Pirates scratch out 2-0 win
Four pitchers toss six-hit shutout
Felipe Vazquez, Richard Rodriquez and Nick Kingham combined to throw four scoreless innings in relief in the Pirates 2-0 win against the Reds on Thursday.
It wasn’t easy. Vazquez put a runner on when he threw a wild pitch while striking out Matt Kemp in the ninth inning. Jose Iglesias hit a double to put runners on second and third with two outs. Vazquez ended the game with a called strikeout on Curt Casali and got Kyle Farmer to swing at strike three to end the game.
“We wanted [to] back up [Jordan] Lyles in his first start in Pittsburgh,” Vazquez said. “He did a great job and we wanted to lift him up. It was a great thing for us to back him up and put up zeroes.”
Lyles continued the trend of strong starting pitching for the Pirates. He threw five scoreless innings on three hits and three walks. Lyles added two strikeouts, each of them coming in a big moment.
“Lyles had a professional outing,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “His fastball was good. We are happy with what we saw. A clean outing here at PNC. The curveball and changeup were there as well.”
Lyles struck out his counterpart, Tyler Mahle, to end the second inning after Tucker Barnhart reached with a two-out double and Jose Iglesias followed with a single to left field. Starling Marte got to the ball quickly
and held Barnhart at third, which left runners on the corners as Mahle struck out.
Joey Votto struck out for the last out of the fifth inning with Jesse Winkler on first base. Winkler hit a two-out single.
“Votto doesn’t strike out often,” Lyles said. “It felt good because I focused on executing my pitches and got it done.”
Lyles didn’t know it, but Votto would be the last hitter he would face in the game.
“It’s a good way to get things going. Overall I’m very pleased with the handful of innings we got,” Lyles said. “I wasn’t too happy with only going five innings. I’d like to get deeper into games. But I won’t complain about some scoreless innings.”
The maligned Pirates defense also made plays. Lyles walked Scott Schebler after Eugenio Suarez grounded out to Kevin Newman at short. Jose Peraza hit a single to move Schebler to second. Barnhart was up with one out and runners on first and second. Barnhart hit a hard shot toward third. Jung Ho Kang corralled the ball started the inning-ending double play.
“That was a big play,” Lyles said. “For my outing that was a pivotal point in the game. The defense came through.”
The Reds Mahle pitched six innings and gave up five hits. He also had some impactful strikeouts. Adam Frazier hit a two-out single and advanced to second on a stolen base in the third inning. Starling Marte struck out four pitches later for the third out.
Mahle ended the outing with five strikeouts.
Nick Kingham pitched scoreless sixth and seventh innings.
“It was great to get out there and throw clean innings,” Kingham said. Lyles got us off to a good start. This is how we won games last year. The offense gets timely hits to give us a lead and then the bullpen shuts the game down.”
Prior to the seventh inning run, the Pirates squandered several opportunities. In the fourth inning, Josh Bell hit a single with one out. Jung Ho Kang struck out for the second out. Melky Cabrera hit a single but was thrown trying to stretch it to a double at second base.
The Pirates scored the first run of the game in the seventh inning. Cabrera hit a single. Pablo Reyes pinch ran for Cabrera. JB Shuck hit a single to move Reyes to third. Kevin Newman drove him in on a groundout to second.
Rodriquez pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Josh Bell drove in Starling Marte with a two-out single for the two-run lead that Vazquez preserved in the ninth.
The Pirates ended the game with a 2-3 record. Joe Musgrove will make his season debut as a starter against Sonny Gray on Friday. Gray gave up five hits and three runs in his outing against the Pirates last Sunday in Cincinnati. Musgrove pitched two scoreless innings in relief on Sunday against the Reds.