Spencer Steer, Miguel Andujar and Noelvi Marte all hit homers and combined to drive in 11 runs to help the Cincinnati Reds outlast the host Pittsburgh Pirates 14-8 in a shootout win on Sunday afternoon.
Marte followed up his three-double performance on Saturday with three more hits, including a three-run home run off Pirates rookie reliever Cam Sanders with the Reds leading 9-8 in the top of the ninth inning.
Marte finished with four RBIs, as did Steer, who also went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer off Dauri Moreta and hit a two-run double off Yohan Ramirez (1-1) as part of a three-run sixth inning that put Cincinnati ahead for good.
Marte’s home run sparked a five-run ninth inning, which broke the game open and earned the Reds a split of the four-game series. Marte’s ground-rule double in the sixth gave the Reds a 5-4 lead.
Andujar’s three-run homer in the top of the third off Pittsburgh starter Mike Burrows highlighted a four-run third inning, which began a 14-hit game for the Reds.
The Pirates answered with three runs in the fourth, including a two-run double by Isiah Kiner-Falefa off Cincinnati starter Zack Littell, who allowed four runs on nine hits and struck out three over 4 2/3 innings.
Kiner-Falefa finished with three hits, and four other Pirates hitters had two apiece. That includes Spencer Horwitz, who followed with an RBI single to cut Pittsburgh’s deficit to 4-3.
The Pirates tied the game in the fifth when a Bryan Reynolds single and Nick Gonzales double set up an RBI groundout by Jack Suwinski. Scott Barlow (6-0) kept the game tied when he entered for Littell and struck out Jared Triolo to end the fifth.
Pittsburgh cut the deficit to 7-5 in the seventh when Reds reliever Luis Mey walked Andrew McCutchen with the bases loaded. Graham Ashcraft ended that inning by inducing a fly out to center by Kiner-Falefa.
Burrows allowed four runs despite surrendering only three hits and struck out six over five innings for Pittsburgh.
Gonzalez and Suwinski each had two hits for the Pirates, who finished with 16 as a team.
–Field Level Media
