With Jake Fraley hitting a solo homer and a double, the Pittsburgh Pirates knew they had problems when the Cincinnati Reds’ designated hitters were just as dangerous when they weren’t swinging the bat. .
Fraley went 2-for-2 with three walks, four runs scored and three RBIs in the Reds’ 9-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates before scoring 15,046 at PNC Park on Sunday afternoon. I was.
The Reds (48-71) had 34 hits in two of the three games in the series, two games ahead of the Pirates (47-74), who fell to the bottom of the NL Central standings. The reigning World Series champion Atlanta Braves (75-48) will be visiting Monday for his three-game run of the series.
The Reds’ first four hitters – Fraley, Jonathan India, Donovan Solano and Mike Moustakas – combined for eight hits, eight runs scored and seven runs scored. The Pirates pitcher had 13 hits, 6 walks, 1 hitter, and provided traffic to base passes throughout the game.
“The walk killed us,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. And you can’t do that.”
Fraley sent Pirates starter Zach Thompson’s fourth pitch 341 feet into right field on a 0-2 curve to earn his first career leadoff home run and a 1-0 Reds lead. It was Frehley’s fourth home run in six games, his seventh home run of the season, and his 10th leadoff.
“It wasn’t what I wanted, it just kind of crept inside. He flicked his wrist and got it,” Thompson said. You have to roll and move on and think as if the game is still 0-0.”
The Pirates answered with two runs on four hits in the bottom of the first. Ben Gamel singled to left to score Brian Reynolds to tie the game, and Rodolfo Castro doubled the left field line to score Michael Chavis to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Greg Allen had a runner on second and a runner on third when he lined up for a double play at third base.
The lead did not last long. Thompson walked Frehley through his four pitches to start his third pitch, and he hit a two-out, two-run homer to Moustakas. The Reds first baseman hit his 2-0 fastball to the top of his 416-foot right field seat and hit seven home runs, giving the Reds a 3-2 lead.
It was another uneven performance for Thompson (3-10) as he allowed two runs in one third inning of relief in an 8-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. In seven games (six starts), Thompson allowed 29 earned runs in 29 1/3 innings. Shelton was non-committal, which could prompt the Pirates to switch him to a relief role.
Thompson’s game against the Reds could have been worse. He gave up eight hits and three walks, letting runners on base every time, but made late double plays in the fourth and fifth innings.
“Obviously, it’s a shame,” said Thompson. “You don’t want to issue a free pass. This is just one of those situations where we have to sit back and do the best we can.”
Lefty Manny Banuelos replaced Thompson, but only walked the first two batters he faced in the sixth for four runs. After Michael Papielski advanced both on a sacrifice bunt, Frehley hit a two-run double off Clemente Wall to give the Reds a 5-2 lead.
Gammel played a perfect double off the wall when he made an error attempting a diving catch on the Indian liner sinking to the right. The ball bounced under the glove and rolled towards the caution track, scoring a triple and giving Fraley his 6–2 lead. Solano singled to left to score India and make it 7–2.
Reds lefty Mike Minor allowed 5 runs on 9 hits in 5 2/3 innings and was pulled out in the 6th inning after a 2-run double by Tucupita Marcano off Clemente Wall. Marcano advanced to third when right fielder Aristides Aquino misplayed a bounce off the wall and scored on Jason DeLay’s right-handed reliever Ian Gibout’s single to cut it to 7–5.
The Reds padded the lead in the eighth inning when right-handed reliever Colin Holderman walked Frehley and hit a pitch to India, before giving up a single to Solano and leading Frehley 8–5. Lefty Cam Vue, who signed from Indianapolis, gave up a single to Nick Senzel, who extended the Reds’ lead to 9-5.
“Traffic was created by walks hitting the pitch,” Shelton said. “It wasn’t created by hard contact. It was created by the fact that we didn’t command the zone. it was done.”
Kevin Gorman is a staff writer for Tribune-Review. To contact Kevin, use email (kgorman@triblive.com) or Twitter. .
