James McDonald’s pitching helps Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Cincinnati Reds 1-0 – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates’ starter, James McDonald was outstanding with his pitching as he threw just over six score-less innings and gave up just four hits in the Pirates’ 1-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park, Pittsburgh on July 19.
The Pirates scored the first and final run of the game in the beginning when Andrew McCutchen hit a grounder and Josh Harrison scored one run. Neil Walker moved to third base at the bottom of the first inning. The rest of the eight innings went without any
run as the pitchers delivered fastballs in the right areas.
At the top of the second inning, Miguel Cairo singled off centre-field but Brandon Phillips flied out to right-field and Ryan Hanigan flied out to centre-field. The Pirates were also unable to raise their lead and got out as Brandon Wood walked at the bottom
of the second inning but Mike McKenry struck-out swinging and McDonald was grounded out towards short-stop position.
The Reds’ batters missed the scoring opportunities during the fifth inning when Fred Lewis flied out to right-field and Drew Stubbs struck-out swinging. At the bottom of the eighth inning, McKenry popped out to second base, Harrison grounded out to short-stop
and Matt Diaz grounded out to second base.
In the last inning of the game, Ramon Hernandez singled off centre-field but Chris Heisey flied out to centre-field, Jay Bruce grounded out to second base and Cairo grounded out to second base without scoring even a single run.
McDonald walked three and struck-out seven batters on his 87 pitches. He said, “The bullpen has been the unsung hero for this team this year. They've come in a lot of big situations and got the job done. Those guys picked me up tonight.”
Speaking to reporters, Hanigan said, “It's frustrating because you know these are important games for us and we're playing good baseball, pitching well, keeping ourselves in games defensively. We just need to keep working for those hits.”
On the other side, the Reds’ starter, Mike Leake also pitched well but not enough to stop the single run of the Pirates as he threw six innings with an ERA of 4.11 and permitted only one run on two hits with one earned run. He had four strike-outs on his
90 pitches.
With this credible victory, the Pirates clinched the three-game series 2-1 after a long span.
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