PITTSBURGH _ The Pirates aren't picky about the way they win, particularly against these Cincinnati Reds. The difference Saturday was a late display of Little League-level defense. Starling Marte blooped a single to shallow center field, and John Jaso wound up scoring from first base, busting a scoreless deadlock. The Pirates went on to win, 5-0, snapping a four-game losing streak.
There were two outs and a 2-2 count when Marte lifted a soft pop fly in the seventh inning. Scooter Gennett, the Reds second baseman, raced toward center field and dived. He came up short. Third-base coach Joey Cora held Jaso at third base, but right fielder Phillip Ervin's throw to home plate bounced off the pitcher's mound and caromed toward the home dugout.
Catcher Stuart Turner chased the ball, and so did pitcher Michael Lorenzen. When Turner slid and had trouble scooping the throw, Jaso ran past him and across the unoccupied home plate. The winning run was unearned due to a throwing error on Ervin.
The Pirates (64-72) defeated the Reds (58-78) for the fifth time in 15 tries this season.
The bulk of the offense came courtesy of Jordan Luplow, a 23-year-old rookie who entered the game 0 for 12 in the majors. He scratched out an infield single in the second inning for his first career hit. In the eighth, Luplow walloped a three-run home run off Reds reliever Wandy Peralta in a four-run eighth. The baseball landed in the seats near the notch in left-center field.
Luplow had 23 homers earlier this season between Class AA Altoona and Class AAA Indianapolis. The Pirates first promoted him July 28 after only 20 games with Indianapolis.
Right-hander Jameson Taillon tossed six shutout innings, his first scoreless outing since July 4. He allowed three hits, struck out four and showed impeccable command, issuing only one walk, which was intentional. Taillon had walked nine over nine innings in his previous two starts.
Reds right-hander Tyler Mahle matched zeroes with Taillon, giving up five hits in six innings. He also hit two batters in the hand. His sixth-inning fastball knocked Josh Harrison from the game with a left hand injury. Harrison will consult with an orthopedic hand specialist, the Pirates said.
The first half of the ballgame was defined by dazzling defensive plays. Billy Hamilton stole extra bases from Harrison with a diving catch on the warning track in center field. Harrison, playing second base, cleaned up for Taillon in the fifth by laying out to snare a grounder up the middle and throwing from a knee to nip Turner at first base for the inning's third out.
In the home half of the fifth, after Taillon singled to center, Harrison was struck on the hand by a 96-mph fastball. He hopped around home plate, shaking his hand, then veered toward the dugout and was visited by head athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk. Harrison remained in the game to run the bases but was replaced at second base by Sean Rodriguez for the sixth inning.
Marte's infield single loaded the bases in the fifth, but Andrew McCutchen, still looking for his first career grand slam, swung at a high fastball and flied out to shallow left field.
The Reds threatened in the sixth but could not crack Taillon. Hamilton's one-out single, his second hit of the game, gave Cincinnati its first baserunner since the second inning. Hamilton stole second base. Taillon intentionally walked Joey Votto. Hamilton stole third. With two outs and runners on the corners, Taillon whiffed cleanup hitter Adam Duvall on three pitches.
Taillon's curveball, the put-away pitch he used to start and end the Duvall at-bat, had life Saturday. Of his 96 pitches, 31 were curves. Three were hit into play _ ground out, fly out, ground out. The six scoreless innings Saturday cut Taillon's ERA from 4.75 to 4.50.
Relievers A.J. Schugel and Daniel Hudson turned in scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth. Closer Felipe Rivero handled the ninth inning in 1-2-3 fashion.
