Oneil Cruz’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth broke a scoreless tie and the host Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 on Sunday.
The win gives the Pirates a sweep of the three-game series.
The Reds’ Sal Stewart was 0-for-4; he is in the midst of a rough 0-19 stretch.
The two teams combined for only nine hits as the Pirates’ Braxton Ashcraft and Reds’ Chase Burns locked up in a pitcher’s duel.
Ashcraft had the longest start of his career at 7 2/3 innings, in which he only allowed four hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
With runners on second and third with one out in the top of the eighth, Ashcraft got Matt McLain to ground into a fielder’s choice, which saw Spencer Steer thrown out at home by third baseman Nick Gonzales. Ashcraft was replaced by Gregory Soto, who struck out TJ Friedl to close out the inning.
Soto (3-0) retired the side in order in the ninth to get the win.
Pittsburgh threatened with a runner on second and none out in the first after leadoff man Cruz’s infield single and stolen base. However, Burns struck out the next three batters, which was beginning of his stretch of retiring 16 straight batters.
It was broken by Joey Bart’s one-out line single up the middle with one out in the sixth.
Burns pitched seven shutout innings. That included beginning the eighth for the first time in his career, in which he stayed in to face single batter. For the day, he gave up three hits with a walk and seven strikeouts.
Marcell Ozuna led off the eighth with a broken bat single, and Burns was replaced by loser Tony Santillan (1-1), who induced Spencer Horwitz to ground into a double play. Konnor Griffin followed with a double. Pinch hitter Jake Mangum walked, and Cruz then lined a single to center to bring Griffin home with the game’s only run.
Before the game Sunday, Cincinnati optioned outfielder Rece Hinds to Triple-A Louisville and recalled outfielder Blake Dunn from the same team.
