The Pittsburgh Pirates suffered their first loss of the 2016 season falling to the Cincinnati Reds by a score of 5-1. The offense collected a lot of hits but just couldn't come trough with the big hit when they needed it.
The Pittsburgh Pirates couldn't come through in the clutch this afternoon as they fell to the Cincinnati Reds 5-1. The Pirates had many opportunities offensively, but just couldn't get The big hit when needed
There were a lot of mistakes on the base paths including one very costly one in the seventh inning. With the Pirates down 3-1 John Jaso got thrown out on a groundball trying to retreat to second base. He took off thinking that Matt Joyce would break for the plate, but he stayed put and Jaso was a dead duck.
This missed opportunity, along with some others, was the reason Pittsburgh loss this afternoon. Rasiel Iglesias pitched a good game for the Reds going 5.2 innings giving up one run on eight hits while walking two and striking out five.
Gerrit Cole, on the other hand, struggled in his season debut. He went 4.2 innings giving up three runs on five hits while walking three and striking out four. He dealt with soreness in his side and he has been fighting that all spring.
His command just wasn't there today and he suffered on the mound. There is no reason to worry about Cole though. He will bounce back and be the dominant pitcher he was last season. Cole collected 19 wins last season and was named to his first ever all-star game selection.
The Reds offense got going early as RBI singles by Eugenia Suarez and Jay Bruce gave the Reds an early 2-0 lead. The Pirates were down but, like last night they tried to crawl back into the game little by little.
They had an opportunity with two on and no out in the second, but Josh Harrison lined out and Jordy Mercer grounded into an inning ending double play to end the threat. The Pirates collected a plethora of hits with 10 on the day, but missed opportunities like these was ultimately the deciding factor.
The Reds added another run in the bottom of the fifth when Brandon Phillips hit an RBI single that scored Suarez. Phillips has been a Pirate killer over the first two games of this series going a combined 3 for 6 with RBI and two runs scored. He has driven the Cincinnati offense and helped them get the better of the Pirates.
The Pirates scored their one and only run in the game in the top of the sixth. After a Cervelli single and a Gregory Polanco walk, Josh Harrison stepped to the plate with two outs. He was able to capitalize as he hit a 1-0 pitch into center field to score Cervelli and make the score 3-1 in favor of the Reds.
Iglesias got taken out of the game afterwards and reliever Blake Wood ended the threat getting Mercer to pop out in foul territory to end the inning. The Pirates posed another threat in the seventh inning with the same result.
It all started with a Matt Joyce walk follows by a Jon Jaso double to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Then Andrew McCutchen hit a soft ground ball to First base. Jaso took off for third in contact but realized that Joyce had stayed put at third. As Jaso tried to scramble back to second, he was thrown out and the double play was complete. The inning ended the very next batter as David Freese struck out to end the inning.
Archimedes Caminero pitched great out of the bullpen this afternoon throwing 1.1 innings giving up no runs and only allowing one hit on the day. In his first three outings, he has been very good out of the bullpen not giving up a run in 4.0 innings of work while striking out four and only walking one batter.
Kyle Lobstein followed him coming off of his win on Tuesday night in extra innings against the Cardinals. He threw 2.0 innings giving up two runs on two hits while walking one and striking out one.
The big blow to Lobstein came in inning number eight when Eugenio Suarez hit a two run home run that gave the Reds a 5-1 lead and ultimately put the game out of reach for the Pirates. It was a mistake pitch as Lobstein left the fastball right down the middle and Suarez took advantage of the mistake.
The five six and seven hitters in the Pirates order went a combined 7 for 10 on the day, but the struggles of the beginning of the lineup did not help the Pirates cause today. You can't win them all and today just wasn't the Pirates day.
The Bucs conclude their series with the Reds at Great American Ball Park tomorrow at 1:35 p.m. It will be Tim Melville for the Reds versus Jeff Locke for the Pirates as both pitchers will be making their season debuts.
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