Pittsburgh Pirates Defeat Cincinnati Reds In Wild Affair

The Pittsburgh Pirates longest losing streak since 2011 is over!

After dropping 9 games in a row, the Pittsburgh Pirates have won a game! On Tuesday night, the Pirates were 11-4 winners against the Cincinnati Reds to snap their skid. This was just their 3rd victory in 18 games since the All-Star Break, and it improved the team’s overall record this season to 47-60.

On Tuesday night things got wild in Cincinnati. After 6 and a half clam, cool, collected innings, starting in the bottom of the 7th inning things began to go off the rails. Why? Well, because the David Bell led Reds are the a bunch of insensitive macho men cry babies and a disgrace to all of baseball. But we’ll get to that part.

The Pirates did something they have not done much of lately when they scored first.

Bryan Reynolds doubled with one out in the top of the 1st inning and Starling Marte reached on an infield hit. Josh Bell then smoked a 98.3 MPH doubled off of Tanner Roark. This hit gave the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom half of the inning the Reds would threaten against Joe Musgrove. Jesse Winker singled to start the inning and Eugenio Suarez singled with one out. On the Suarez single, Corey Dickerson committed an error allowing Suarez to get into second. Musgrove then struck out Yasiel Puig and got Scooter Gennett to ground out to end the inning to work out of the jam.

Nick Senzel doubled to lead off the bottom of the 2nd inning. Musgrove then got a fly out and a pair of ground outs to strand Senzel.

Entering Tuesday night’s contest opposing hitters were just 3 for their last 24 off of Musgrove with runners in scoring position. 2 innings into Tuesday’s game, the Reds were already 0-for-5 with RISP.

The Pirates has a golden opportunity to break the game open in the 3rd inning. To their credit, the Bucco bats did just that.

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Reynolds reached on an infield hit, Marte walked, Bell walked, and the bases were loaded with just one out. Colin Moran, who hit a grand slam on Monday night, had a poor at bat that saw him strikeout on just three pitches. Corey Dickerson, however, would pick up Moran with a 2-run ground ball single to left field, giving the Pirates a 4-0 lead. Kevin Newman then singled home Bell to make the score 5-0.

In the 4th inning the Pirates would chase Roark. After he issues back-to-back one out walks to Adam Frazier and Reynolds, he was lifted for Lucas Sims. Leading 5-1 the Pirates had a chance to start to put the nail in the Reds coffin. However, Sims got Marte to hit into an inning ending double play.

Marte’s double play closed the book on Roark. In 3 1/3 innings of work Roark allowed 5 runs on six hits, four walks, and he recorded just two strikeouts. Trade rumors have swirled around Roark with Wednesday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline approaching, and this outing will not help his trade value.

With the Pirate lead cut to 5-2, they would get those 2 runs back in the 5th inning. After Sims issued a one out walk to Moran, Dickerson smacked a 2-run home run to right field. His 3rd home run of the season gave the Pirates a 7-2 lead.

Dickerson’s great night continued in the 7th inning. With two outs in the 7th inning he launched a solo home run to make the score 8-2 Pirates. This home run gave Dickerson 9 home runs in 14 career games at Great American Ballpark. It also gave him a career best 15.6% extra base hit rate this season.

Not only was it great to see Dickerson back in the lineup after missing the previous three games with groin discomfort, it was even better to see him have a big game. With free agency looming the Pirates will undoubtedly look to trade him before Wednesday’s trade deadline. If this was Dickerson’s last chance to impress interested teams, he did just that on Tuesday night.

Musgrove continued to be the Pirates best, most consistent starting pitcher of 2019. Big Joe put a foot down and pitched a strong game when his team needed it dearly. In 6 innings pitched he allowed just 2 runs, both on solo home runs, on five hits, he did not walk a batter, and he struck out four.

After Musgrove’s night ended, Keone Kela took the mound in the 7th inning. Kela’s nasty curveball was on full display as he retired the Reds in order while recording a pair of strikeouts. While Kela has been rumored to be available, hopefully, the Pirates will not move him. Not only is Kela’s trade value low right now, he is still under team control through 2021.

During Kela’s inning, he threw a pitch up and in on Derek Dietrich before striking him out and this led to things getting wild. Noted crybaby David Bell started whining to the umpires after the half inning. This led to the umpires warning the benches and Kela cussing out Bell with a few F bombs.

In the 8th inning Kyle Crick took the mound. After getting a strikeout to start the inning, a Newman error, a single, and a walk loaded the bases with one out. Crick then fired a strike one to Puig that led to Puig spiking his helmet down and Bell getting ejected. After Puig brought in a run on a fielder’s choice, Crick got a fly out to end the inning.

The craziness continued in the top of the 9th inning when ex-Pirate Jared Hughes plunked Marte to start the inning. This led to Hughes being ejected, and the benches being warned yet again. During the ensuing pitching change, reports started to leak on Twitter that Puig had been traded to the Cleveland Indians for hot head Trevor Bauer. Bauer is sure to fit right in with those lunatics in Cincy.

After Moran singled with one out, Jose Osuna cranked a mammoth 3-run pinch hit home run off of Amir Garrett. Osuna’s MLB leading 5th pinch hit home run made the score 11-3 Pirates. Following the home run, Trevor Williams was ejected for chirping from the Pirate dugout. This led to Garrett charging the Pirate dugout and starting a senseless brawl like the knuckle dragging Neanderthals that the Reds are.

Punches were thrown. The bullpens emptied. Puig, who was already traded to Cleveland at the time, was in the middle of the brawl. Pirate hitting coach Rick Eckstein was busted open. Eugenio Suarez charged Crick from behind and attacked him. The already ejected David Bell re-appeared on the field.

With everything that happened, both Garrett and Bell deserves lengthy ejections. What those two clowns did on Tuesday night was an absolute disgrace to the game of baseball. Hopefully, Bell gets the longest non-drug related suspension that baseball has handed out in quite awhile.

When the dust settled Garrett and Puig were ejected for the Reds. Williams, Crick, and Chris Archer were all ejected for the Pirates. As was Francisco Cervelli who came onto the field to restrain manager Clint Hurdle. However, a player on the injured list is not allowed to take the field. Hence the ejection. Infielder Jose Peraza was on the mound for the Reds, and he got the final out of the inning.

Geoff Hartlieb took the mound for the Pirates in the bottom half of the 9th inning. Hartlieb allowed a run on a pair of hits and a walk, but he also struck out the side to finish off the 11-4 Pirate victory.

After their abysmal three week stretching coming out of the All-Star Break the Pirates have fallen completely out of contention in the National League playoff race. That said, winning games still feels good. Especially after 9 consecutive losses. It was also good to see Musgrove put a foot down, pitch a strong game, and play stopper as he figured to be a big part of the Pirate starting rotation for the foreseeable future.

It was also great to get a W in a game where the Reds showed their true colors, and they’re ugly. The David Bell led Cincinnati Reds are a a disgrace to baseball. Hopefully, what happened on Tuesday night finally leads to Major League Baseball dropping the hammer on the first year skipper. His season long antics are beyond old and what he allowed to happen Tuesday night crossed a line.

The third and final game of this series is schedule for 12:35 on Wednesday afternoon. Dario Agrazal (3.24 ERA, 6.05 FIP) will take the ball for the Pirates, and he will oppose Reds ace Luis Castillo (2.71 ERA, 3.87 FIP).

With the MLB trade deadline being 4 p.m. on Wednesday, it will be interesting to see what unfolds for both teams lineup wise. With both the Pirates and Reds out of contention, each team could look to trade multiple players before 4 p.m. on Wednesday.