Cincinnati beats Pirates as Reds’ Nick Lodolo cruises for 5th straight win
PITTSBURGH — Nick Lodolo allowed one run in seven innings to win a fifth straight start, Santiago Espinal hit a two-run homer and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Lodolo (8-2) struck out eight without issuing a walk and gave up four hits. The left-hander has been tagged for seven runs in 30 1/3 innings in five starts since May 27.
Espinal put the Reds ahead in the fifth inning, driving a fastball from Bailey Falter just over a leaping Bryan Reynolds at the wall and 376 feet into the left field bleachers.
Alexis Díaz struck out one in a perfect ninth inning for his 16th save.
Falter (3-5) surrendered two runs on seven hits, going seven innings with three strikeouts and two walks.
Lodolo retired 11 in a row until Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a solo home run with one out in the seventh inning, sending a 2-2 curveball 382 feet to left.
Andrew McCutchen hit a two-out single ahead of a double down the left-field line from Reynolds in the third. Lodolo struck out Connor Joe to strand them in scoring position and keep Pittsburgh from taking an early lead.
Reynolds was 2 for 4, extending his hit streak to 16 games with a swinging bunt in the first. He came close to tying the score in the eighth, sending a sharp line drive off Fernando Cruz to center with one out and McCutchen on first.
Stuart Fairchild tracked it for an overhead catch just shy of the wall and McCutchen, running past second base, was thrown out at first for an inning-ending double play.
RHP Hunter Greene (5-2, 3.61 ERA) will look to win sixth straight decision for the Reds when he takes the mound Wednesday to close the series opposite Pirates RHP Mitch Keller (8-4, 3.36). Greene is 5-0 in nine starts since allowing four runs in a 7-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on April 22; Keller is 6-1 dating to May 6, but gave up four runs in a 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals his last time out on June 13.
