Reds Fall To Pirates In The Rubber Game.

The Cincinnati Reds were looking for the sweep against the Pittsburgh Pirates to start the second half, well that wasn’t meant to be as the bats were silent pretty much the entire game as they fall 3-2 on the rubber game of the series on Sunday afternoon at Great American Ball Park.

Today’s game was viewed as a pitchers duel between starters Homer Bailey for the Reds and Jeff Locke for the Pirates and it certainly lived up to it as both pitchers had good stuff this afternoon. Pirates scored first off Bailey as Garrett Jones lead off the second inning with a home run to right to make it 1-0 after that Bailey was mowing down Pirates hitters.

Locke in the meanwhile was even better as he silent the Reds bats with only allowing one hit through the four innings without getting into any trouble until the fifth inning where they got to Locke via being patient at the plate. Zack Cozart walked with one out then Corky Miller walked, Bailey laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to put runners on 2nd an 3rd with two outs for Shin Soo-Choo who already in the game extended his hitting streak to 15 games. On a 1-2 pitch from Locke he looked at ball that went pass the catcher Martin to allow Cozart to score to tie the game at one.

Bailey was mowing the Pirates hitters getting a career high 12 strikeouts and had a high pitch count heading into the seventh inning he got the first out of the inning on a strikeout of  Jones. After a lengthy at-bat battle with Greg McKenry he doubled to left center with one out then allowed a single to Jordan Mercer  center scoring Mckenary to give the Pirates the lead. They weren’t done after Bailey walked pinch hitter Clint Barmes pitching coach Bryan Price came out to talk to Homer well that didn’t work next batter Jose Tabata singled to center scoring Mercer to give them a 3-1 lead. Dusty came out to get Homer in favor of J.J. Hoover got the final two outs, final line for Bailey 6 1/3 innings pitched seven hits allowed on three runs, walked one and struck out a career high twelve on 121 pitches thrown as he falls to 5-9 on the season.

The offense for the Reds was quiet today after seven innings only had one run on one hit. In the bottom of the eighth inning they had their chance Pirates brought in Mark Melancon whose been unhitable this season from the pen but today he was wild. Derrick Robinson pinch hit for Hoover walked on a great at bat then Choo singled to right sending the speedy Robinson to third with no outs. Heisey walked then it was perfectly set up for Joey Votto bases loaded no outs down two. Well, unfortunately the outcome was bad for the Reds he grounded into a double play scoring a run to cut the lead to 3-2 with a runner on third with two outs and Brandon Phillips up he couldn’t come through as he grounded out to end a promising inning into a huge opportunity missed.

In the ninth inning closer for the Pirates Jason Grilli came in got a strikeout of Jay Bruce who was absolute terrible in the series

Jul 21, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Jordy Mercer (10) rounds third base on his way to score during the seventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. The Pirates defeated the Reds 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

striking out a lot. Todd Frazier singled to right bringing the winning run to the plate in Cozart who lined to left then Devin Mesaraco was up replaced Corky Miller in the eighth popped out to the shortstop to end the game.

Even with the loss the Reds do take two out of three in the series but now embark on the annually west coast road trip a ten day, eleven game road trip four in San Fransisco including a double header to make up for the July 5th rain out game the Reds will be the home team on Game 1 of the double header Tuesday and will wear their home white jerseys. After San Fransisco they will head to L.A to take on the surging Dodgers for four games then head to San Diego for three games. This is a make or break trip for this team gotta at least win 6 or 7 games on this trip. Bronson Arroyo will take the mound tomorrow to start it off against the Giants and they will counter with Tim Linceucum who eight days ago threw a no hitter. First pitch is at 10:15pm.