All it took for the Cincinnati Reds to end a nine-game losing streak, during one of the worst starts to a season in MLB history, was to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs, and score seven runs when the opposing team was using an emergency catcher.
Boosted by a wild and wacky eighth inning, the Reds earned their first win in nearly two weeks with their 9-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of their doubleheader Saturday. The Reds scored more runs in the inning than they did in any of their previous 25 games and the Great American Ball Park crowd of 9,267 rewarded them at the end of the eighth inning with a standing ovation.
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With a 4-22 record, the Reds are tied with the 1936 St. Louis Browns and 1932 Boston Red Sox for the third-worst starts to a season through 26 games in MLB history. They’re two games ahead of the 1988 Baltimore Orioles (2-24) and one game up on the 2003 Detroit Tigers (3-23).
Pittsburgh loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the eighth inning when Lucas Sims struggled with his command. Sims threw only four of his first 14 pitches for strikes, but he bounced back with three straight strikeouts to escape the jam.
Sims let out a yell when he finished the inning with a whiff on a 95-mph fastball, a momentum-shifting moment for a team that hasn’t had many of those in their direction this year.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Reds produced only three hits in their seven-run inning. They loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batter before Tyler Stephenson gave the Reds a lead with a two-run double to right field. Pirates right fielder Ben Gamel came up short when he dove for the ball.
A walk and error extended the inning before Tyler Naquin and Brandon Drury hit back-to-back doubles to turn a potential save situation into a blowout.
The Pirates were forced to use former Reds infielder Josh VanMeter as an emergency catcher in the eighth inning. Backup catcher Andrew Knapp was ejected in the sixth inning after yelling from the dugout on a checked-swing appeal and starting catcher Roberto Pérez left the game with an injury when he fell running past second base on a single in the eighth inning.
It was just the second game this season the Reds played an opposing team with a losing record. Atlanta was 0-1 after the Reds’ Opening Day victory.
When Connor Overton made his season debut last week in Colorado, he entered the sixth inning with a two-run lead and facing the 8-9-1 stretch of the lineup. Art Warren was warmed up in the bullpen before the inning started, prepared to face the top of the Rockies batting order.
Overton gave up a leadoff groundball single and was removed after retiring his final batter. The move backfired when four of five batters reached base against Warren and the Reds saw their lead flip into a two-run deficit.
One week later, Overton received the opportunity to pitch a third time through the Pirates lineup. With a one-run lead, Overton surrendered a leadoff single to Ben Gamel and a game-tying RBI single to center from Ke’Bryan Hayes.
Overton still gave the Reds one of their best starts of the season, yielding two runs on four hits and zero walks in 5 1/3 innings. It just wasn’t enough to protect a first-inning lead.
The Reds haven’t had a starting pitcher last six innings in any of their 26 games, the longest streak to begin a season by any MLB team since the mound was pushed back to its current distance in 1893, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
It was a 2-0 Reds lead in the bottom of the first inning, benefiting from some extra opportunities. Brandon Drury reached on an infield single, beating a throw in the dirt from Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes that skipped away for an error. Mike Moustakas was in a 0-2 count with two outs against Pirates starter JT Brubaker before he was hit by a pitch.
Stephenson followed with a two-run double down the third-base line, allowing Moustakas to score from first base.
It was the first time the Reds held a lead at the end of an inning since a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning last Saturday in Overton’s previous start. The Reds scored in the top of the first inning twice in their series in Milwaukee, but they were unable to hold the lead in the following half-inning.
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