PITTSBURGH — Brandon Phillips led off the top of the 13th inning with his fourth homer of the season to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night.
Phillips, who sat out Wednesday night’s game due to a thumb injury, jumped on a fastball from Rob Scahill (2-4), leading the Reds past the Pirates for the seventh time in nine meetings. Phillips had three of Cincinnati’s season-high 17 hits. Todd Frazier added three hits, including a game-tying homer in the seventh. Pedro Villarreal (1-2) worked two scoreless innings for his first major league win.
Josh Harrison, Jordy Mercer and Jung Ho Kang had two hits each for the Pirates, but Pittsburgh left 12 runners on base and went 4 for 13 with runners in scoring position. The Pirates are 2-7 in extra-inning games and have lost five of six overall.
The Reds wasted plenty of chances to end the night earlier. Cincinnati had at least one baserunner in all but two innings, including two on with no out in the 11th only to come up empty. Phillips didn’t leave it up to chance with his first homer in nearly a month. His shot to left cleared the wall with ease.
Villarreal breezed through three outs in the bottom of the 13th to end the game that lasted 4 hours, 41 minutes, not including a 56-minute rain delay before it started.
Pittsburgh starter A.J. Burnett labored through six innings, needing 110 pitches to get 18 outs. He failed to retire the Reds in order even once but left with a 4-2 lead thanks in part to a two-run single he laced up the middle off Cincinnati’s Anthony DeSclafani in the second. It was the first multiple-RBI hit of Burnett’s 17-year career. The 38-year-old pitcher gave up two runs (one earned) against five strikeouts and two walks to lower his ERA to 2.01.
DeSclafani was more efficient but not as effective, allowing four runs (one earned) with two walks and five strikeouts. Pittsburgh tagged him for three in the second after a throwing error by shortstop Eugenio Suarez and another in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Francisco Cervelli. DeSclafani exited with the Reds trailing, but Pittsburgh’s typically reliable bullpen immediately gave the lead away.
Joey Votto singled to right off hard-throwing Arquimedes Caminero and sprinted to third when right fielder Josh Harrison overran the ball. Frazier followed by turning on a 99 mph fastball and sending it into the bleachers in left field to tie it.
JOHNNY B GOOD
Cincinnati ace Johnny Cueto will make his first start in nine days on Friday when the Reds begin a three-game set in New York against the Mets. Manager Bryan Price decided to have Cueto skip a turn in the rotation to give Cueto’s aching right arm some added rest. The problem isn’t when Cueto pitches but during his off days. “When he’s in competition there really hasn’t been any issues with fatigue or getting loose,” Price said. “It’s just really more than anything been the time in between his outings. We’re trying to get him back to feeling normal in between starts.”
Cueto (8-5, 2.98 ERA) is 5-5 with a 4.12 ERA in 10 career starts against the Mets.
UP NEXT
Reds: Cincinnati has had its way with the Mets since New York moved to Citi Field in 2009, going 13-7 in the Mets’ new stadium. Phillips has hit safely in each of his 29 road games against New York, batting .350 (41-117) in the process, the second-longest hitting streak by a visitor in Mets’ history.
Pirates: Pittsburgh opens a three-game series with Atlanta on Friday. The Pirates took two of three from the Braves on the road earlier this month. Francisco Liriano (4-6, 3.26 ERA) is 2-1 with a 4.00 ERA in three starts against Atlanta. Liriano gave up five runs in his last start, a 6-0 loss to Washington in which the Pirates were no-hit by Max Scherzer.
