The small two-game shutout streak for the Cincinnati Reds ended on Saturday night as Micah Owings had early struggles and the team could never catch up. They fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-6.
The starting pitching scoreless run ended even before Owings even got an out of the game. He allowed the first four batters of the game to reach base and ended the inning allowing four runs. From there on out, he settled down and allowed only one more run over the next 4.2 frames, but his final line was 5.2 IP, five runs on nine hits, and two walks to zero strikeouts.
The Cincy bullpen didnt help the cause, allowing three more runs through the final 2.1 innings. Danny Ray Herrera (one earned, one unearned) and Jared Burton (one earned) were billed for the scores.
Free agent signing Arthur Rhodes came on to get the final out of the bottom of the eighth, thus extending his streak of not allowing a run to 8.1 innings.
The good news is that the REds' bats came out of a funk and recorded 13 hits on the day. Leading the team with hits on the day was Adam Rosales, who went 3-for-5 at the plate and raised his average to .556 in the three games he has played since he has been called up due to the Edwin Encarnation injury.
It was no shock to anybody that Joey Votto got on base in four of his five at bats, racking up two hits and an RBI. Also with two base knocks for Cincinnati were Willy Taveras and Alex Gonzalez, who hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning to close the gap in the game.
But all was not well for Gonzalez, who struck out with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning to officially end the Reds' chances.
The Reds hope to close out the series against the Bucs with a win Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. EDT as young Johnny Cueto and his team-leading 2.19 ERA goes up against opposing pitcher Jeff Karstens and his 5.40.
Just looking at the pitching matchup, you have to like Cincinnati's chances to win the series, especially with the way Cueto has been pitching lately.
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