Big Inning, Long Balls & Quiet Bucco Bats Give Reds the Sweep 5-2

Let the circle be unbroken. The Pirates and Reds entered the sixth at 0-0; Robert Stephenson and Gerrit Cole had each given up one hit (the Bucco rap was a double that belonged to Cole; it set up a second & third with no outs and top of the order situation. A strikeout and two pop ups took care of the only real threat the Pirates would mount.). The Corsairs continued to make young Mr. Stephenson look like the reincarnation of Cy Young (actually, you can replace Stephenson's name with just about anyone they've faced this month) in their half of the inning. We know that in tight contests, the Pirates pitchers will eventually walk someone and/or give up a homer to let it get away.

Cole Train did both. First he lost Jesse Winkler and then gave up a long ball to Eugenio Suarez, then rinse, lather, repeat: he walked Joey Votto and served a gopher ball to *sigh* Scooter Gennett. Huddy came in, got two quick K's, then hit Zach Vincej (who was taking his fourth major league at-bat) before getting banged for a triple by Tucker Barnhart. It's getting so the Fat Lady doesn't even hang around for the final three frames anymore before warbling, taking a bow and exiting stage right.

The big inning and the long ball (and no support) bit him again (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Deck McGuire did the honors in the seventh, getting nicked for a J-Bell knock before adding another zero to the board. Jack Leathersich got a pair of whiffs to go with a walk in his half of the frame. Luke Farrell took his turn in the eighth and did the walk/dinger thing, tossing four wide ones to Chris Bostick and then feeding a meatball to JJ to make it 5-2. He settled down after that and Johnny Barbato took the ball for the Bucs and tossed a 1-2-3 inning. Michael Lorenzen came on to turn out the lights; took him eight pitches.

For our money, Fraze and J-Bell should be playing everyday and the guys who don't have a MLB resume yet should be building one; we kinda know what S-Rod, JJ, Stew, Freeser, and for that matter, all the starters, bring to the table. Let all the kids loose for two weeks.

Notes:

• J-Bell was the only Bucco to reach safely twice with a walk and a knock. The Pirates drew more free passes (4) than had hits (3).
• Gerrit Cole has given up a career-high 30 homers this year; he had never given up more than 11 in any season prior to this.
• The Pirates finished 6-13 v the Cincy Reds; they're just two games ahead of them in the battle for the basement. They're 5-11 for September and have lost 10-of-11, scoring 15 runs in the 10 defeats.