PITTSBURGH _ It's September, and the Pirates still haven't solved the Cincinnati Reds.
In a series opener Friday at PNC Park, the Reds rolled to a 7-3 win and improved to 10-4 this season against Pittsburgh. The Pirates' fourth consecutive defeat dropped them nine games under .500 for the first time since July 3 and pushed them 11 games out of first place, which now is nothing but a far-fetched fantasy. They have lost 14 of their past 19 games.
Right-hander Gerrit Cole (11-9), who threw seven shutout innings against the Reds in his previous start, gave up five runs in six innings. He allowed six hits, three of which went for extra bases, and walked three.
Whatever expectations Cole had for this start, they likely did not begin with the first four batters reaching base. But that was the case. Billy Hamilton singled, stole second and advanced to third on Chris Stewart's throwing error. Zack Cozart walked. Joey Votto smashed an RBI double to right-center, and Adam Duvall followed with a two-run double to center.
Once Cole discovered a regular rhythm, his arsenal had bite. He retired eight batters in a row _ five grounders, three strikeouts _ after Duvall's double. In his second at-bat, after the Pirates had trimmed the deficit to 3-2, Duvall struck again. He snapped Cole's streak with a two-out base hit, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Scooter Gennett's single.
The highlight of a hum-drum September ballgame was Andrew McCutchen's near-robbery in the sixth. Gennett drilled a fly ball to straightaway center field. McCutchen raced to the warning track and scaled the wall. He got a glove on the ball at the top of the wall and pulled it back into play. The ball fell to the ground, Gennett tripled yet Cole tipped his cap to McCutchen.
The Pirates (63-72) had little success against Luis Castillo _ five days earlier, he tossed seven innings of three-hit, one-run baseball against them _ but they made him work harder this time. He spent 58 pitches through two innings, and 89 through four. That's as far as he got Friday, lifted for reliever Asher Wojciechowski after allowing three hits and two runs in four frames.
The only runs off Castillo came in the second inning when Chris Stewart and John Jaso, two veterans whose inclusion in the lineup Friday raised eyebrows, drove in a run apiece. Jaso doubled, scoring David Freese from first base. Stewart poked a single to right field, collecting his fourth RBI this season and his first since July 20.
With a single in the sixth, McCutchen tied Dick Groat for 14th on the Pirates' franchise hit list, with 1,434. McCutchen now sits 45 hits shy of Dave Parker for 13th on the list.
The Reds (58-77) pushed across insurance runs in the eighth against rookie reliever Dovydas Neverauskas. Two runs were charged to his ledger. He three hits and issued a walk.
