Martinez stifles Pittsburgh as the Reds do just enough in a 2-1 win

For the second night in a row the Reds and Pirates played a low scoring, close game to the very end. This time, though, it was Cincinnati’s bullpen who got the job done as the Reds picked up a win in Pittsburgh on Saturday night.

Final
R
H
E

Cincinnati Reds (61-57)
2
7
0

Pittsburgh Pirates (51-67)
1
4
0

W: Martinez (10-9) L: Mlodzinski (2-7) SV: Pagan (25)

Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread

Both teams would get a baserunner in each of the first two innings but come up short on bringing that runner around the bases. Cincinnati would get two men on with one out after a hit batter and a single, but they would come up short once again at producing a run.

Pittsburgh got a leadoff double on a ball that should have easily been caught but the complete lack of experience in the outfield by Noelvi Marte on a misread led to Jared Triolo picking up two bases. He moved up to third on a single and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Tommy Pham to put the Pirates up 1-0.

In the top of the 4th inning Marte did his best to try and make up for that mistake when he lined a 2-out double into the left field corner. Spencer Steer, who had singled earlier in the inning came around to score from first base to tie the game up.

Nick Martinez was cruising through the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings. His offense rewarded him in the 7th when Noelvi Marte led off with another double, took third on a ground out, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by TJ Friedl to put Cincinnati up 2-1. Martinez took the mound for the bottom of the inning and gave up an infield single but came right back to get another grounder and this one turned into a double play to erase the runner. A third grounder to shortstop ended the inning as he turned in a strong 7-inning performance.

Tony Santillan worked around a walk in the 8th to keep the Reds in front by a run. After Noelvi Marte was stranded at second after his third double of the night in the top of the 9th, Emilio Pagan took over on the mound for Cincinnati to try and seal the win. He walked Oneil Cruz to start the inning before getting a fly out. Nick Gonzalez then hit a liner to shortstop where Elly De La Cruz caught it and came back to fire a 91 MPH bullet across the infield to double off Cruz at first base to end the game.

Key Moment of the Game

TJ Friedl coming through with a sacrifice fly against a lefty specialist in the 7th inning to give the Reds the lead.

Notes Worth Noting

Nick Martinez put together an outstanding start as he moved to 10-9 on the season and lowered his ERA to 4.49. He’s faced Pittsburgh twice this season at PNC Park and has allowed just two runs in 13.0 innings.

Noelvi Marte had been 2-18 in August before Saturday night’s 3-double game. He had his impact all over this one as the lone Pirates run scored because of his misread on a fly ball in the 3rd inning, but he also scored one of the Reds runs and drove in the other.

Not game related, but Tejay Antone announced that he was going to be heading out on a minor league rehab assignment as he works his way back from a third Tommy John surgery. We wrote a bit more about that earlier on Saturday evening if you want more details.

Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati Reds vs Pittsburgh Pirates

Sunday August 10th, 1:35pm ET

Zack Littell (9-8, 3.46 ERA) vs Mike Burrows (1-4, 4.45 ERA)