Reds 5, Pirates 1: Winning in the Usual Way
By
Zeldink
Posted at 1:24 pm
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reds (53-67) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| Pirates (54-65) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
In the first game of the post-Dunn, post-Griffey era, the Reds won in the same fashion that they have whenever they’ve managed to scrape out a win: with home runs.
Sure, you might expect a team without two of the premier sluggers in the game to have a little less pop–and they do–but the Reds have long been a team built on the homer. That doesn’t change with the removal of two batters.
Brandon Phillips and Javier Valentín were the two Reds to hit homers, driving in 3 of the team’s 5 runs. Edinson Volquez allowed 1 run in 6 2/3 innings for the win.
For the Pirates, newcomer’s first start at PNC didn’t go as well as his two previous Pirates starts. His scoreless inning streak didn’t even make it out of the first. Despite that, he pitched well, giving up just 3 earned runs in 7 innings.