As much as they tried, Pirates fans’ efforts to get into Johnny Cueto’s head proved futile. The taunts of “Cue-to, Cue-to,” were meant to rattle the Reds’ ace into repeating his faltering start in October’s Wild Card Game that included Cueto accidentally dropping a ball while on the mound.
“Yes, I heard it. All I can do is just laugh,” Cueto said via translator Tomas Vera. “That’s their job, the fans doing that. It’s part of the past.”
Of course, there were far fewer fans in attendance this time in Cueto’s return to PNC Park. And Pittsburgh’s hitters were the ones flummoxed once again as Cueto buried them for the second time in a week with a complete-game gem and a 4-1 victory. The Reds, who have won five of their last seven games, evened the series with two games remaining.
Cueto walked three and struck out four, allowing three hits and only surrendered Andrew McCutchen’s solo homer in the ninth, which snapped his career-high scoreless innings streak at 21 innings.
After he had a three-hit complete game shutout for a 4-0 win over the Pirates on Thursday at Great American Ball Park, Cueto became the first Reds pitcher with consecutive complete games since Mat Latos in 2012.
“It feels good when you throw good against the same team the way I did,” Cueto said. “All of my pitches were down. Everything was down and everything was under control except for a few pitches I could not control.”
Cueto notched 16 outs via the groundball.
“What we saw in Cincinnati was through the roof, as far as his command and stuff, combined,” Pirates second baseman Neil Walker said. “Tonight, his stuff wasn’t as good, but his command was still there, to both sides of the plate.”
The Reds lineup provided Cueto with enough assistance with two seventh-inning runs against former teammate Edinson Volquez, who was more than up for the challenge of a pitcher’s duel.
Volquez, who was Cueto’s best friend on the Reds from 2008-11, gave up only the two runs and five hits over seven innings with one walk, a hit batter and three strikeouts.
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