Winker, Gray pace Reds past Pirates

Jesse Winker homered twice and right-hander Sonny Gray struck out 10, while pitching into the seventh, as the Cincinnati Reds evened their four-game home series against the Pittsburgh Pirates with an 8-1 win on Friday night.

Jesse Winker homered twice and right-hander Sonny Gray struck out 10, while pitching into the seventh, as the Cincinnati Reds evened their four-game home series against the Pittsburgh Pirates with an 8-1 win on Friday night. Nick Castellanos' three-run homer highlighted a four-run seventh inning for the Reds, who had dropped two in a row after falling 9-6 in the series opener. Gray (4-1, 2.05 ERA), coming off his first 2020 loss, allowed a Bryan Reynolds home run in the fourth, plus four other hits with one walk in 6 2/3 innings.

Gray has fanned 45 batters through his five starts this season. Pirates hitters struck out 13 times on Friday. Winker, meanwhile, stayed hot with two more hits. He's recorded at least two hits in five consecutive games and is 17 for 29 with five home runs and seven RBIs over his last 10 contests.

Winker opened the scoring in the second inning when he homered off Pittsburgh right-hander Chad Kuhl. This time with an opposite shot to left field. Pittsburgh tied the game in the fourth on Reynolds' first home run of the season. But Winker was at it again, clubbing a two-run homer to right off Kuhl at the bottom of the inning to put Cincinnati up 3-1.

Kuhl (0-1, 3.21 ERA) left after five innings, allowing those three runs courtesy of Winker and two other hits. He also struck out six. Cincinnati broke things open in its half of the seventh. Tucker Barnhart extended the Reds' lead to 4-1 with an RBI groundout. With two on, Castellanos soon followed with a deep drive to center that just cleared the glove of leaping Pirates center fielder Cole Tucker for his eighth home run of 2020.

Back-to-back doubles in the eighth by Freddy Galvis and Barnhart pushed Cincinnati's advantage to 8-1. Tucker had a pair of hits for Pittsburgh, which has lost 14 of its first 18 games.

 

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