As many eyes spy what both teams might do before today’s non-waiver Trade Deadline, the Reds produced a big offensive display for a third-straight victory in a 15-5 win over the Pirates on Thursday. Leading the way was Brandon Phillips, who hit two home runs and drove in a career-high seven RBIs. For the second time in eight days, Joey Votto reached base five times, while scoring three runs.
“It was a great game,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “To score that much, and have everybody influence the offense, I know that feels good for our hitters.”
The run support provided plenty of room to work for freshly called-up starting pitcher David Holmberg, who took Johnny Cueto’s rotation spot. In his six innings, Holmberg gave up two earned runs and five hits with three walks and four strikeouts. With two outs in the top of the second inning, Pedro Alvarez hit a solo homer to right-center field. Holmberg also collected his first big league hit with a fifth-inning single.
It was another rough outing for Pirates starter A.J. Burnett, who gave up eight runs (seven earned) and 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings with two walks and four strikeouts. It was the third-straight start with double-digit hits allowed for Burnett. Marlon Byrd made it 3-0 with a three-run homer in the first inning, and it was a 5-1 game after four innings until Cincinnati scored six runs in the fifth. That included Phillips’ first three-run homer and a two-run double by Jay Bruce against reliever Deolis Guerra.
“Just had a bad day. Any chance to set the tone early was taken away by Birdman, on a ball down the middle,” said Burnett, whose velocity and breaking stuff did improve as the game went along. “It was too late. I needed to do that from the get-go, but I wasn’t able to throw anything where I wanted to.”
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