Pirates Pitching Carries Team To Victory Over Reds

by Zane Heiple

Photo by Getty Images

For the second straight night the Pittsburgh Pirates road the back of their pitching to earn a victory.  Tonight the combination of James McDonald, Joe Beimel, Chris Resop, and Joel Hanrahan led the Buccos to a 1-0 defeat of the Cincinnati Reds.

McDonald had his best outing in quite some time going 6.1 innings allowing zero runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.  The bullpen stepped up in a pressure situation duringthe seventh inning.  After McDonald left the game with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, Beimel would strike out Jay Bruce.  Beimel was then replaced by Resop, who would get Drew Stubbs to ground out to first to end the threat and inning.  Resop came back out to pitch a 1-2-3 eighth inning.  This allowed Hanrahan to come out in the ninth and earn his 28^th save of the year.
Reds pitchers had a pretty good night as well as Mike Leake, Nick Masset, and Logan Ondrusek allowed only one run over eight innings while striking out five and walking three batters. 

For as great as the pitching was the offense was just as bad.  Andrew McCutchen went hitless again tonight, but did drive in the only run during the first inning.  No batter in the lineup had more than one hit and five of the nine batters had zero hits.  These past two games show why the “so called” experts have a very good point when they mention how much the Pirates need to make a move for a power bat before the trade deadline if they plan on staying in contention for the National League Central Division title.

The final game of this series will take place tomorrow afternoon at 12:35pm.  Jeff Karstens will start for the Pirates, while the Reds will counter with Johnny Cueto.

Record vs. Reds:  7-1
Record vs. N.L. Central:  24-13
Record at Home:  25-22
Overall Record:  51-44

And…

As Always…

Let’s Go Bucs!!!

McDonald Roughed Up, Reds Rout Pirates

By Zane Heiple

Photo Credit: AP

The Cincinnati Reds were out for revenge Saturday afternoon, and revenge is what they got.  Cincinnati hit four home runs that accounted for nine runs on their way to an 11-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.  James McDonald had another rough outing, going only 4.1 innings, allowing six earned runs on nine hits, while walking and striking out two batters.  His record is now 0-1 and is sporting a 7.47 ERA.

Pittsburgh scored their only two runs of the game in the fourth inning.  With the bases loaded, the Reds’ Mike Leake walked Garrett Jones, allowing Neil Walker to score from third.  Ronny Cedeno tied the game with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Pedro Alvarez.

The Reds put the game away in the fifth when they scored seven runs.  An Alvarez fielding error started the inning, allowing Miguel Cairo to reach first.  With one out and runners on second and third, McDonald intentionally walked Jay Bruce to give the Buccos a chance at a double play. 

Unfortunately, this would not come to fruition.  Juan Francisco singled, allowing, Cairo to score.  This led to a Ramon Hernandez grand slam, putting a nail in the coffin on McDonald’s day and any chance at a Pirates’ win.  With two outs and a runner on, Drew Stubbs smacked the third Reds’ homer of the day to make it a 9-2 lead.

The Red Legs added two more in the sixth inning when Jonny Gomes hit his second homer of the day, a two run shot off of the recently called up Joe Beimel, to make it an 11-2 game.

Overall, this was an awful game for the Buccos.  We know that this team will have days like this throughout the season, especially when facing a contender like the Reds.  The key now is for the Pirates to forget about it and come back tomorrow with a clean slate.  They cannot let one game turn into a five game slide like we have seen in the past.  These two teams will face off in game three of this four game series tomorrow at 1:10pm.  Jeff Karstens will make his first start of the season filling in for the injured Ross “The Boss” Ohlendorf.

Record Vs. Reds: 1-1

Record Vs. N.L. Central: 5-5

Record On The Road: 5-3

Overall Record: 6-8

And…

As Always…

Let’s Go Bucs!