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Jeimer Candelario broke an 0-for-15 slump with a two-run homer and Cincinnati turned in a pair of key defensive plays in a 5-3 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.

Brady Singer (3-0) won his third straight start to open the season, allowing three runs on two hits while walking three and striking out three in five innings. Taylor Rogers, Graham Ashcraft and Emilio Pagan combined for four scoreless innings of relief, with Pagan pitching the ninth to earn his third save in as many chances.

The Reds scored a total of 25 runs in Singer’s first two starts, and Friday began in similar fashion, with Cincinnati racing out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, two on Candelario’s first long ball of the season.

The hosts added two more runs in the third without managing a hit.

With runners on the corners and two outs after two groundouts, two walks and a steal, Elly De La Cruz took off for third on a wild pitch from Pirates starter Bailey Falter. De La Cruz scored when Endy Rodriguez, who moved from first to catcher an inning earlier when Joey Bart exited due to lower back discomfort, threw wildly down the left field line. Spencer Steer scored all the way from first as the ball rattled in the left field corner.

The Pirates finally broke through in the fifth with their first hits and runs. Jack Suwinski drew a one-out walk, and Tommy Pham lined an RBI double into the left field corner. Adam Frazier followed with his first homer of the season, a high fly that landed on top of the visitors’ bullpen in right to pull Pittsburgh within 5-3.

Falter (0-2) struggled all night with his command, walking five while allowing five runs — three earned — on three hits over five innings. He fanned four. Falter started the game in rough fashion, walking the first three batters he faced in the first inning.

Falter was on the verge of getting out of that jam after yielding only a run on a 5-4-3 double play off Steer’s bat. But Falter left a 91 mph fastball over the plate to the struggling Candelario, who drove the pitch deep to the seats in left for a 3-0 Cincinnati lead.

Pittsburgh shortstop Oneil Cruz missed his second straight game with a finger injury. Bart came out of the game with lower back discomfort in the second inning after grounding into an inning-ending double play in the first.

–Field Level Media