Bucs Hang On To Take 3-2 Win, Sweep Series Against the Reds

Jamo got off to a good start, getting Billy Hamilton but the afterglow didn't last as Jose Peraza took him deep off an inside-half heater. Joey Votto dropped a single the oppo way before JT settled in. Homer Bailey looked like a mini-Cy with a pair of K's and grounder. The Reds opened the second with an infield rap, and an out later, another single put a pair aboard. Joey O made a heads up play on Bailey's bunt by getting the lead runner, and Jamo took care of the rest, fanning Hamilton. Corey D singled with one gone and stole second, scoring after Red Beard's two-out double into the RF corner. The was no answer from the Reds in the third. Starling beat out a soft right side roller with an out and a Fraze knock moved him to third. Gregory and Cervy kept the parade going with back-to-back RBI hits. A short wild pitch moved Gregory to third but it didn't help; Corey D's liner to second was turned into a DP when the Reds caught Fran off first; a dive back might have beat the rap, but... Jamo gave up two more knocks in the fourth but stranded them with a whiff. Colin walked with an out, working back from an 0-2 count (and surviving one very close call), which turned the order over.

Jamo labored but the Reds couldn't cash in (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

The Reds dropped a single into center followed by an infield knock with an out in the fifth. JT came back from 3-0 to get Scooter Gennett to hop into a full-count force that would have been an inning-ender if Newman's relay didn't pull Joey O off the bag. Eugenio Suarez got bopped (and wasn't too happy about it, yapping and tossing stuff on his way to first) to pack the sacks. Jamo again K'ed his way out of it, although at 100 pitches, his night is done. Pittsburgh went down quietly. Steven Brault scaled the bump in the sixth. He K'ed the righty Curt Casali and then walked the lefty Mason Williams, but another whiff (yah, a righty) and a caught stealing calmed the waters. Lucas Sims took over for Homer and lost Cervy, with no Bucco follow up. It was a clean seventh for Steven. Newman was plunked in the hand to open for the Bucs and Kevin Kramer pinch hit for his first MLB at bat, flying out to short center. Starling lasered an liner to short, defensed perfectly with the infield at DP depth. Lefty Wandy Peralta came in to face Fraze and retired him on a grounder.

Edger Santana got the ball for the eighth. Gennett opened by banging a ball off the wall but was tossed out at second by Starling. Scooter beat the throw but overslid the bag with Newman holding the tag for a good play all the way around, and the next two outs were garden variety. Peralta put away Gregory and was flipped for righty Sal Romano, who plunked Fran on the arm; the medicos checked as he was in some pain but he stayed in. It was a short visit to the basepaths; Corey D hit into an around-the-horn DP; he's still stuck in a month-long slump. Felipe Vazquez gave up a leadoff knock in the ninth and Dilson Herrera doubled him in, catching a change-up. Felipe went all heat to K Phil Ervin and mixed it up to fan Hamilton. That was followed by back-to-back walks to fill the bases. The Nightmare got Gennett to bounce back to him, and he went to home for the final force out. RTJR.

Steven Brault has been strong from the pen (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

The Reds didn't boot any balls to help the Bucs tonight, but they did strand 11 runners with two more tossed out at second. Pittsburgh only had six hits tonight (the Reds had 11 knocks); they could use a couple of the younger guys being auditioned to show up. But the pitching has been a rock, and that's a solid starting point for 2019.

Notes:

• Cervy reached three times with a hit, free pass and HBP. Red Beard had a walk and a knock.
• Jamo joined Jeff Karstens (2011) as the latest Bucco hurlers to be charged with three earned runs or fewer in 18 straight starts in the same season. Tonight was his shortest outing since July 1st; he had gotten into at least into the sixth in every start since then.
• Another bad night at the gate, with an announced crowd of 9,560.
• Chad Kuhl threw a bullpen of 30 pitches. The news on Jung-Ho Kang isn't that good: he still isn't taking live BP and looks like the only swings he'll get this year will be at Pirates camp in Florida during the off season.