PITTSBURGH _ Whatever diamond sorcery the Cincinnati Reds deploy against the Pirates this season continued Wednesday night. The two division rivals have played nine games. The Reds have won eight of them.
How unusual is this phenomenon? Felipe Rivero, the Pirates' usually untouchable closer, allowed a two-run home run in the ninth.
It wasn't a save situation. The Pirates were trailing. Cincinnati's latest victory, 5-2 at PNC Park, happened in a fashion not uncommon in Pirates losses of late _ the Pirates struggled against a mediocre starter.
Robert Stephenson had made two starts this season prior to Wednesday. In those games he allowed eight runs, nine walks and 12 hits in 92/3 innings. Wednesday he baffled the Pirates, who until Starling Marte's sixth-inning bunt single had but one hit.
Stephenson retired the next two batters after Marte's leadoff bunt, but threw a wild pitch to put Marte on second and Reds manager Bryan Price went to get him. Immediately the Pirates' offense snapped into gear: Josh Bell and David Freese both hit RBI singles to tie the game at 2.
Stephenson allowed just the two hits and one run in 52/3 innings, striking out four.
Joaquin Benoit made his Pirates debut two days after they acquired him from the Philadelphia Phillies. The second batter he faced in the seventh inning, Jesse Winker, homered to right field for the second game in a row to break a 2-2 tie.
The eighth loss to the Reds corresponded with the Pirates' 56th of the season.
Internal reinforcements in the way of injured starters could help. Gregory Polanco came off the disabled list and started Wednesday's game after missing a week and a half because of a hamstring strain. Josh Harrison, who left Sunday's game after jamming his left leg into the first-base bag, pinch-hit.
Trevor Williams followed his six-inning, one-run outing in San Francisco by allowing two runs in 51/3 innings Wednesday. He struck out six.
Williams got strikeouts when he needed them his first two trips through the Reds order, in part by quickly ascertaining the edges of home-plate umpire Bill Miller's strike zone. The outside corner to lefties was his friend.
With one on and one out in the fourth, he got Scooter Gennett looking at a fastball. Same situation, the following inning, and his low-and-away changeup got Billy Hamilton swinging. He followed by striking Winker out on a fastball high and away.
The Reds got one run in the fourth on Adam Duvall's sacrifice fly. Joey Votto's leadoff double in the sixth led to another and sent Williams from the game.
After an out, Gennett reached on an infield single, a ground ball to Jordy Mercer's right on which he made a great play but his throw was a hair late. Williams walked Eugenio Suarez to load the bases, and manager Clint Hurdle replaced him with Daniel Hudson.
Hudson got the second out, but also walked Tucker Barnhart to force in another run.
