Pittsburgh Pirates Lose Game 1 Of Series In Cincinnati

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night

Monday night’s game was a frustrating one for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Gerrit Cole turned in another dominant start, however, due to a disaster 6th inning that was not his making he exited the game trailing.

The Pirates were then able to rally to force extra innings. However, the bullpen would falter in extra innings leading to a Pirate loss.

With the loss, the Pirates are now 11-14 this season. This includes being 0-4 against the Cincinnati Reds. The Pirates now find themselves with a record of 2-2 on their current 7 game road trip.

Despite the loss, the Pittsburgh Pirates scored first on Monday night. With one out in the top of the 1st inning, Andrew McCutchen hit a solo home run off of Cincinnati starter Amir Garrett. McCutchen’s 4th home run of the season made it 1-0 Pirates.

In the top of the 6th inning, the Pirates added to their lead. Josh Harrison lead off the inning with his 3rd home run of the season. This made it 2-0 Pirates.

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Reds’ starting pitcher Amir Garrett was very good on Monday night. In 7 innings of work, the Reds’ rookie allowed just 2 hits, the 2 solo home runs, he walked 3 batters, and he struck out 4. This gives the left-handed starting pitcher 4 fantastic starts in 5 tries in his Major League career.

Gerrit Cole was dominant for the Pirates on Monday night. Through 5 innings he had not allowed a run, however, things came undone in the bottom of the 6th inning. Although, it was not his doing.

To start the inning Billy Hamilton reached on a Philip Gosselin error. Then, Cole struck out Joey Votto looking for the second out of the inning. Unfortunately, the umpire saw it differently and Votto wound up drawing a walk.

This then led to a 3-run home run by Adam Duvall. Off the bat, it looked like Duvall had hit a routine fly out to left field. But since Great American Ballpark is a complete joke of a park, it wound up a home run to give the Reds a 3-2 lead.

All of this happening cost Gerrit Cole at least one inning work. Cole lasted 6 innings and allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, on 5 hits, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. In his last 4 starts, Cole has allowed just 6 earned runs in 25 innings of work and he has struck out 28 hitters in these 25 innings.

With two outs in the top of the 8th inning, the Pirates would tie the game. Josh Harrison hit his 2nd home run of the game, and this tied the game at 3.

Juan Nicasio followed Gerrit Cole for the Pirates. He faced 5 batters, retired all 5, and struck out a batter. Felipe Rivero was then called upon to face Joey Votto with 2 outs and no one on base in the bottom of the 8th inning, and Rivero struck the future Hall of Famer out.

Felipe Rivero would also pitch the bottom of the 9th inning for the Pirates. After issuing a walk to start the inning, he quickly struck out Scott Schebler and got Eugenio Suarez to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to clean things up and send the game to extra innings.

After the Pirates were retired in order in the top of the 10th inning, Clint Hurdle handed the ball to Daniel Hudson in the bottom half of the inning. The recent struggles of Hudson would continue in this outing.

With one out, he walked Tucker Barnhart. A throwing error by Hudson then allowed pinch-runner Arismendy Alcantara to advance to second base. Then with two outs, professional Pirate killer Billy Hamilton collected a walk-off single to give the Reds a 4-3 victory.

Hamilton has just 22 hits this season, but 7 of them have come against the Pirates. One of the worst hitters in baseball continues to torture the Pirates.

Next: The Pirates Have A Billy Hamilton Problem

Game 2 of the 4 game series is at 7:10 PM tomorrow night. Tyler Glasnow will start for the Pirates, while the Reds will go with Scott Feldman.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night

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