The Reds led, 2-1, after the top of the eighth after 22-year-old raw rookie Chase Burns put on a pitching clinic for six innings.
But with one out in the eighth, Santillan walked number nine hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa, an open invitation for disaster.
And disaster struck after Santillan nearly escaped. He struck out Spencer Horwitz for the second out. And he jumped ahead 0-and-2 on former Reds outfielder Tommy Pham.
Pham singled sharply to left field, putting runners on third and first.
That brought up Bryan Reynolds, one of baseball’s all-time Reds ripper. The Reds would rather face Babe Ruth in his prime than Bryan Reynolds.
He quickly displayed why. On Santillan’s first pitch, Reynolds pulled one over the first base bag, easily scoring Kiner-Falefa from third.
And when right fielder Noelvi Marte kicked the ball around like soccer legend Pele, Pham scored all the way from first for the winning run.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Reynolds was credited with a two-run triple, but Marte should have been charged with an error that permitted the go-ahead and winning run to score.
The Pirates traded away their closer, David Bednar, to the New York Mets at the trade deadline. So it was Dennis Santana pitching the ninth and he breezed 1-2-3, striking out former Pirates Ke’Bryan Hayes to end it.
“I haven’t had much luck against Santillan, so I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit,” Reynolds, batting .231 when the four-game series began, told reporters after the game.
“I hit it and I was saying, ‘fair, fair, fair,’ and it kicked a little bit and barely stayed over the bag,” he added. “And Pham was really booking it around the bases.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
And the beat goes on against Pittsburgh. The Reds make the dormant and last-place Pirates resemble the Pittsburgh Lumber Company in the days of Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Al Oliver.
Since 2018, they are 19-and 43 against the Pirates, who have not had a winning season in any of those years. And they’ve lost 12 of the last 17 in PNC Park.
The Pirates have played the most one-run games in MLB, 46 of them, and have won only 21. And this game was only their 14th come-from-behind win all season, while the Reds blew a lead for the 26th time.
When the Pirates saw 0-and-3 with a 6.04 record attached to Burns, they most likely figured he would be a nice pierogi snack.
And they were as wrong as wrong could be.
The 22-year-old right-hander held the Pirates to one run and three hits over six innings and he struck out 10. Seven strikeouts came on fastballs between 99 and 101 miles an hour and three came on sliders.
But the Pirates made him work. They fouled off 18 of his 97 pitches and worked him to eight 3-and-2 counts. Amazingly, Burns walked only one of those batters with full counts.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Two of the three hits came back-to-back in the fourth inning and, of course, Reynolds was in on it. He led the inning with a double off the 21-foot high right field wall and Oneil Cruz followed with an opposite field double off a 100 miles an hour fastball.
“The kid is so mature for his age and he has all the stuff to be good,” said Reds manager Tito Francona, talking about Burns. “He’s going to be very good.”
The Reds scored first against Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller, who began the season 1-and-10 but had won four straight.
The Reds filled the bases with no outs in the second, but scored only one run. Gavin Lux singled, Miguel Andujar singled and Tyler Stephenson walked on four pitches.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
But the run scored while Jake Fraley hit into a double play and Hayes lined to center on which Cruz made a diving, sliding catch.
The Reds grabbed a 2-1 lead in the sixth on a two-out double by Lux, a walk to Andujar and Stephenson’s double to make it 2-1. But with runners on third and second, Fraley grounded out.
It was a familiar tale for the Reds, failing when opportunity knocked. They were 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven.
Lux had three hits in the Reds’ 7-0 loss to the Pirates Thursday and had three more hits Friday and scored both runs.
Andujar, getting a rare start against a right-handed pitcher, had a single and two four-pitch walks.
The Reds had hits in six of the nine innings but scored one in the second and one in the sixth.
Cincinnati has lost three straight and five of their last eight. And in their last 22 road games, they’ve lost 17.
It is not the script to grab the last wild card spot.
NEXT GAME
Who: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
When: 6:40 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 9
TV: FanDuel Sports
Radio: 1410-AM, 700-AM
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