Leake Goes Long And Deep

Mike Leake plugged the dike for the Reds.

After dropping the suspended game earlier in the day, Leake pitched and hit the Reds to a 7-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Leake wasn't perfect.  His throwing error in the fourth inning  may not have cost him a run but made him get two outs him to get two more outs.  He also walked the leadoff hitter in the second, Pedro Alvarez, who eventually scored on a single by Gabby Sanchez.

Leake helped get the run back.  He doubled to the left centerfield gap against Pirates' starter Gerrit Cole.  The second of Joey Votto's four hits sent Leake home with the tying run.

"He is real competitive," Bryan Price said. "He comes out early and hits.

Andrew McCutchen singled to leadoff the fourth.  Alvarez bounced a single through the hole at firstbase to put runners at first and third with no outs.  On a one-hop comeback to the mound by Russel Martin, Leake threw too high to Brandon Phillips covering for what should have been a double play.  The Pirates had runners on the corners again with no outs.

Leake worked out of it with no more runs scoring.

"That early in the game that was the plan; get two outs and let the run score," Leake said. "It was my fault. I was supposed to go to Cozart  he couldn't get there as fast as I expected.  I saw them both converge. I double clutched and threw to Brandon.  I am gaining more confidence as the years go by. When I get hurt, I get hurt on the first couple pitches of an at bat.  So, I've been falling behind in the count more than I'd like."

Jay Bruce singled and stole second, starting the sixth inning.  Todd Frazier hit his second home run in as many games and his fourth home run of the season. Leake homered off Cole to cap the four run inning.

Frazier's home run is his team-leading fourth of the season. He is tied for second on the team with eight RBI.

"After losing the first game, it showed some character to come back and win the second one," Frazier said. "I wasn't sure it was a home run. Sometimes you surprise yourself.  I knew it was in the gap because I saw the two outfielders (rightfielder and centerfielder) running that way. It was a slider. It is nice to know I have some power the other way. They have been throwing me a lot of breaking pitches. It was big that I hit it that way. I'm coming."

Leake couldn't finish the seventh.

"We'd like to see him go deeper in the game but he'll get there," Price said. "He did a nice job of getting out of trouble."

Leake's eight strikeouts tied a career high.

Neil Walker singled and rested at third on a double by Sanchez.  Jordy Mercer hit a sacrifice fly. Leake struck out Travis Ishikawa, the pinch hitter but hit Sterling Marte who struck out three times against Leake.

Manny Parra got the final out of the inning.

Votto led off the bottom of the seventh against Justin Wilson with his third hit to go with a walk.  With Votto on second, Wilson walked Frazier intentionally.  Roger Bernadina beat out a slow roller to second.  Devin Mesoraco singled two runs home on his third hit of the game.  In only his seventh game since returning from a strained oblique, he leads the team with nine RBI and hitting .500.

Since Votto has moved into the second spot in the lineup the Reds have scored 26 runs.  After being shut out the first game since the move, the Reds have scored 12, 7 and 7 runs.

"I'm not saying he is going to hit there the rest of his career," said Price of the shakeup for "the sake of newness."

"Sometimes in baseball there is no rhyme or reason to what happens," Price said.

"Hitting is contagious. I believe that through and through," Frazier said.

The Pirates cut into the lead against Parra.

The left-hander walked McCutchen.  Alvarez hit a groundball to Votto who threw to second to get the lead runner. Zack Cozart's return throw appeared to beat Alvarez with Parra covering.  Firstbase umpire ruled Alvarez out. Pirates' manager Clint Hurdle asked for a review and the call was overturned.  Walker hit his fifth home run of the season and third of the series to make the score 7-5.

Only five of Walker's 59 career home runs have come from the right side.  It was the first he's hit from that side of the plate, since May 6, 2011.

The Reds got three hits in the bottom of the eighth but couldn't score.

Billy Hamilton hit a pinch-hit single but Martin threw him out trying to steal.  Votto singled for the fourth time and Phillips collected his second single but Bruce bounced out to Sanchez at first.

Jonathan Broxton came on for the save.

Jordy Mercer doubled to lead off the ninth.  Princeton High School grad, Josh Harrison, flied out to right with Mercer moving up a base.  Marte grounded out to third. Jose Tabata walked to bring McCutchen to the plate representing the go-ahead run.  McCutchen fouled off three two-strike pitches before he popped out to Phillips.

"I had to hold onto the lead, the way Leake pitched.  We battled so long," Broxton said.  "McCutchen hits me good. I wanted to keep the ball down and let him get himself out."

Having Broxton back makes the job a little easier for Price.

"With one left-hander the bullpen gets a little unbalanced.  Having Jonathan back, gets us closer to how we wanted to set up the bullpen," Price said.