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McCutchen lifts Pirates over Reds

Apr 17, 2011 - 11:33 PM Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) - Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata started the game with homers and McCutchen later drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the eighth inning, as the Pittsburgh Pirates held on for a 7-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the third of a four-game set from Great American Ball Park.

Garrett Jones had two hits with a homer for the Pirates, who have won two of the first three in the series that will conclude Monday night. McCutchen finished 3-for-3 with a pair of walks in the victory.

Jay Bruce went 4-for-5 with a homer and two runs batted in for Cincinnati, which has lost three of its last four. Miguel Cairo added three hits with a solo home run and Jonny Gomes also homered in defeat.

The Reds stranded 13 runners and left the bases loaded in both the sixth and ninth innings.

Pittsburgh took a 7-6 lead in the eighth, but only after nearly blowing the opportunity. Jones led off with a single and stole second base, then advanced to third when Cincinnati pitcher Logan Ondrusek (2-1) failed to pick up Chris Snyder's bunt. The Pirates tried to squeeze the run home, but Ondrusek made a great play on the bunt, shoveling the ball toward home with his glove to allow Ryan Hanigan to apply the tag on Jones.

After Steve Pearce popped up for the second out, McCutchen reached for an 0-2 pitch and drove it into left-center field to score Snyder with the go-ahead run.

Cincinnati put two on with one out in the bottom of the eighth, but Scott Rolen lined into a double play. Ronny Cedeno made a diving stab of Rolen's drive that would have likely produced the tying run and he flipped to Neil Walker at second to double off Cairo.

The Reds then committed another baserunning blunder in the ninth. After Gomes grounded out, Bruce hit a tapper in front of the plate. Snyder came out from behind home and threw high to first, but Walker alertly backed up from his second base position. He threw back to first and Bruce was tagged out after he had made a brief attempt toward second.

Edgar Renteria and Paul Janish followed with two-out singles before Joel Hanrahan uncorked a wild pitch that put both runners into scoring position. Hanigan drew a walk to load the bases for Drew Stubbs, who flied out harmlessly to center field to end the game.

"It was a 2-0 count. I knew he was going to try throw me a fastball down the middle -- it was -- and I missed the pitch," said Stubbs. "I didn't get it done."

Hanrahan, the sixth Pittsburgh pitcher, notched his fifth save and Chris Resop (1-0) picked up the win by retiring one batter in the seventh inning.

McCutchen drilled the third pitch of the game from Edinson Volquez over the wall in right field for his third home run of the season and Tabata hit the next offering over the fence in right for his third homer.

It marked the second time Volquez gave up back-to-back homers to start a game this season. He was also touched up by Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez on Opening Day, a game the Reds still went on to win.

The Pirates weren't done in the first, however, as Lyle Overbay drew a walk and Walker came within inches of another homer as his double high off the center field wall put runners on second and third. After Pedro Alvarez was called out on strikes, Jones walked to load the bases and Snyder drew another free pass to force in another run. Cedeno then chased home a run with a sacrifice fly before pitcher Jeff Karstens fanned to end the inning.

"It was good for us to get what we got," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said of the four-run first inning.

Gomes homered for the Reds to start the second and Cincinnati added another run with a two-out rally in the fourth as Bruce singled, took second on a base hit by Ramon Hernandez and scored on another single by Janish.

The Reds then went in front with three in the fifth. After Cairo connected for his first home run of the year with one out, Joey Votto singled and scored on a double into the left field corner by Rolen. Daniel McCutchen took over for Karstens and gave up a two-out single to Bruce that scored Rolen for a 5-4 Reds lead.

Pittsburgh immediately answered with two in the sixth. Jones homered for the first run and Cedeno drew a two-out walk from Volquez, who was then replaced by Jordan Smith and John Bowker greeted the reliever with an RBI double.

The Reds left the bases loaded in the sixth when Votto struck out and Rolen grounded out, but tied it in the seventh on Bruce's second homer of the season.

Karstens was charged with five runs on eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. Volquez gave up six runs on five hits and six walks with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 frames.

Game Notes

The Pirates started a game with back-to-back homers for the third time in franchise history. The first came on July 6, 1945 against the Boston Braves and the second time was July 5, 1982 against Houston...The Reds were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position...Pittsburgh went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight runners.