PITTSBURGH _ The Pirates bullpen barely stirred. Right-hander Ivan Nova hurdled his second complete game in the past three weeks Thursday, going the distance in the Pirates' 4-1 win against the Cincinnati Reds.
Nova allowed six hits and one run, improving to 5-0 in Pittsburgh. He needed only 94 pitches.
The Pirates (69-69) returned to .500, four games behind the idle New York Mets.
Nova (5-0), acquired from the New York Yankees for two prospects at the trade deadline, lowered his ERA to 2.58 in seven starts for the Pirates. In 46 1/3 innings with his new ball club, Nova has allowed only two walks, his walks plus hits per innings pitched total an impeccable 0.928.
Reds right-hander Dan Straily had allowed two runs over six innings in each of his three previous starts against the Pirates this season. He eclipsed that figure in the first inning Thursday. With two outs, the Pirates collected four consecutive hits and tallied three runs.
Jung Ho Kang blazed a two-run, two-strike double past center fielder Jose Peraza. Francisco Cervelli's seeing-eye single up the middle scored Kang for a 3-0 edge.
Kang, who was 1 for 4 Thursday, continues to produce. In three starts since returning from the disabled list Monday, Kang is 7 for 13 with three home runs, seven RBIs and five runs scored.
While the Reds couldn't solve Nova on the mound, they had the hitter Nova figured out. In the first and third innings, Straily intentionally walked Jordy Mercer to load the bases for Nova. He whiffed both times. A single and another strikeout later gave Nova 29 strikeouts in 35 career at-bats.
Straily (11-8) scattered seven runs, three walks and three runs over five innings.
Nova's first dent was in the fifth when Adam Duvall topped a chopper onto the infield grass. Nova came off the mound and fielded the bouncing baseball, but threw it into the dirt at first base. The play was initially ruled an infield single, then changed to an error charged to Nova.
The Nova no-no was scotched by Scott Schebler smacking a line drive to left with two outs.
The Reds' next hit, a bunt single laid Tucker Barnhart in the sixth, led to their first run. Barnhart moved to second on pinch-hitter Hernan Iribarren's base hit, to third on a double play, and scored when Zack Cozart singled against a shifted infield, despite a fine diving stop by Josh Harrison.
The Pirates answered in the bottom half of the inning. Harrison ripped his second double of the game and slid across the plate a whisker ahead of Barnhart's tag when Andrew McCutchen stung an RBI single to left field. The 4-1 lead was more than Nova would require.
