Suwinski double touches 4-run 7th, Pirates beat Reds 8-3

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jack Suwinski hit a two-run brace to score a four-run seventh inning, propelling the Pittsburgh Pirates past the Cincinnati Reds 8-3 on Monday night.

Suwinski lit a slider from Derek Law (2-1), sending him to right field. Rookie Oneil Cruz, who opened the inning with his third of four straight singles, and Miguel Andújar scored to put Pittsburgh ahead 4-2.

« He continues to have good sticks at this stadium, » Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Suwinski. “I think it’s really good that we’re playing 81 games here because he really likes hitting here. Good swings tonight. The double to give us a 4-2 lead is a big success. He continues to have good sticks. He continues to improve. »

Law hit Ke’Bryan Hayes with a pitch and made Cal Mitchell walk before being substituted. Kevin Newman dropped an RBI single right past Joel Kuhnel. Hayes scored on a sacrifice fly.

The bottom-placed Pirates (57-97), who have won their last five against the Reds, need to win at least six of their last eight games to avoid reaching 100 defeats for the 10th time. Cincinnati lost four of five.

Yohan Ramirez (1-1) pitched the seventh and eighth for Pittsburgh, allowing two hits.

Cruz scored on a sacrifice ball from Andújar, making it 7-2 in the eighth. An RBI single from Hayes took it 8-2 before a two-out homer from Aristides Aquino brought it down to 8-3 in the ninth.

TJ Friedl gave Cincinnati a 2-0 lead in the third by driving a Roansy Contreras fastball 412 feet from PNC Park, clearing the Clemente wall on the right. The solo shot, Friedl’s eighth of the season, came before a rain delay interrupted play for 38 minutes after the start of the fourth.

Contreras didn’t return for the fifth, having allowed two runs on two hits over four innings.

« I think it’s late in the year for a kid who hasn’t pitched so late in the year, » Shelton said. “He doesn’t throw a lot in cold weather, so I think it’s a combination of two things. It’s like we talked about earlier in the year when we sent him out – we wanted him to end the year, we wanted him to kick off. We knew we were going to have to watch his sleeves.

« Ro is a big part of what we do now and a big part of what we do in the future. The fact that we knew it was going to be 45 minutes, minimum, there’s no reason to fire him the. »

Contreras said he had no problem being fired.

« I felt pretty good, » Contreras said. « But I understood that was part of the process with the delay of the rain, not going back. »

Chase Anderson allowed two hits in the first four innings for the Reds before being called off after a first single by Kevin Newman in the fifth. He allowed one run and four hits with five strikeouts.

A pair of Reds errors helped the Pirates equalize after Anderson’s exit.

Reiver Sanmartin came in to walk Zack Collins before allowing a bloop single from Cruz that fell to the shallow left, causing Friedl to throw it past third base. Newman fumbled for home as the ball flowed down the line, where catcher Chuckie Robinson picked it up and won the run at home plate.

« It’s fun watching Cruz, you know? » said Andújar, who was 1-for-3 in his Pirates debut after being claimed off waivers Sunday by the New York Yankees. “I know him because he is Dominican. He’s a good guy, a good guy, a good player.

Bryan Reynolds then finished second for what could have been a late-inning double play. Instead, shortstop Jose Barrero took the trade and sent the pitch first into the Cincinnati dugout, bringing in Collins.

Jonathan India doubled with one out in the first half and scored for the Reds on a sacrifice fly.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: C Jose Godoy was selected from Triple-A Indianapolis. … INF Michael Chavis and OF Greg Allen have been designated for the assignment.

NEXT

RHP Hunter Greene (4-13, 4.91 ERA) throws for the Reds on Tuesday against RHP Pirates Mitch Keller (5-12, 3.99).

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Wes Crosby, The Associated Press