Suarez powers Reds with three homers
Eugenio Suarez hit three homers in a game for the first time in his career, driving in five runs and leading the Cincinnati Reds over the Pirates 6-2 in Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
Suarez hit a three-run shot deep down the left-field line to cap a four-run third inning. He added solo homers in the sixth and eighth innings, giving him 12 this season. He hit 49 last year.
“I’m so happy. That was a big night for me,” Suarez said. “I try to concentrate every time I go to the plate for an at-bat, try to hit the ball hard. They made some mistakes and I hit the ball hard.”
This marked the third baseman’s ninth career multihomer game and gave him six home runs and 16 RBI in his last 12 games.
“We’ve seen what (Suarez) is capable of when he gets going and he gets hold of some balls,” Reds manager David Bell said. “We’ve seen him get locked in like that before and it’s fun to watch. It’d be great if he kept it going.”
Tucker Barnhart led off the Reds’ third by lining a home run to the shrubbery beyond the center-field fence.
Pirates center fielder Anthony Alford broke his right elbow when he slammed into the wall chasing the ball. Alford will most likely miss the last three weeks of the season.
Amir Garrett (1-0), the third of five Reds’ pitchers, worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win.
INDIANS 4, BREWERS 3: Milwaukee closer Josh Hader allowed his first hit of the season, and then gave up Cesar Hernandez’s game-winning single in the ninth inning in Cleveland on Saturday night.
Oscar Mercado, who scored on Hernandez’s
liner through a five-man infield, led off the ninth with a double, ending Hader’s major league-record streak of 12 hitless appearances to start the season.
Hader (0-1) did not retire a batter, leaving him tied with Hal Newhouser and Brad Clontz for the record of 35 consecutive hitless at-bats to open a year.
Cleveland reliever Brad Hand (1-1) gave up a leadoff double to pinch hitter Tyrone Taylor and a single to Christian Yelich in the ninth, but struck out Ryan Braun to end the inning.