Another tough day for offense until the Reds’ record tying power pack overwhelmed Garrit Cole and the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 to sweep the three-game series.
Eugenio Suarez and Scooter Gennett hit two-run homers in a decisive sixth inning.
Cole, who beat the Reds 1-0 with his own home run on August 26, was at it again.
The Reds’ managed a Jesse Winker single in five innings against Cole, whose lone win in eight prior decisions was that 1-0 game in which Luis Castillo allowed Cole to hit a home run.
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“The first three innings he wasn’t that sharp," Bryan Price said.."He didn’t have real good stuff, a lot of big misses. My concern was when to pull the plug. I talked to Mack (Jenkins) and said ‘hey man’, we’ll try to get through five. Then innings 4,5 and 6 here he comes. That’s exactly what you want to see. You want to see the struggle. He pitched out of situations and hadn’t given up a run. If we didn’t have a long nine-batter inning where his turn came up, he’d have probably gone out for the seventh.”
Stephenson showed the strides he's made during the season in evening his record at 5-5 and dropping his ERA horrendous 8.10 in late July to a more respectable 5.01.
It was Cole again with the only hit when he doubled following a walk to Chris Stewart to put Stephenson in a second and third, no-out predicament. Stephenson forgot to panic. He struck out John Jaso. Jordan Luplow popped to Zach Vincej, making his first career start at shortstop. Stephenson completed the escape act when Andrew McCutchen popped out to catcher Tucker Barnhart.
“My thought process was, I’m not going to let anyone score," Stephenson said. "I’m going to bear down right here and make my best pitches and try to get three outs. If you ask me a year ago, I’d probably tell you I’m just going to try to throw the ball over the plate, try to find contact. I’ve gotten a lot better in situations like that, knowing I can bear down.”
The Reds had enough of the hitless nonsense in the bottom of the sixth. Winker walked. Suarez launched his 26th home run to open the scoreboard for business. Joey Votto drew a walk, then Gennett hit his 25th home run of the campaign. Cole left, replaced by Daniel Hudson. Vincej was hit by a pitch with two outs and scored on a rare Tucker Barnhart triple.
“There is a certain optimism that we had but the power threat adds another dimension to this lineup," Price said.
Deck McGuire pitched a scoreless seventh.
Luke Farrell walked pinch hitter Christopher Bostic on some close pitches then served up Jaso’s 10th home run to break the shutout but sent the game to the ninth, 5-2.
Michael Lorenzen pitched the ninth for his second save.
The Reds have five players with 25 or more home runs. Votto 34, Duvall 31, Scott Schebler 27, Suarez and Gennett.
The 1956 had five players with 25 or more.
Frank Robinson hit 38, Wally Post 36, Ted Kluzewski 35, Gus Bell 29 and Ed Bailey 28 during the 1956 season, setting a team record with 221. The Reds hit 222 in 2005 in 163 games.
“It’s pretty cool man to have five guys with that many," Gennett said.. "Obviously we can hit. It’s nice to see the other pieces are falling in. I finally feel if they give up four or less we have a pretty good chance to win.
The 2017 Reds have 207 home runs with 12 games to play.
The series sweep gave the Reds a 13-6 record over Pittsburgh for 2017 and closed to within two games of fourth place.
“We should strive for a lot more. We should be talking about getting to the top of the division but at this point in time unfortunately it’s fourth place. It is better than where we currently stand and we should push hard.”“We should strive for a lot more. We should be talking about getting to the top of the division but at this point in time unfortunately it’s fourth place. It is better than where we currently stand and we should push hard," Price said.
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