*Photo from AP News*
Want a comeback? Bryan De La Cruz drove in a pair of runs that included the game winner as the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied to defeat the Cincinnati Reds with a 6-5 victory Friday night in Pittsburgh.
The Pirates have won the first two games of the series against the Reds after shutting them out 7-0 to open the series. This time, they relied on scoring 6 unanswered runs against a beleaguered Reds pitching staff to eke out a win, now sitting at 61-67 on the season.
Tyler Stephenson opened the scoring in this one, giving the Reds a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a solo home run. In the 4th, Stephenson made it 2-0 when he scored on a sac fly by Ty France. Spencer Steer then made it 3-0 by scoring on a sac bunt by Stuart Fairchild. Santiago Espinal then made it a 5-0 game later in the inning with a two run single.
De La Cruz started the Pirates comeback in the 5th with an RBI double. Rowdy Tellez scored on a groundout to make it 5-2 before Jared Triolo and Isiah Kiner-Falefa added an RBI single and RBI groundout respectively. In the 6th, an RBI single by Joey Bart and a run scoring sac fly off the bat of De La Cruz made it 6-5 Pirates.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said of De La Cruz "I think when we acquired him, we knew he was a run-producer. He went through a tough stretch, but even going back to the second game in Texas where he had the two-out base hit, that's six, seven RBIs. So yeah, that's very important for us."
Bailey Falter gave up 5 runs on 6 hits and two walks in 5 innings in his start for the Pirates. Dennis Santana picked up the win with two scoreless innings before Aroldis Chapman added a scoreless 8th and David Bednar got his 23rd save of the season in the 9th.
In a bullpen game, Buck Farmer handled the first two innings for the Reds before Sam Moll and Tony Santillan added a scoreless inning each. Alan Busenitz allowed 4 runs in one inning before Justin Wilson gave up two more in 2/3 of an inning. Fernando Cruz added 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Alexis Diaz pitched a shutout 8th inning.
Game 3 of the series is lined up for Saturday night. The Pirates go for 3 wins in a row as Jake Woodford takes the mound, while the Reds try to get back in the series with Julian Aguiar getting the start.
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