Left fielder Jesse Winker has been as hot as you can get at the plate to start 2021. He came into Tuesday night’s ballgame against the Pirates among the top five in the Majors in batting average and on-base percentage.

Winker continued that hot start with a three-hit, two-RBI game, as he provided much of the offense for an unusually quiet Reds lineup in their 7-2 loss to the Pirates at PNC Park.

After doubling in the first inning, Winker hit a booming solo home run in the third that bounced into the Allegheny River beyond right-center field. The 438-foot blast was the 61st homer to land in the river and it made him the 41st player to hit a homer that landed in the water.

Winker added the Reds' only other run of the game in the eighth inning when he drove home second baseman Nick Senzel, though he was thrown out at third base trying to stretch his RBI double into a triple. The left-handed-hitting Winker improved his average to .374.

“I'm just working really hard every day with [hitting coach Alan Zinter] and [assistant hitting coach] Joe Mather,” Winker said. “I'm sticking to my routine. I'm learning a ton day-in and day-out. I got a bunch of great teammates that I continue to learn from, and it's just -- just coming out and trying to get better every day on and off the field.”

The double cut the Reds' deficit to two runs, before the Pirates tacked on three in the bottom of the eighth. If not for Winker's miscue on the basepaths, the extra-base hit would have put him on second with no outs and the middle of Cincinnati's order due up.

Winker said the move was a blunder on his part, as the Reds looked to rally.

“It was just a really, really, really bad play by me,” Winker said. “It's inexcusable, but you can't take it back now. It's one of those things that if I'm put in that situation, I don't know how many more times, I probably just stay at second. It was just a really, really overly aggressive read in a time where it wasn't necessary.”

After scoring 10 or more runs in each of their last three games against the Pirates, all but three of the Reds' batters were held hitless: Both Winker and Senzel notched three hits, while Eugenio Suárez singled twice.

With Winker batting .374 this season and Senzel batting .340 in his last 54 plate appearances, Reds manager David Bell said the duo gives Cincinnati a good punch at the top of the lineup moving forward.

“Both of those guys are getting on base, doing damage,” Bell said. “The fact that they're at the top of the order with the other guys we have behind them -- we've already seen that it's been a good lineup and scored runs. That didn't happen tonight, but we like where all those guys are.”

For the hot-hitting Winker, he has enjoyed seeing Senzel take off at the plate and set the table for the rest of the lineup.

“It's been a bunch of fun,” Winker said. “[Senzel] looks great up there -- he looks great at second base, too. He's been making some unbelievable plays. Honestly, man, he's one of the best athletes I think I've ever played with. He's an unbelievable talent. … He's been really playing well. It's been a ton of fun behind him, and watching him start us off and kick-start it.”