Bucs red-faced in Cincy
CINCINNATI — Six innings from his injured starting pitcher, a bullpen-saving three more from one reliever and 11 runs from his offense.
For Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker, that added up to a perfect night.
Craig Tatum drove in four runs to double his previous career total and Justin Lehr overcame a sore groin and control problems as Baker's Reds sent the Pittsburgh Pirates to their sixth consecutive loss, 11-5 on Tuesday night.
"That was a perfect night in a whole lot of ways," Baker said. "We needed to score some runs. We needed a good pitching performance. We got a couple of big double plays. That was a perfect night."
Pittsburgh is four defeats shy of becoming the first major American professional team to string together 17 straight losing seasons. Cincinnati has won three straight and eight of 10.
Wladimir Balentien hit a two-run homer, Jonny Gomes had three hits, and Paul Janish and Kevin Barker also drove in two runs each as the Reds reached double figures in runs for the third time this season and scored their most since setting a season high in a 13-5 win May 11 at Arizona.
Lehr (4-1) lasted six innings despite hurting his groin on the second pitch of the game. He finished with five walks, one short of the six he allowed in his first career start July 31. He also gave up six hits and four runs with two strikeouts.
Micah Owings allowed one run over the final three innings for the first save of his five-year professional career.
For the second consecutive game, the Reds sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning. They scored four runs on Tuesday, one more than in the first inning of Monday's second game. Barker and Gomes each had RBI singles before Tatum grounded a two-run single up the middle with the bases loaded.
Garret Jones, who went into the game leading major league rookies with 16 home runs, hit his 17th with Andrew McCutchen on base in the third.
The Reds got one of those runs back in the bottom half when Gomes scored from third on Tatum's groundout.
The Pirates cut Cincinnati's lead to one in the fourth on pitcher Charlie Morton's RBI single and McCutchen's bases-loaded walk, his third free pass in the first four innings.
Tatum drove in Gomes from second with a two-out single in the fifth.
McCutchen added his fourth walk in the ninth, tying Pittsburgh's single-game season high.
Morton (3-7) matched his season high by issuing four walks. He also allowed nine hits and six runs in five innings for the last-place Pirates.
"I didn't make pitches when I needed to," Morton said. "I kept falling behind, and it kind of snowballed. After the first inning I had to keep throwing zeros, and I didn't do that. It was one of those nights. It was hard to find a rhythm."
Note: Pittsburgh's next home run will be the 10,000th in franchise history.
