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
After the Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third it was the signal that Cincinnati’s offense needed to get going and they did just that. Shogo Akiyama led off with a single and after Vladimir Gutierrez struck out, Jonathan India singled, Jesse Winker doubled in a run, Nick Castellanos singled in another run, and then Joey Votto capped off the inning with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.
Two innings later it was another notch in the belt for Nick Castellanos as he led off the fifth inning with an opposite field solo homer to extend the lead to 4-1. Cincinnati played add on in the sixth inning, too. Tucker Barnhart singled to lead off and he moved to third on a double by Aristides Aquino. That set up Jesse Winker with two outs to drive in both with a single into right field as the Reds pushed their lead to 6-1.
After a strikeout to begin the bottom of the eighth inning, Shogo Akiyama singled and Tyler Naquin walked to put two on for Jonathan India. He came through with an RBI single to make it 7-3. Cincinnati wasn’t done because Jesse Winker hit a laser beam into the seats in right to make it 10-3. Still not finished. Joey Votto cracked his 11th home run in the last 13 games to make it 11-3.
The Pitching
Vladimir Gutierrez had to work around a hit and a walk in the first inning, but he did just that. In the second inning he had to work around a double, but he picked off Anthony Alford to face the minimum in the inning. The Pirates broke through in the third when Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled and scored when Bryan Reynolds followed with a triple, but Gutierrez got a ground out to limit the damage to a single run. A 2-out double in the fourth inning would be the last baserunner that Gutierrez allowed as he completed six strong innings with just one run allowed as he struck out six Pirates on the night.
Luis Cessa came out to pitch the seventh inning and he made easy work of the 6-7-8 hitters for the Pirates as he picked up two strikeouts while needing just 10 pitches in the inning to hold a 6-1 lead. Brad Brach took over in the eighth and got the first two batters out on fly balls, but walked Ke’Bryan Hayes and as the saying goes: Walks Will Haunt. Bryan Reynolds followed with a blast onto the turf beyond the wall in center to make it a 6-3 game. That led to a pitching change to bring in Amir Garrett, who struck out Colin Moran to send the game to the bottom of the frame.
Justin Wilson came out for the final inning, but it wasn’t easy. After getting John Nogowski to fly out, the Pirates got back-to-back singles from Rodolfo Castro and Anthony Alford. Michael Perez grounded into a force out at second, but just beat the throw to first to keep Pittsburgh alive for at least one more batter. A soft liner into center was grabbed by a sliding Shogo Akiyama to end the game as the Reds moved to 60-51 on the season with the win.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cincinnati Reds
Sunday August 8th, 1:10pm ET
Bryse Wilson (4-2, 4.42 ERA) vs Tyler Mahle (8-3, 3.86 ERA)
