WRONG WAY SWEEP
Polanco’s error in 9th leads to loss, 0-3 start
CINCINNATI — Gregory Polanco misplayed Marlon Byrd’s sinking line drive in the ninth inning Thursday, and Todd Frazier trotted home to give the Cincinnati Reds a 3-2 win, a series sweep and their second walk-off win of the day.
The first came at 1:46 a.m. when Joey Votto singled off Radhames Liz to end an 11-inning, rain-delayed marathon that began Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park. The Pirates' bus left the park at 2:30 a.m. and returned eight hours later for the Thursday matinee. Manager Clint Hurdle called it a “nightday doubleheader.”
With men on first and third and one out in the ninth, righthander Rob Scahill got Byrd, the former Pirates outfielder, to slice a low liner to shallow right field. Polanco charged, readying to make the catch and throw home, but the ball glanced off his glove and past him.
“It was sinking, running away from me,” he said.
Polanco turned to chase the ball down as Frazier had scurried back to third, but Polanco slipped on the wet grass and Frazier scored without a throw.
“It seemed like [Polanco] was more in a hurry than he needed to be,” Hurdle said. “He catches the ball, the man can't score. … Even once the ball was missed, I think if we get to the ball and pick it up, there might still be a play.”
The Pirates are 0-3 for the first time since 2006 and were swept by the only team in the majors that didn’t score a three-game series sweep last season.
“Overreaction is never the proper reaction in sport and usually not in life,” Hurdle said.
A rain delay, the third in as many games, paused the action in the fourth inning and lasted one hour, 14 minutes. In total, the teams lost 4:23 to rain in the seasonopening series.
In his return to the rotation, right-hander A.J. Burnett, 38, gave the Pirates a jolt. He was in complete command until he hung a curve to Votto with one out in the sixth and watched it fly 393 feet, just out of the reach of a leaping Andrew McCutchen, for a tying, two-run home run.
Burnett, who signed a one-year deal with the Pirates in the offseason, scattered four hits, walked one and struck out seven in 5⅓ innings.
“To wear the black and gold again felt right,” he said.
He stayed warm during the rain delay by stretching and throwing a few times. When the coaches asked if he wanted to return to the game, “I think they knew the answer before they asked,” he said later.
“Heck of an effort by him,” Hurdle said.
Hurdle told the story of how, as Wednesday night gave way to Thursday morning and the Pirates and Reds headed to extra innings, Hurdle told Burnett he could head back to the team hotel and get some rest before his start.
“All I’d do is lay in bed and watch the game anyway,” Burnett replied.
So, he stayed until the bitter end.
“I'm old school,” Burnett said. “I don't go home early.”
Polanco put the Pirates on the board in the fifth when he scored Pedro Alvarez with a bases-loaded, two-out grounder up the middle. Shortstop Zack Cozart fielded the ball but bobbled it, hesitated, and his throw to first was late.
Polanco had come up in a similar situation Wednesday, bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, and struck out swinging.
With one out in the sixth, Alvarez got full extension on a tailing two-seam fastball from Anthony DeSclafani and slammed it to left for an opposite-field solo home run. It was Alvarez’s first home run this season.
Votto, 5 for 13 with four RBIs in the series, chased Burnett in the sixth with his tying home run, just the fourth hit off Burnett.
Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton terrorized the Pirates on the basepaths. He reached base twice Thursday — eight times in the series — and stole second both times, giving him six stolen bases in three games.
Next stop is Milwaukee, where Miller Park has a roof.