Bucs’ Nicasio tames Reds over seven

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

It had been nearly a year since Josh Harrison hit a home run.

He ended his drought Friday night while Juan Nicasio struck out eight in seven scoreless innings and Matt Joyce connected as a pinch-hitter to lead the Pirates to a 4-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, extending Pittsburgh’s winning streak to five games.

Nicasio (3-2) allowed three hits and one walk in sending the Reds to their fifth straight loss. Signed as a free agent in the offseason, Nicasio has won all three home starts with a 1.89 ERA while losing both road starts with a 6.75 ERA.

Harrison hit his first home run since May 15, a span of 379 at-bats, into the bleachers in right field with two outs in the fourth to raise the Pirates’ lead to 2-0. An inning earlier, David Freese hit a two-out RBI single.

“I knew it had been a while,” said Harrison, whose has gone deep just 25 times in his six-year career. “I never go up to the plate looking to hit a home run. When they come, they come.”

Joyce sliced a two-run home run off the foul pole in left, his third, in the seventh inning to make it 4-0. He is hitting .357 with three home runs after signing a minor league contract early in spring training on the heels of a dreadful 2015 in which he batted just .174 with five home runs in 93 games for the Los Angeles Angels.

“I knew there was something left in the tank but I also knew I needed to put in hard work to find it,” Joyce said.

The Reds scored their run on Tucker Barnhart’s RBI double with two outs in the ninth. Mark Melancon relieved Arquimedes Caminero and got Scott Schebler to hit a game-ending fly out for his sixth save.

Starling Marte and Jordy Mercer had two hits each for the Pirates.

Dan Straily (0-1) worked six innings in the longest of three outings since the Reds moved him from the bullpen into the rotation. He gave up two runs and five hits while striking out five and walking three.

“He was good,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “Good tempo, did some really good things with his breaking ball.”

Joey Votto had two hits for the Reds, who have gone 4-13 since taking two of three against the Pirates during the first week of the season from April 8-10, at Cincinnati.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: RHP Jared Hughes (strained left lat muscle) rejoined the team Friday and could be activated from the 15-day DL today. He pitched four times on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Indianapolis and allowed five runs and seven hits in six innings with five strikeouts and two walks.

COACHING CONTRACTS

The Pirates gave their coaches new contracts through the 2017 season. Pitching coach Ray Searage, who replaced Joe Kerrigan during the 2010 season, is the senior member of the staff that also includes hitting coach Jeff Branson, first base coach Nick Leyva, third base coach Rick Sofield, assistant hitting coach Jeff Livesey, bullpen coach Euclides Rojas and catching coach Brad Fischer, as well as bullpen catcher Heberto Andrade.