The Cincinnati Reds aren’t going to pull off a 4-game sweep of Pittsburgh this weekend. After winning the first two games against the Pirates they were unable to get it done on Saturday evening as they were held to just one run on three hits in a game that featured a long rain delay and a bunch of sloppy play in the rain before the tarp was put on the field.
FinalRHEPittsburgh Pirates (56-56)461Cincinnati Reds (52-58)130W: Ashcraft (11-4) L: Abbott (5-7) SV: Soto (14)Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
The game was scoreless through the first two inning. It didn’t stay that way. With rain picking up in the top of the 3rd inning Andrew Abbott got himself into plenty of trouble. He walked the leadoff batter, gave up a single to the next batter, then walked three batters in a row as he battled a wet mound and a downpour – much to his frustration. A grounder led to a fielders choice tag out near second base, but it brought in the third run of the inning as the Pirates padded their lead.
The score remained 3-0 until the bottom of the 5th inning. That’s when Jose Trevino got the Reds on the board with a solo home run into the bullpen netting down the line in right field. Pittsburgh would get that run back in the top of the 6th against Zach McCambley. He entered the game to start the inning and gave up an RBI double to start the frame and then saw Marcell Ozuna score on a 2-out single that fell in just in front of a diving TJ Friedl to made it 4-1. Five minutes later the top of the inning was over and the game went into a rain delay.
After waiting around for an hour and 42 minutes the game resumed play. The bullpen for both teams did their job as Sam Moll, Julian Garcia, and Caleb Ferguson kept the Pirates off of the board in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. But the Pittsburgh bullpen did the same thing on their end of things as they held on for a 4-1 win to avoid a potential sweep in the 4-game series and keep alive a potential split after dropping the first two games.
Key Moment of the Game
The top of the 3rd inning when Andrew Abbott simply couldn’t throw strikes in a downpour, leading to a 3-run inning for the Pirates.
Notes Worth Noting
The Reds only had three hits in the game. They went 0-6 with runners in scoring position.
Andrew Abbott’s five walks were one shy of a career worst. It was the 6th time he’s had at least five walks in a game and the second time in the last month.
Brandon Williamson pitched 2.0 innings of no-hit, 1-run baseball for Double-A Chattanooga tonight that saw him walk two, hit a batter, and strike out three. The game was delayed by rain in the middle of the 3rd, so Williamson didn’t return when the game resumed. He threw 39 pitches with 22 strikes.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cincinnati Reds
Sunday August 2nd, 1:40pm ET
Mitch Keller (6-7, 4.83 ERA) vs Chase Burns (12-1, 2.40 ERA)
