North Shore Nine

The Pirates took the rubber match of the series 6-1 this afternoon off a strong performance by Luis Ortiz. Rowdy Tellez and Andrew McCutchen homered and Bryan Reynolds kept his hitting streak alive. The Pirates are hoping to take the momentum with them as they head to Atlanta for a big series against the Braves.

The first inning was high/low lighted by doubles plays by each teams player Cruz. In the top of the 2nd some timely singles led to a 1-0 lead for the Pirates. Jack Suwinski’s single was the one that scored the run for the Pirates. In the bottom of the 3rd the Reds tied the game. A balk with a man on 1st and two outs brought up Jonathan India who doubles in the Reds 1st run. However, Ortiz was able to get Cruz out moving the game to the 4th.
In the 4th, things got Rowdy. Rowdy Tellez added his 2nd hit of the day smacking a home run to left field. Not to be outdone in the 5th after a Jason Delay, Cutch happened. Andrew McCutchen smashed a 2-run homer to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead. In the 6th Nick Gonzales and Connor Joe both singled in between an out. After another out Delay doubled again plating two and pushing the score to 6-1 Pirates.
Kyle Nicolas came in for the 7th the relieve Ortiz, and pitched a pair of clean innings in his Jekyll performance for the week. The Pirates bats failed to add runs in either the 8th or the 9th. For the bottom of the 9th Derek Shelton went to Aroldis Chapman with the 6-1 lead. Chapman began his outing by getting De La Cruz looking. Then got Spencer Steer to line out to centerfield. He then got Tyler Stephenson to strike out ending a great pitching day for the Pirates staff.