Pittsburgh Pirates Fall In Extra Innings, But Still Alive For Division Title

Final Score: Reds 10, Pirates 6 in 10 innings

How It Happened:

The Reds scored three runs in the first inning, two of which were earned. The first two came off a Devin Mesoraco single. Starling Marte committed his sixth error of the season during this play. Chris Heisey then had an RBI ground out. Mesoraco tried to come home for a fourth run on another grounder, but a Jordy Mercer throw got to catcher Chris Stewart in time. A crew chief authorized replay confirmed this.

Mercer would get the next two RBIs, the first coming on a ground out to short stop in the second inning and then his 12th home run in the fifth inning which would start a three run rally.

The inning continued when starter Francisco Liriano singled and Josh Harrison doubled to put runners at second and third base. The bases would be loaded after an Andrew McCutchen walk. Neil Walker would then bat in two runners getting a single down just before center fielder Heisey could get to it.

Todd Frazier opened the bottom half of the fifth inning with a walk and after a ground out and wild pitch moved to third with Ryan Ludwick up to bat. Ludwick countered a Pirates defensive shift and hit a ball to right field to tie the game at four.

Both Liriano and Reds starter Alfredo Simon pitched five innings, both allowed five hits and four runs. Jared Hughes and J.J. Hoover pitched clean sixth innings for their respective teams.

In the seventh inning Sam LeCure pitched for the Reds and got the first two outs before Travis Snider got a single. Gregory Polanco pinch ran for him and stole second base. McCutchen batted him in, his 83rd RBI of the season. Neil Walker then tripled down the right field line for his 75th RBI.

Pirates reliever John Holdzkom was scored on for the first time this season when Todd Frazier hit a two-run home run, his 29th of the year, in the seventh. Holdzkom threw a strike on a 2-0 count that home plate umpire Jim Joyce ruled a ball and then caught too much plate when trying to throw a strike on the next pitch.

The score remained tied heading to the bottom of the 10th inning when John Axford took the mound. Axford threw 22 pitches, 11 for strikes, but his misses were well wide and resulted in two walks. Bobby LaFromboise fell behind Brayan Pena 3-0 with the bases loaded before coming back to force a pop up for the second out. Ramon Santiago came to the plate with a .242 batting average and one home run, but hit a walk off grand slam to win the game.

Dylan Axelrod got the win to go to 2-1 on the season while Axford took the loss to fall to 2-4.

Up Next:

The Pirates will wrap up their regular season Sunday at 1:10 against the Reds. Gerrit Cole [11-5 3.78 ERA] is scheduled to start but that may change depending on how much they want to prioritize the NL Central title over being ready for a potential wild-card game Wednesday. St. Louis lost to Arizona, so Pittsburgh’s deficit remains one heading into season’s final day.

If Cole doesn’t go, we could see Jeff Locke or Stolmy Pimentel starting. The Reds will go with Johnny Cueto who is 19-9 with a 2.29 ERA on the season. Cueto’s 19 victories tie him with his 2012 mark for a career best.