Reds' Belisle cools red-hot Pirates bats

The Bucs didn't have a baserunner for five innings in an 8-1 loss.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Matt Belisle, a converted reliever making his only 12th career start, didn't allow a baserunner until the sixth inning before finishing with a five-hitter for his first complete game and the Cincinnati Reds ended Pittsburgh's five-game winning streak with an 8-1 decision Saturday night.
Belisle (3-1) hadn't lasted longer than six innings in 100 major league games, yet retired the Pirates' first 16 batters until Ronny Paulino doubled into the right-center gap with Cincinnati up 5-0 in the sixth. The right-handed Belisle bounced back after giving up nine runs in 101/3 innings in his previous two starts, striking out five and walking none.
Early on, it looked like a developing pitchers' duel between Belisle and Pittsburgh's Tom Gorzelanny (3-1), who retired the first 11 he faced until Josh Hamilton walked and scored on Jeff Conine's double in the fourth.
Sloppy defense
But some sloppy Pirates defense led to a four-run Reds fifth -- a breakout inning the NL's worst-hitting team was looking for while losing seven of its previous nine.
After Gorzelanny walked Adam Dunn and David Ross singled with one out, Belisle failed twice to put down a sacrifice bunt to move Ross to second.
On Belisle's third attempt, he barely tipped the ball in front of the plate -- with Pirates catcher Paulino apparently thinking it was a foul ball for strike three, though he tagged Belisle as a precaution.
Paulino then saw Ross breaking for second and instinctively threw there, allowing Dunn to break for the plate and score on a batted ball that traveled less than two feet.
The misplay apparently unnerved Gorzelanny, who then allowed three consecutive hits to score two more runs before balking in the fourth run of the inning. Ryan Freel and Brandon Phillips singled ahead of Josh Hamilton's two-run double.
That was plenty enough support for Belisle, who has beaten the Pirates for two of his three victories this season -- he held them to one run in six innings of a 6-1 victory on April 6. He was effective against them as a reliever, too, and has a 5-1 career record against them.
The Reds added three runs in the final two innings against the Pirates' bullpen.