The Reds staged a late-inning rally, but Andrew McCutchen snuffed out the comeback as he stroked a leadoff home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, lifting the Pirates to a 6-5 win on Friday night at PNC Park in front of 24,366 fans.
“It’s not like he gave up the home run to a slouch,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “This guy is one of the best players in the league, and we had chances to come back late, so it’s a little deflating, but you can’t get deflated in the seventh. You’ve got to come back in the eighth and ninth, and we’ve got to put that behind us. We came back once and we were coming back again and we had action. We didn’t stop. We were one hit away from tying that game up.”
The Reds had tied up the score in the seventh on Brandon Phillips’ second home run, but right-hander J.J. Hoover surrendered the game-winning blast to McCutchen, his second home run of the season. Hoover was tagged with the loss, falling to 0-3.
“It seems like he’s making that one mistake out over the plate, and they are not missing,” Baker said. “When you’re not going good, that happens, and when you are going good, they pop those balls up and hit them on the ground, but they are not missing. Like I said, he gave it up to one of the best players in this league. He doesn’t like it, but if you’re going to give it up, give it up to the best.”
McCutchen was patient enough to get good wood on Hoover’s pitch.
“I was able to stay on it, and get it up,” McCutchen said. “I know if I get myself in a hit position, I know am able to hit whatever pitch that may come. Just using my hands. All I’m trying to do, be ready to hit. I was able to get a good pitch and ride it out.”
Pirates right-hander Tony Watson was nursing a two-run lead in the seventh inning when Phillips smacked the tying home run. It marked the 10th time in his career that he has hit two home runs in a game. Despite giving up the Phillips clout, Watson wound up getting the win.
After giving up five runs on 10 hits in six innings of work, Mike Leake got a no-decision.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
