Reds Dominated by Pirates 6-2, Bounced from Playoffs

This October lasted only one day, and one game. Steamrolled in every way by the Pirates during a 6-2 defeat in the do-or-die National League Wild Card Game on Tuesday night at PNC Park, the 90-win Reds are one and done, their season is completed again sooner than expected.

A somber visitors’ clubhouse reflected what’s become a familiar feeling of postseason disappointment.

“I feel like the city of Cincinnati really deserves better,” second baseman Brandon Phillips said. “During the season, there was no point to [people who] say negative things. But now, since the season is over, we deserve everything. We choked. I don’t care how my teammates feel about what I am saying now, because it’s truth. Either you win or you go home. And I’m going home. The last place I want to be is on my couch.”

Pirates lefty starter Francisco Liriano often had his way with the Reds over seven innings, allowing just four hits that included Jay Bruce’s RBI single in the fourth inning.

Ryan Ludwick accounted for three of Cincinnati’s six hits in the game, but third and fourth hitters Joey Votto and Phillips combined to go 0-for-8 and failed to hit a ball out of the infield. They were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

“I choked,” Phillips added. “I didn’t do [anything] to make the team win.”

Responsibility for the loss could be spread around multiple places. Reds ace Johnny Cueto, who looked good in his two final regular-season starts after missing 2 1/2 months with a strained right lat muscle, lasted 3 1/3 innings and allowed four runs (three earned), with seven hits and a walk.

“Well, he had good stuff. He was getting [the ball] up,” manager Dusty Baker said. “You know, all the balls they hit were up, over the heart of the plate.”

Cueto came in 8-2 with a 1.90 ERA in 13 career starts at PNC Park, but he had never encountered the raucous atmosphere that existed on Tuesday. A ballpark-record crowd of 40,487, starved for postseason play since Pittsburgh’s last foray in 1992, provided a loud home-field advantage.

The tide turned quickly against Cueto and Cincinnati in the bottom of the second inning. Marlon Byrd, who came in 7-for-12 lifetime against Cueto, led off by hitting a 2-1 changeup into the left-field seats for a homer that had the stadium rocking.

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