Lorenzen earns 1st win as Reds top Pirates
PITTSBURGH -- Marlon Byrd drove in four runs Tuesday to charge the Reds to a 7-1 win over the Pirates and present right-hander Michael Lorenzen with his first Major League victory.
Pittsburgh lefty Jeff Locke recovered to pitch seven strong innings but the Bucs' slumping offense couldn't overcome Todd Frazier's solo homer in the second -- his 10th against the Pirates since the start of the 2014 season -- and Byrd's two-run shot in the third. Byrd added a two-run double in the ninth.
Video: CIN@PIT: Byrd knocks in a pair with double to the gap
"I think we just fell behind some guys and left some pitches over the plate, and they put good swings on them," Locke said. "Fell behind [Byrd], 2-0, and he got a good pitch to hit and did his job."
Lorenzen, in his second Major League appearance and start, went six-plus innings and held the Bucs to three hits -- one of them Starling Marte's seventh homer in the second -- while walking three and fanning four.
Video: CIN@PIT: Lorenzen holds Bucs to one, gets first win
"We did a nice job of being able to give him a cushion early. Then he just had to go out there and pitch," Reds manager Bryan Price said.
Video: CIN@PIT: Marte goes opposite way for solo home run
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Pirates double up: The Reds seemed to be on the verge of breaking open the game early, before the Bucs' double-play combination got into the act. Already leading, 2-0, the Reds loaded the bases with none out in the second, and Brayan Pena shot a hard grounder up the middle -- snared on a dive by second baseman Neil Walker, who was airborne when he flipped to shortstop Jordy Mercer, whose throw to first doubled up Pena and kept the game manageable. More >
Homer-happy Frazier: For Frazier, who led off the second inning with his homer to right-center on a 1-0 pitch from Locke, it was his fifth straight hit that cleared the fences and his ninth homer overall. He entered the night 3-for-his-last-28 but was leading the National League in homers. A non-homer hit came in the form of a single in the sixth inning. In his last 12 games against Pittsburgh going back to last season, he has seven homers.
Video: CIN@PIT: Frazier goes deep to right-center in the 2nd
Team slump continues: Another missed bases-loaded opportunity -- Jung Ho Kang ended the fourth by flying out with the sacks jammed -- another one-run game, another nine men left on base. The Pirates are still searching for the fuse after scoring a total of five runs in May. More >
Video: CIN@PIT: Chapman fans Polanco to end the game
Diaz does job: After Lorenzen exited in the seventh with runners on first and second, no outs and the tying run at the plate, Price called on Jumbo Diaz for a high-leverage situation. Diaz, who came in struggling with a 9.35 ERA, got out of the jam nicely. He got a first-pitch flyout from Mercer, followed by a ground ball to third base by pinch-hitter Corey Hart for the inning-ending double play.
Video: CIN@PIT: Diaz induces inning-ending double play
QUOTABLE
"You'd like to not see him at all the next two days." -- Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, on whether the Pirates would be better able to handle Aroldis Chapman, the Reds' closer who enters games only with his team in the lead, after getting a look at 30 of his pitches on Tuesday
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
When Byrd went deep for his two-run shot in the third inning, he became the first player in the 15-season history of PNC Park to hit a homer for four clubs (Cubs, Pirates, Phillies and Reds). More >
While totaling five runs in their last four games, the Pirates have scored only one run not driven in either by a solo homer (Pedro Alvarez, Kang and Marte) or by a pitcher (A.J. Burnett had an RBI single in Friday's game in St. Louis). Josh Harrison singled for the other run.
WHAT'S NEXT
Reds: Mike Leake will get the ball Wednesday when the Reds and Pirates continue their series at 7:05 p.m. ET. Leake has worked eight innings in two of his last three starts, including eight scoreless with only two hits allowed on Thursday vs. the Braves.
Pirates: Gerrit Cole, the National League's Pitcher of the Month for April, begins his May campaign when he faces the Reds in Wednesday's second game of the series. Cole can be particularly tough under the lights, with a 17-6 lifetime record in night games.
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