CINCINNATI — Traveling home to face the Cardinals and the division-leading Brewers has to feel downright peachy right now for the Pirates.
Anything but this.
For the second time this season and third series in a row, the Pirates flew home from Cincinnati after they were swept at Great American Ball Park, the most recent a four-game walloping that culminated with a 3-2 loss on Sunday.
Add ‘em up, and the Reds have outscored the Pirates, 61-17, in seven games here this season, hitting a total of hitting home runs.
The Pirates, who have dropped 14 of 19 to fall to a season-worst 30 games under .500 at 41-71, have now been swept 12 times this season, which ties for the most in MLB. They’ve lost 12 in a row at Great American Ball Park dating back to the 2020 campaign.
With 50 games remaining, the Pirates must go at least 22-28 to avoid a 100-loss season. They’re currently on pace to finish 59-103, which would be the eighth 100-loss season in modern franchise history and their worst since dropping 105 in 2010.
The Pirates turned a Bryan Reynolds double into a run and scored another on Ke’Bryan Hayes’ solo homer, but they otherwise couldn’t solve Reds starter Tyler Mahle, who went seven strong, walking none and striking out 10.
Sunday marked the second start for Bryse Wilson in a Pirates uniform, and the right-hander they acquired from Atlanta in the Richard Rodriguez trade was extremely solid.
The same as his debut, Wilson was around the strike zone a lot and allowed three earned runs over six innings, all of them coming in the fourth. Wilson threw 71 of his 97 pitches for strikes, issuing one intentional walk and matching his career-high with seven strikeouts.
Wilson also struck out seven on Sept. 22, 2020 against the Marlins.
Mahle mowed through the Pirates lineup the first time through, striking out six of the first nine and allowed only a Hayes single in the first. Reynolds broke through with a one-out double in the fourth, setting the table for Pittsburgh’s first run.
Bumped up to the No. 5 spot after his three-hit night Saturday, Anthony Alford hit a soft roller to third that glanced off the glove of Eugenio Suarez. The ball trickled into shallow left field, and Reynolds motored home.
The lead would be short-lived, however, as the Reds caught a couple breaks against Wilson, who allowed just a single through the first three innings, striking out four.
Left fielder Jesse Winker reached on a bloop, ground-rule double up the left-field line, then right fielder Nick Castellanos followed with a double of his own, on a ball that Reynolds nearly dove and caught.
Winker got a bad jump and didn’t score, but he did when first baseman Joey Votto smoked a 0-2 changeup from Wilson that caught too much of the plate.
Cincinnati extended its lead to 2-0 on a fielder’s choice before shortstop Kyle Farmer hit the third double of the inning off Wilson, this time on a fastball that was actually a decent bit outside and off the plate. Farmer went with it the other way into the right-center gap.
The Pirates closed the gap to one on Hayes’ solo shot in the sixth. It was Hayes’ first homer since July 5, spanning 100 at-bats, and it served as the high point of a productive series. Hayes has now hit in four straight, going 6 for 15 (.400) with a home run, a double and two RBIs.
It also continues a trend where Hayes has fared well against the Reds, going 14 for 38 (.368) in 11 career games against them, producing hits in nine of those with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and four RBIs.
Facing Mahle, the Reds starter, Hayes got a 1-0 fastball and drove it 403 feet to left-center field, the type of swing we’re more used to seeing from the Pirates third baseman.
