With one away, Fraze singled and was caught stealing; too bad, as Starling sent a two-seamer over the fence to put Pittsburgh up 1-0. The Reds got a Joey Votto knock against Alex McRae in his first big league start. The Pirates went 1-2-3 in the second; the Reds banged back-to-back doubles to open, followed by a one-out rap to take the lead at 2-1. That was followed by consecutive walks, one to Gray, and consecutive singles, bringing on Montana DuRapau. A walk was followed by a J-Bell misthrow going for the force at home *sigh*. To top it off, it's beginning to rain. In between a pair of strikeouts, Jose Iglesias hit a grand slam, so it's 10-1 if you're keeping score and pretty much a three-true-outcomes inning for Montana. The Bucs went down in order in the third while Cincy left runners at first and third. Fraze fought Gray to an 11-pitch full count to leadoff the fourth, then fanned on a curveball in the dirt. Nada for the Pirates in the fourth and a lone two-single for the Redlegs was all the action.
Bryan Reynolds opened to start the fifth. Joey O walked an out later, but was cut down at home trying to score on Eli's double...one out, down by eight, *sheesh*. And no, it wasn't a bad Joey Cora wave; Osuna ran through his stop sign. The Reds got it right back; Rapau gave up a walk and single before Chris Stratton was brought in, and another rap chased home a run. K-Man and Starling singled around an out in the sixth, bringing in Wandy Peralta. With two outs, he lost Reynolds on a 3-2 pitch and Redbeard swatted the next delivery into the seats to make it 11-6. A single followed before the fire was smothered. Fraze walked with two gone in the seventh and Jared Hughes sped onto the field to get a final ground ball out. Michael Feliz toed the slab and stranded a two-out knock. Both sides were quiet in the eighth against Ric Rod and Jared. Robert Stephenson took the ball, fanned a pair, was tapped for a Joey O double, and then locked the gate.
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| Alex's first start didn't go quite as planned - photo Dave Arrigo Pirates |
Lay this loss on the FO. They knew they were shopping pitchers and this scenario could happen. It's probably why they called up McRae last week, in case they needed a short-notice starter. Then they added DuRapau; one's MLB ERA was 7.71 and the others was 8.44. It's not like they weren't the obvious call ups, but it sure is telling as to how little big league depth they have at Indy, and even here. It seems to us that Chris Stratton should have gotten the start, but our guess is Clint didn't want to burn him tonight. And with his granny against a southpaw, we're hoping that Colin gets some time against lefties to see if he can solve them or is just a platoon guy.
Notes:
- Starling had two hits; Fraze, Bryan Reynolds and Joey O had a knock and a walk each.
- All nine Reds in the lineup scored in the second inning.
- Steven Brault recovered well from his bullpen session, and is now slated to make a rehab start Thursday at Indy.
- Newly acquired RHP Cody Ponce will stay in AA; he was assigned to Altoona.
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