That pushed Pittsburgh’s lead to 4-0, a deficit the Reds wiped out to at least keep Bailey from picking up his seventh loss of the season, but Josh Harrison drove in the go-ahead run with a 12th-inning triple off Dylan Floro to give the Pirates a 5-4 win
After going 1-3 in their four-game series against the Chicago Cubs, the Reds needed a Wednesday win to have a shot at winning the seven-game home stand. Their best possible finish is 3-4 with a win over Pittsburgh in Thursday’s 12:35 p.m. finale.
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Scooter Gennett improved his bid for the National League Player of the Month award and temporarily took over the team lead with 34 runs batted in with a solo home run into the right field seats with two outs in the sixth inning.
The Reds second baseman went into the game leading the major leagues with 19 RBIs and the NL with six home runs while ranking second with 22 hits, a .423 batting average and .846 slugging percentage – all since May 6.
Cincinnati didn’t get a runner besides Gennett past first base until the eighth, when Jesse Winker singled to center field and Tucker Barnhart bounced a sharp one-hopper off the back of pitcher Michael Feliz’s right upper leg. That started a three-run rally that included Eugenio Suarez’s sacrifice fly – giving him a Gennett-matching 34 RBIs – and back-to-back run-scoring singles by pinch-hitter Alex Blandino and Jose Peraza.
The Pirates already were leading the Reds, 3-0, and had runners on second and third with nobody out in the sixth. Pittsburgh pitcher Chad Kuhl pushed a bunt just out of reach of charging third baseman Eugenio Suarez. The ball rolled almost to the edge of the infield grass, giving lead runner Austin Meadows plenty of time to round third and score as Bailey chased down the ball and tried to throw him out from his left knee.
“That was a flukey thing,” interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “We had the play on where the shortstop goes over to cover third. It was one of those things where it was right in between them. You hope one of them can field it, but it was between the two of them and it cost us a run.”
“I saw (Suarez) out of the corner of my eye,” Bailey said. “I thought he had it. It was real close.”
That was it for Bailey, who needed 97 pitches to get three batters into the sixth inning. He allowed exactly 10 hits for the third straight start. His pitch count was his highest since throwing 104 pitches on March 30 in his first career Opening Day start.
“His last inning, they had the infield hit and then a broken back hit and then the bunt,” Riggleman said. “The ball was still coming out of his hand real good. We were trying to get him stretched out into the hundreds (of pitches) or at least the mid-90s.”
Tanner Rainey made his third appearance in his third stint with the Reds this season and, for the first time, didn’t allow a run, cutting his ERA exactly in half, from 31.50 going in to 15.75.
Bailey wasted no time moving into a tie with rookie right-hander Tyler Mahle for the team lead in home runs allowed by Reds pitchers this season. Francisco Cervelli hit Bailey’s 10thpitch of the game into the left field seats with Gregory Polanco on base for a 2-0 first inning lead.
Bailey and Mahle each have allowed 13 home runs. They went into the game ranked among Major League Baseball’s top six pitchers in home runs allowed this season.
“I got strikeouts when I wanted to, for the most part,” Bailey said. “Tonight, a hanging slider in the first inning beat us.”
THURSDAY’S GAME
Pirates at Reds, 12:35 p.m., FS Ohio, 700, 1410
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