Reds Broom Bucs 1-0

With an out, Ke'Bryan Hayes singled off Luis Castillo; Colin Moran negated that with a 5-6-3 DP bounced into the shift. The Reds got an infield knock against JT Brubaker. For the Bucs in the second, K-Man's two-out rap was all the action and the Redlegs went down in order. It was another quiet frame in the third for Pittsburgh, while Cincy managed to work a walk. J-Bell singled with two away in the fourth to no avail; the Queen City nine went down without a peep. Nada for the Bucs in the fifth while Cincinnati drew first blood. With two outs, two knocks and a stolen sack got Bru in hot water; another rap chased in the first run, but the damage was limited when a Fraze-to-Key (who was heads up in his decision to go home amid traffic)-to-JR relay cut down the back runner at the dish. 

Bru pitched well, but... photo Pittsburgh Pirates

Again, crickets from the Buc bats in the sixth. A leadoff double that moved to third after a grounder ended JT's night and brought on Sam Howard, who posted a whiff and roller to keep it at 1-0. J-Bell drew a one-out walk in the seventh and stayed anchored there after a pair of strikeouts. Chris Stratton took the slope and fanned two Reds in a clean frame. Archie Bradley relieved Castillo in the eighth and continued the Reds' hurlers cruise through the Pirates. After another K, Stratton was replaced by Nik Turley, who closed it out with a punch out and a pop. Raisel Iglesias toed the rubber in the ninth and continued the sit downs. Hey, at 2:34, at least it was quick workout.

And now it's eight in a row...

Notes:

• J-Bell's hitting streak continued; it's at 10 games now. It started on September 6th, and he's hit .405 (15-for-37) over that span. He was the only Pirate to reach base twice tonight with a knock and a walk. The Bucs only had four baserunners all night as the Reds retired 16 of the last 17 Pittsburgh hitters.
• Another guy doing well is Ke'Bryan Hayes, who has hits in 10 of his 13 games. He's batting .304. Doing not so well is Gregory, who is 2-for-36 with 18 K since September 4th and JR Murphy, who in four starts this month against the Reds is 0-for-11, all strikeouts.