Pirates hold off Reds for 6-5 victory

The Pittsburgh Pirates jumped out to a 6-0 lead last night against the Cincinnati Reds behind the strong pitching of Dillon Peters and some timely early offense by Jacob Stallings, Yoshi Tsutsugo, and Ben Gamel. They then held off the Reds for a 6-5 victory.

Pittsburgh got it rolling early, as they scored three runs in the bottom of the first. Tsutsugo, Stallings and Gamel all hit one-run singles to get Pittsburgh on the board.

Tsutsugo and Stallings stepped up again in the bottom of the fifth, Yoshi with an RBI single that was augmented by a Cincy throwing error, and Stallings with a big RBI double. Both guys finished 2-for-4 on the night with two RBIs. Gamel was also 2-for-4, and he had one RBI, while Ke’Bryan Hayes also went 2-for-4 with one run scored. He’s been better as a leadoff hitter. He may be finding his batting niche.

The Pittsburgh bullpen let Cincy back in game, primarily a rough sixth inning by Nick Mears, who gave up four runs on five hits in his only inning pitched. Chasen Shreve settled things down for two innings before Chris Stratton closed the game for his fifth save of the year, but not before he made things interesting giving up a solo shot in the ninth to Nick Castellanos.

That was that for the Reds, however, and the Buccos walk away with the game one win in their attempt to spoil a series against their division rival. They’ll be back in action again tonight at 6:35.