Saturday, September 16, 2017
Associated Press
CINCINNATI
Solo home runs don’t bug Chad Kuhl.
Four in one game is a problem
Cincinnati scored all of its runs on solo homers off the Pittsburgh right-hander, two by Zack Cozart, and the Reds beat the Pirates 4-2 on Friday night.
Joey Votto and Scott Schebler both homered, sending the Pirates to their third straight loss and eighth in the last nine games.
“They did some damage on balls out over the plate,” Kuhl said. “Luckily, they were only solos shots. They’re tough to swallow, but I’ll take those over bigger ones any day.”
Allowing any kind of home run is rare for the second-year pitcher. Four homers is a single-game career-high. He previously hadn’t allowed more than two in any game and yielded only four over a combined 12 starts in July and August.
“He made some mistakes in the zone in a hitter-friendly ballpark,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “Four solo shots — at least he kept the traffic off in front of them. The guys that hit them have been doing it. All four balls were lifted on mistakes that were up.”
The Reds reached Kuhl (7-11) for eight hits with three walks and six strikeouts in 42/3 innings.
Homer Bailey allowed one run in 52/3 innings for his first win in six starts since Aug. 11. Riding an effective split-finger fastball, Bailey (5-8) gave up five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. He also hit a batter.
“I had really good command,” he said. “I threw some good splits. We have such a good defense. It allows me to be more aggressive.”
Michael Lorenzen came in to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and allowed a hit and a walk with two strikeouts in 12/3 innings. Raisel Iglesias allowed a run in 12/3 innings on Adam Frazier’s ninth-inning, two-out triple, before getting Jordan Luplow to line out to left field for his 27th save.
The Pirates left nine men on base and were 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position while scoring just two runs for the third straight game.
“We couldn’t string at-bats together,” Hurdle said. “We saw 170 pitches tonight. It’s hard to only score two runs when you see 170 pitches.”