Pittsburgh Pirates Fail to Record a Hit, Defeat Cincinnati Reds 1-0

Despite failing to record a hit on Sunday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates walk away victorious against the Cincinnati Reds

One of the things that makes the game of baseball so great is you never know what you are going to see. Every day there is a possibility you may see something that you have never seen before. Sunday afternoon at PNC Park was an example of one of those days in a 1-0 victory for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Sunday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds. With the win the Pirates improved to 15-19 on the season. What made the victory an odd and historic one is that the Pirates failed to record a hit.

That’s right, the Pirates won a baseball game without registering a hit. This was just the 6th time in MLB history that a team won a game without registering a hit. The victory earned the Pirates a split in their four-game series against the Reds.

21-year-old righty Hunter Greene started for the Reds and flashed why he entered the season as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. Greene pitched 7.1 hitless innings while striking out a career best 9. However, he did walk 4 batters which helped lead to the Pirate victory.

It was undoubtedly a frustrating game for the Reds. With the loss the Reds fell to 9-26 on the season. When a team is having a season in which they are on pace to lose 120 games, these kind of losses seem to happen.

Another strong start from José Quintana

Veteran lefty José Quintana continues to be the team’s best starting pitcher, tossing another gem on Sunday afternoon. Quintana pitched 7 scoreless innings for the Pirates, becoming the first Pirate starter to go 7 innings in a start since Tyler Anderson on the 4th of July last season.

Quintana allowed just 3 hits, walked a batter and struck out 5. He has now pitched 37 innings in 7starts this season. Quintana is walking batters at a 9.4% clip and striking them out at a rate of 20.1%. With this start he lowered his ERA on the season to 2.19 to go with a FIP of 3.42.

The 33-year-old Quintana has been a leader for the Pirate pitching staff both on the mound and in the clubhouse this season. If he continues to pitch anywhere near the level he has thus far he should net the Pirates a tremendous return in a trade this summer.

Pirate offense finds a way in the 8th inning

After Greene got the first out of the 7th inning, shortstop Rodolfo Castro drew a walk. This was followed by a tremendous at-bat in which Mike Perez battled his way to his second walk of the game.

With a pair of runners on base and just one out, Greene was pulled for Art Warren. Warren entered the game and continued the wildness by issuing a four-pitch walk to Ben Gamel, loading the bases with just one out.

Ke’Bryan Hayes then hit a ground ball to second base. While the Reds tried to turn a 4-6-3 double play they were unable. Hayes beat out the back end, had a RBI on a fielder’s choice and the Pirates had a 1-0 lead.

This proved to be the lone run of the game. David Bednar would pitch the 9th inning for the Pirates, retiring the Reds in order for his 7th save of the season. He was aided by a dandy of a defensive play by second baseman Josh VanMeter, as well as a nice job by Yoshi Tsutsugo of catching a line drive at first base.

Next up for the Pittsburgh Pirates is a three-game series at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs. While veteran lefty Wade Miley (9.00 ERA, 7.46 FIP) is scheduled to start for the Cubs on Monday night, as of this writing no starter has been announced for the Pirates. First pitch from Wrigley Field is scheduled for 7:40 PM ET.