Pittsburgh Pirates Sweep Doubleheader in Cincinnati

Home runs, doubles power the Pirate offense in game one’s victory

A big reason the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds 6-1 in game one on Tuesday was due to power. In addition to Mitchell’s home run, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds each went deep for the Bucs as well.

Hayes also hit a double in addition to his home run. Rodolfo Castro, Michael Chavis and Ben Gamel all picked up doubles in the victory as well. Any time seven of a team’s 12 hits in a game go for extra bases, especially when three of them are home runs, it’s likely going to lead to offensive success.

Kevin Newman delivers the big hit in game two

The Pirate offense struggled to get going in game two. Thankfully, due to how well the Pirate pitching staff performed, they did not need much offense. This made a 7th inning hit with a runner in scoring position a big one.

In all reality, the 7th inning had two big hits. The first of these came when Castro lined a ball into the left-center field gap for his first hit of game two and second double of the day. Kevin Newman then game through the biggest hit of the game when he hit a ball just over the glove of Cincinnati shortstop Matt Reynolds to score Castro and give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Newman’s hit proved to be enough in the 1-0 victory.

The Pirates will go for a four-game sweep when they send Roansy Contreras (3.29 ERA, 4.37 FIP) to the mound. Lefty Nick Lodolo (3.78 ERA, 3.68 FIP) is slated to pitch for the Reds. First pitch from Cincinnati is scheduled for 12:35 PM ET.