Pittsburgh Pirates Lose To Reds As Division Title Hopes Vanish
By Larry Snyder
The Cincinnati Reds rode the right arm of their ace Johnny Cueto to victory on Sunday afternoon to down the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 in the regular-season finale.
The Bucs finished with a record of 88-74, with the loss allowing the St. Louis Cardinals to claim the 2014 National League Central Division crown. Clint Hurdle‘s squad will now host the National League Wild Card Game on Wednesday night against the San Francisco Giants.
Cueto allowed one earned run on six hits and struck out seven over eight innings of work. The 5-foot-11, 215-pound right-hander picked up his 20th win while throwing 107 pitches. He also drove in the winning run with a ground-ball single in the bottom of the eighth off Pirates reliever Tony Watson.
Left-hander Aroldis Chapman came on in the ninth for the Reds, and struck out three on 17 pitches to earn his 36th save.
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Neil Walker was the only Pirate to get to Cueto, launching his 23rd home run of the season in the fourth on a line drive to right field to knot the game up at 1-1.
Cincy’s Todd Frazier grounded out to Josh Harrison at third in the bottom of the first that allowed Kristopher Negron to score and give the Reds a 1-0 lead. Pirates starter Gerrit Cole locked it down from there, surrendering one earned run on four hits over seven innings while striking out a career-high 12.
The Reds erupted for three runs in the bottom of the eighth to claim the lead in the ball game. After Jason Bourgeois tripled to start the eighth, Cueto sent a ground ball single to center field past a drawn-in infield. Then, Negron who blasted his sixth homer of the season to left center that also allowed Yorman Rodriguez to score.
Watson was the first left-hander to answer the call to the bullpen and gave up two earned runs on two hits and 13 pitches. With only one out in the bottom of the eighth, Justin Wilson was the second lefty out of the bullpen and he allowed one earned run on one hit and 17 pitches.
The Jolly Roger crew now turn their attention to Wednesday’s winner-take-all game against the Giants at PNC Park, where the Bucs had a 51-30 regular-season record. The first pitch is set for 8:07 p.m. ET.
San Francisco will send left-hander Madison Bumgarner (18-10, 2.98 ERA) to the hill while Pittsburgh will likely counter with right-hander Edinson Volquez (13-7, 3.04 ERA).
Notes: Josh Harrison went 0 for 4, dropping his batting average to .315. He finished second in the NL to Colorado’s Justin Morneau, who elected to sit out the final two games to finish at .317. Andrew McCutchen came in third in the league at .314…Although they lost three of their last five games, the Pirates finished September on a 17-6 run.