Pittsburgh Pirates Split Doubleheader Against Cincinnati Reds
The Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds played a day night doubleheader on Thursday, sliding the twin bill at Great American Ballpark
Thursday saw the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds play a doubleheader at Great American Ballpark. The Pirates got excellent starting pitching outings in both games and easily could have swept the day’s games. Unfortunately, this would not prove to be the case.
Game one of the day saw the Pittsburgh Pirates pick up a 4-2 victory, while they were defeated 5-1 in game two. After splitting the doubleheader the Pirates are now 34-49 on the season. This was also the second doubleheader the Pirates have split with the Reds this season.
It was a frustrating split as the Pirates easily could have swept the doubleheader. The Reds are a bad team and gave the Pirates every opportunity to win both games, but being the bad team that they are the Pirates gift wrapped game two for the Reds.
Strong starting pitching carries the Pirates to a victory in game one of the twin bill
Roansy Contreras started game one for the Pittsburgh Pirates and quickly set the tone. The 22-year-old righty turned in arguably the best start of his MLB career to help lead the Pirates to a 4-2 victory.
Contreras pitched 6 innings in the start, walking a batter and striking out 7. The lone run Contreras allowed was on a solo home run. He generated 11 swings-and-misses in the start and his slider looked as good as ever. Contreras was rewarded for his strong start by being optioned to the minors. Great player centric culture by the Pirates right there.
Duane Underwood Jr. pitched in relief of Contreras and pitched a scoreless 7th inning. Underwood Jr. allowed a hit, but struck out two of the three batters he faced. As Noah wrote about earlier today, Underwood Jr. appears to be breaking out as a high leverage reliever.
Wil Crowe was next up out of the Pirate bullpen. Crowe allowed a run in the 8th inning, but that was it and kept the Pirate lead in tact. David Bednar then slammed the door shut in the 9th inning to seal the Pirate victory.
An offensive highlight from game one was a RBI double by catcher Jason Delay. This was both the first carer hit and RBI for Delay. Michael Chavis also had a double in the game, driving in a pair on the hit.
Diego Castillo started the scoring in game one with a solo home run. This was Castillo’s 9th home run of the season, and 7th in his last 10 hits. He also had a single and was intentionally walked in the game.
7th inning defensive miscues burn the Pirates in game two
Game two of the doubleheader saw Bryse Wilson start for the Pittsburgh Pirates. For the second consecutive start Wilson, who had struggled all season prior to that start, pitched well for the Pirates.
Thursday night’s start was probably the best Wilson has had as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He appeared to be well on his way to pitching 7 innings of 1 run ball before poor defense brunt him.
With two outs in the 7th inning Josh VanMeter booted a routine ground ball. VanMeter then played too deep which prevent Ben Gamel from being able to slide in and make a catch on an easy pop up. Jonathan India then hit a ground ball single off Wilson to make the score 2-1 Pirates.
Wilson’s final line was 4 runs allowed on 7 hits, no walks, a solo home run and 4 strikeouts in 6.2 innings pitched. However, only 1 of the 4 runs he allowed was earned due to VanMeter’s 7th inning error.
This was quite possibly the best Wilson has ever looked in a start with the Pirates. He deserved better and got letdown in a big way by his defense. Regardless, Wilson likely earned another start with his performance.
Game two was also a brutal game for the Pirate offense.
In the 1st inning Bryan Reynolds was hit by a pitch with one out and Daniel Vogelbach doubled. With just one out the Pirates had runners on second and third with just one out, but Michael Chavis and Jack Suwinski struck out to end the scoring threat.
This wasted opportunity would prove to be costly. The lone Pirate run of game came when Vogelbach singled in Ben Gamel to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning. It was a big game for Vogelbach who went 3-for-4, raising his OPS on the season to .787 and his wRC+ to 121.
Friday night the Pirates will start a three-game series in Milwaukee against the Brewers. JT Brubaker (4.28 ERA, 3.93 FIP) is scheduled to start for the Pirates, while the Brewers plan to send Aaron Ashby (4.60 ERA, 3.88 FIP) to the mound. First pitch from American Family Field is scheduled for 8:10 PM ET.