CINCINNATI _ Twice on the precipice of losses, the Pirates fought back against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday.
In the first game, they trailed by a run heading into the seventh and final inning, and first baseman Colin Moran launched a homer to right to tie it up.
In the nightcap, they trailed by two in the top of the fourth, and first baseman Josh Bell homered to center. Third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes followed him up in the fifth with a two-run blast to take the lead.
In the end, in both games, the Pirates' rallies were not enough. A walk-off home run from Tyler Stephenson in the bottom of the seventh ended the first game, 3-1. And a three-run home run from Mike Moustakas snatched the lead away from the Pirates in the second one before they eventually pulled away, 9-4.
The rallies are just footnotes in an otherwise bad day, as the Pirates (14-32) were swept in the doubleheader, extending their losing streak to six games.
Perhaps what's most discouraging for the Pirates is that some of their most reliable pitchers struggled to get key outs Monday.
Left-hander Sam Howard entered the game with a 2.25 ERA and allowed the walk-off to Stephenson. Left-hander Nik Turley's ERA was slightly higher, but he had been a steady southpaw, especially in late innings. He gave up the Moustakas bomb.
Then, after already trailing 6-4, right-hander Geoff Hartlieb came in to pitch the sixth, sporting a sub-2.00 ERA of his own. He allowed three runs on four walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch and was subject to a fielding error by shortstop Erik Gonzalez.
That meltdown in the end overshadowed the return of right-hander Mitch Keller to the Pirates' rotation from the injured list.
Keller had his velocity back to 95-ish miles per hour, which is a positive sign because it had dipped dramatically before his stint on the IL with an oblique injury. He did struggle a bit with his command, though, walking four batters and allowing two home runs of his own before exiting Game 2 after three innings.
Cody Ponce, who was called upon to start yet another game in a Pirate doubleheader, was solid in the first game, pitching four innings and allowing just one hit, which was a home run to Joey Votto.
Both of those starts paled in comparison to what Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer did to the Pirates' offense in Game 1.
After facing a little bit of stress in the first two frames, he struck out 12 hitters through 6? innings, including one stretch during which he got five straight Pirates batters out on strikes.
When Bauer trotted out for the seventh and final inning, his team holding onto a one-run lead, it seemed to spell trouble for the Pirates. Moran's homer saved them for a moment, but it was not to be in the end.
Bauer's outing set the stage for 25 total strikeouts through 14 innings for the Reds' pitchers. That is the most strikeouts for a Pirate offense in a doubleheader since 1901.
It was a day that could have been salvaged if the Pirates backed up their rallies by holding the Reds' bats at bay themselves. But as with so many things for the Pirates this season, it was not to be.
