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Dateline: Cincinnati
The Reds finally pushed over a run against Cy Young Award winner, Paul Skenes but Oneil Cruz led the Pittsburgh Pirates to an 8-3 win over Andrew Abbott and the Reds.
Andrew Abbott got the first two Pittsburgh Pirates batters out on ground balls to third base. Bryan Reynolds singled and Marcel Ozuna drew walk. Cruz hit his third home run in the last two games to give Paul Skenes and the Pirates three runs to work with.
Nick Yorke and Jared Triolo followed with singles. Yorke took third and Triolo advanced to second on the throw. Abbott stuck out Spencer Horwitz to mitigate the damage.
"He hung a breaking ball to a hitter, who is feeling really good about himself," manager Terry Francona said. "Then he got into a rhythm like he can, which is good. With a guy like Skenes on the mound, you hate to give them anything early. You're going to have to fight for anything you can get."
Skenes came into the game with the Reds with a 4-0 record. The Reds scored one run off Skenes in 29 innings but none in the last 28. He held the Reds scoreless for the first three innings extending the scoreless streak to 31 frames. Elly De La Cruz singled to break the no-hitter, leading off the fourth inning. Nathaniel Lowe doubled to the gap in right center to break the streak.
Abbott retired seven straight and 14 of the last 15 batters until two outs in the sixth. He gave up a single to Cruz and a walk to Yorke, who reached base for the third time. Connor Phillips entered the game to face Triolo, who walked to load the bases. Phillips walked Horwitz to force in the fourth Pittsburgh run. Davis grounded out to end the inning.
"There's been a couple times where he's come in and not found the strike zone right away," Francona said. "As he gets better at that, you'll see him have a lot of success with him pitching late in the game. His stuff is really good."
Abbott finished with 5 2/3 innings, charged with four runs on five hits and three walks. He struck out five.
"I settled down; controlled the counts. I really only made one bad pitch. It got tattooed. It's a credit to him. He still has to hit it," Abbott said. "I was ahead of guys at the end. I was making my pitches. I was locating better. Momentum was all in the middle for us. It was on their side early on. I made an adjustment. I know nine times out of 10 Phillips is going to do his job. It just wasn't that day for him. I know the next time his name is called, he's going to be ready for it."
Skenes finished with five innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks.
"I trust our hitters," Abbott said. "I know he's a tough guy on the mound. They do their homework. He's a really good arm in this league. He had the jump start getting his pitches across. He made our guys battle in counts. They didn't get a lot of pitches that were mistakes. That's what makes him so good. He doesn't make mistakes. I don't think it was me against him. I had to pitch to their lineup. He had to pitch to ours."
Mason Montgomery started the sixth for Pittsburgh. Sal Stewart walked. Eugenio Suarez hit a pinch hit home run to make it a 4-3 game. It was the 191st home run as a Red for Suarez. He is tied with Brandon Phillips for 12th on the all-time Reds' home run list.
Graham Ashcraft for Cincinnati and Isaac Mattson for Pittsburgh pitched scoreless innings.
Tony Santillan pitched a scoreless inning as did Justin Lawrence to take the game to the ninth inning.
Emilio Pagan pitched the ninth for Cincinnati. Horwitz singled and Pagan hit Davis with a pitch. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Nick Gonzales drove them in with a single and Reynolds hit his second home run of the season to put the Pirates ahead 8-3.
"The wild pitch was huge for us," Francona said. "You don't know how it's going to play out, if he takes that same swing. probably a double play if we're back. You can't play back in that situation."
Reynolds home run was his second of the season and 140th of his career, giving him sole possession on the Pirates All-time home run list.
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