The Pittsburgh Pirates travel to Cincinnati, OH to take on the Reds for a 3 game series. This series shows off two bright young shortstop talents in Oneil Cruz and Elly De La Cruz. Oneil Cruz, still just 25 has loads of potential. Like Elly De La Cruz, Oneil is a tall shortstop. Standing at 6’7, he features above average speed, a rocket arm and has a ton of power. Elly and Oneil look to have a fun rivalry for a long long time.
Game 1:
Game 1 would see Carson Spiers take on Bailey Falter. Pittsburgh would jump out early, Bryan Reynolds would extend his hitting streak to 21 games and give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning. In the bottom of the 3rd, Jonathan India and Elly De La Cruz would hit back to back singles. Spencer Steer would drive them both home on a double in the left field gap, putting the Reds up 2-1. After Tyler Stephenson reached 1st, Stuart Fairchild would rip a double to left, scoring Steer and Stephenson and giving Cincinnati a 4-1 lead. Fairchild would reach 3rd on an overthrow at the plate. Next batter Santiago Espinal would walk. Levi Jordan, who was promoted to the Reds today and making his major league debut, would hit a sacrifice fly that would score Fairchild and be Jordan’s first career RBI. Reds lead 5-1. The Pirates would get 2 back in the top of the 5th but the Reds would play add on in the bottom half of the inning. India and De La Cruz would hit back to back doubles followed by a Spencer Steer singe, Cincinnati now leads 7-3. In the bottom of the 6th, Levi Jordan would collect his first major league hit, a double off the right field wall.
He would score on a Luke Maile single. Jonathan India would follow with a double that would score Maile, the lead’s now 9-3. Elly De La Cruz would follow up with on of the most impressive home runs of the season. Elly would hit a 2 run home run to straight away center field that would be caught by a fan in the River boat.
The Reds lead 11-3. Fernando Cruz would come in to pitch in the top of the 7th. After Andrew McCutchen reached base, Oneil Cruz would launch a deep home run three quarters the way up the moon deck in right center. The score is 11-5 now and that’s how the score would end up. The Pirates would make a late rally in the 9th, but to no avail. The Reds take game one, 11-5. The Reds are 10-2 in their last 12 games opening up a series. Carson Spiers pitched well and would earn his first career win. Spiers would go 6 innings, allow 7 hits, walk 1, strike out 5 amd allow 3 earned runs. The Reds look to win the series Tuesday night.
BOX SCORE STANDOUTS:
Jonathan India: 3-4 3R, BB, RBI
Elly De La Cruz: 3-5 HR, 3RBI, 3R
Spencer Steer: 2-4 3RBI
Tuesdays Starters:
Hunter Greene
Mitch Keller
Game 2:
Hunter Greene takes the mound on Tuesday night, he faces off against Mitch Keller. Greene has been terrific this season. Greene would surrender a 2 run home run to Bryan Reynolds, who extended his hitting streak to 22 games. Rowdy Tellez would walk and steal 2nd off Greene. Nick Gonzalez would follow up and hit a single that would score Tellez. Pirates lead 3-0. The Reds would be held scoreless in the first. Jonathan India would be ruled out on a play at the plate on a ball hit to the pitcher Keller by Candelario. Greene would allow 3 straight hits to load the bases in the 3rd, loading the bases. Edward Olivares would then hit a single in front of the right fielder Jake Fraley would lazily throw the ball back into the infield, heads up base running by Oneil Cruz allowed him to score from 2nd. Pirates lead 5-0.
Greene would allow 5 straight singles before Yasmani Grandal hit a sacrifice fly giving Pittsburgh a 6-0 lead. The Reds would leave the bases loaded in the 3rd without scoring a run. Jared Triolo would face Buck Farmer in the 5th and subsequently line a 2 run home run just over the left field wall, giving the Pirates a 8-0 lead. In the bottom of the 5th, Jonathan India would walk, Elly De La Cruz would follow up with a double and Jeimer Candelario would hit a RBI groundout to the 2nd baseman, cutting the lead to 8-1. Spencer Steer would follow Candelario with an RBI double, scoring De La Cruz. 8-2 Pittsburgh. Tyler Stephenson would Steer with a triple, scoring Steer and making it an 8-3 game. The Pirates would score 1 in the 6th on a play at the plate to give Pittsburgh a 9-3 lead. Elly De La Cruz would hit a fly ball to center field that would be dropped by Micheal A Taylor, Elly would reach 3rd and India would score to make it a 9-4 game.
The Reds would go on the score one more in the 9th on a double play and the Pirates go on to win the game 9-5. Elly De La Cruz and Jonathan India have been red hot this series but the pitching fails them in the game. Hunter Greene just didn’t have his best stuff in this one. Greene would vomit after a pitch to Bryan Reynolds in the 1st. This is the second game in a row Greene has battled illness due to a combination of over hydration and the heat. Greene would finish with 4 innings, 7 hits, 6 earned runs, 5 strikeout and 2 walks and get credited with the loss. Yosver Zulueta was promoted to the team today and made his major league debut. He would pitch 3 innings, walk the first 2 batters he saw, but would settle down. He would allow 1 run with 4 strikeouts and just 1 hit.
BOX SCORE STANDOUTS:
Jonathan India: 2-2 2BB, 3R
Elly De La Cruz: 2-4 R, BB
Spencer Steer: 2-5 RBI
The Reds lose the 2nd game of the series again, they’ve won the first game 10 of the last 12 but have lost the 2nd game in 4 straight series now.
Wednesday’s Starters:
Graham Ashcraft
Luis Ortiz(opener)
Game 3:
The Reds called up Graham Ashcraft to start Wednesday’s game after Nick Lodolo was placed on the IL yesterday. Jeimer Candelario would get an off day. Manager David Bell said the tendinitis in Candelario’s knee isn’t improving so they’re looking into ways to give him more off time to help. Reds number 2 prospect Noelvi Marte was activated from his rehab stint and will be allowed to return from suspension for tomorrow’s game in St. Louis.
In the top of the 1st, Bryan Reynolds would extend his hitting streak to 23 games on a single to center field. Reynolds is batting .360 during his hit streak. In the 3rd inning, Jack Suwinski would hit an RBI single to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 3rd. Jonathan India would remain scorching hot, he would smash a line drive to the wall for a double that would score Stuart Fairchild, tying the game at 1.
Rowdy Tellez would hit a home run in the 4th off Ashcraft to take the lead, 2-1 Pirates. In the 5th inning, Andrew McCutchen would hit a 2 run home run following a double by Jason Delay to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead. In the 6th inning, Delay would hit a 2 run double past the Reds 3rd baseman Espinal to give the Pirates a 6-1 lead. That’s all the scoring this game would see as the Reds fall to the Pirates again and lose the series again. Graham Ashcraft would go 5.1 innings, allow 9 hits, strike out 3, walk 1 and allow 6 earned runs in his return to the Reds. The Reds bullpen would only allow 1 hit in 3.2 innings. The Reds offense would go quiet after their offensive explosion on Monday night. Jonathan India is currently playing his best baseball since his Rookie of the Year season. India reached base in 11 consecutive plate appearances in the series and would go 2-4 today. Livan Soto would get his first major league start for the Reds batting 8th.
BOX SCORE STANDOUTS:
Jonathan India 2-4 RBI
Lucas Sims 1IP K
The Reds travel to St. Louis to begin a 6 game road trip. Andrew Abbott takes on Miles Mikolas for Thursday’s game.
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