Pittsburgh took a 3-0 lead in the 1st inning and despite being one of the worst teams in baseball, with Paul Skenes on the mound that felt like it was going to be enough against a struggling Reds offense. It was more than enough as the Pirates combined for a shutout in a 7-0 win over Cincinnati to begin their 4-game series.
Final
R
H
E
Cincinnati Reds (60-56)
0
9
1
Pittsburgh Pirates (50-66)
7
10
0
W: Skenes (7-8) L: Singer (9-9)
Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
The Cincinnati Reds got back-to-back 1-out singles from Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz in the top of the 1st inning. Austin Hays then battled with Paul Skenes for a 9-pitch at-bat, but the end results ended the inning when he grounded into a double play.
The Pirates made them pay for their inability to come through because in the bottom of the 1st Bryan Reynolds crushed an opposite field home run to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. Three straight walks followed and then Jared Triolo singled back up the middle to extend the Pirates lead to 3-0. Brady Singer would get Henry Davis to pop up and end the inning, but his pitch count was already at 36 on the day.
Cincinnati would once again threaten in the top of the 3rd inning as two singles put a man in scoring position, but a strikeout would end the inning. In the top of the 4th inning Gavin Lux connected for a 1-out double, but back-to-back strikeouts would end that threat as well as Paul Skenes continues to get the job done when he needed it the most.
The Pirates would add to their lead in the bottom of the 4th inning when Henry Davis singled to lead off the inning and then came around to score later in the inning on a base hit by Spencer Horwitz. Bryan Reynolds would single with two outs and put runners on the corner, ending the day of Brady Singer in the process. Sam Moll entered the game to face Oneil Cruz and got him to fly out to shallow center to end the threat.
Brent Suter came out to pitch the 6th inning for the Reds and he’d walk the leadoff hitter and then give up a single. Pittsburgh wouldn’t get any more baserunners, but a fly out moved a runner to third and then a ground out brought in the Pirates 5th run of the day as they once again extended their lead.
Suter would return for the 7th and he got burned when Elly De La Cruz couldn’t come up cleanly with a grounder at the edge of the grass that was ruled an error. Five pitches later Henry Davis hit a ball that landed four rows deep in the seats in left field that made it 7-0. Yosver Zulueta entered out of the bullpen after that and retired the side in order.
The Reds would get a leadoff single in the 9th inning from Gavin Lux but just like every other point in the game the Cincinnati offense couldn’t do much with it and he would be stranded on the bases as the Pirates held on for the shutout victory.
Key Moment of the Game
Pittsburgh giving Paul Skenes a 3-0 lead in the 1st inning.
Notes Worth Noting
The Reds had three players with multiple hits in the game. But they didn’t walk once, struck out 11 times, and they went 0-5 with runners in scoring position in the game.
On the flip side the Pirates only managed one more hit than the Reds did in the game, but two of their hits were home runs and they walked eight times while striking out just five times.
Noelvi Marte threw out Andrew McCutchen at the plate in the 5th inning. That was the first outfield assist of his career.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Pittsburgh Pirates
Friday August 8th, 6:40pm ET
Chase Burns (0-3, 6.04 ERA) vs Mitch Keller (5-10, 3.89 ERA)
