• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

McCutchen's HRs lift Pirates past Reds in 11

Jul 13, 2014 - 6:48 AM Cincinnati, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Andrew McCutchen won the game with his bat.

Gregory Polanco helped save it with his arm.

McCutchen hit a game-tying leadoff home run in the ninth inning and a go-ahead solo shot in the 11th on Saturday night to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 6-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

Polanco played a key role, too, throwing a runner out at home plate to help Pittsburgh escape a jam in the 10th inning.

The Pirates bounced back from a 6-5 loss in the series opener on Friday to win for only the second time in their last six games.

McCutchen's home run in the ninth came off Jonathan Broxton. The 11th-inning blast, his 17th of the season, came on J.J Hoover's first-pitch 83 mph slider, which the reigning NL MNP cracked just over the wall in left.

Jeanmar Gomez pitched the bottom of the 11th for Pittsburgh, earning his first career save after sweating out long drives to the warning track by Zack Cozart and Kristopher Negron.

All five Cincinnati runs came in the sixth inning on homers by Todd Frazier and Chris Heisey.

Reds starter Mike Leake was in line for his fifth win in his last six starts before McCutchen's blast in the ninth. Leake went six innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and three walks.

"It was one of those games he just wasn't real sharp," Reds manager Bryan Price said of Leake. "That was a game that could have gotten out of hand; that could have easily been a six- or seven- or eight-run ballgame when he left."

Pittsburgh's Charlie Morton also pitched six innings, allowing five runs on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts.

McCutchen's ninth-inning homer was the first given up this season by Broxton. It came on Broxton's sixth pitch, a 95 mph fastball McCutchen launched over the center-field wall.

The Reds stranded runners on first and second in the ninth when Tony Watson struck out pinch-hitter Neftali Soto and got Billy Hamilton on a pop-up.

They had runners at first and second with nobody out in the 10th after Ernesto Frieri issued consecutive walks to Ramon Santiago and Frazier.

But Polanco threw out Santiago on Jay Bruce's single off Justin Wilson (3-1) -- catcher Russell Martin nicely handled a short hop before spinning to apply the tag -- and Wilson struck out Ryan Ludwick and Brayan Pena.

The Reds had just three hits in the first five innings before the blasts by Heisey and Frazier gave them a 5-4 lead in the sixth.

Heisey, hitting for Leake, sent his third homer of the season just over the wall in left to score Cozart. Hamilton then singled, Santiago walked and Frazier launched a three-run shot to center for his 18th homer of the season.

Earlier, Martin hit sacrifice flies in the first and third innings to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. The first came with the bases loaded. The second scored McCutchen, who had doubled and moved up to third on a groundout.

Gaby Sanchez and Jordy Mercer hit consecutive singles in the fourth to spark a two-run rally for Pittsburgh. Both runners moved up on Morton's sacrifice bunt and Sanchez scored on Leake's errant pickoff attempt. Polanco drove in Mercer with a single to make it 4-0.

Game Notes

Hoover (1-7) worked two innings ... Reds closer Aroldis Chapman had pitched in the last four games. He struck out the side Friday, setting a major-league record with at least one strikeout in 40 straight appearances ... Cincinnati recalled Soto from Louisville on Saturday to bolster its injury-depleted infield and optioned right-handed reliever Curtis Partch to the Triple-A team.