Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Cincinnati Reds 4-3 – MLB Update
Josh Harrison had a total of four hits on Saturday, September 24 to guide the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park.
The Pittsburgh rookie shone to thwart the Cincinnati Reds’ attempts to become NL Central Champions only a year after they had won it the last time.
Interestingly, Harrison was born and raised in Cincinnati. The team that he was bracing to play against on Saturday might have inspired some admiration for him. But he was, surprisingly, not a big fan of the Reds while he was growing up.
"I really wasn't a big Reds' fan growing up. I didn't have a favorite team. I was just a baseball fan. I'm more worried about trying to prove I belong in the big leagues," the Pirates’ rookie third baseman said.
The fact that he had remained the Big East Conference player of the University of Cincinnati in 2008 did actually place him to be up in arms against the team. "I knew I had a chance at the cycle, but I also know the odds were against it because I'm not a
big power hitter," Harrison said.
For the Reds, it was a disappointing night and the outcome was less expected. "You always want to see your players achieve goals, but the main thing is to win and we haven't won nearly enough this year," Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker said.
The Reds started Saturday’s game with Joey Votto’s single that gave the team an early lead against Brad Lincoln of the Pirates. Travis Wood, the Reds’ pitcher went aggressively against the Pirates’ hitters.
However, Ronny Cedeno was quick enough to level the score for the Pirates in the second inning. Once the score were levelled, Brad Lincoln tossed some effective innings while Wood was subject to big hits when the third inning commenced.
No sooner did Wood come on the mound than Andrew McCutchen hit a sacrifice fly hit to score the tiebreaking run. Ryan Ludwick was to follow with another single that actually doubled the Pirates’ lead. Before Wood could settle, Jason Jaramillo scored another
single in the 4-hit three-run third inning to give the Pirates an impressive 4-1 lead.
Joey Votto scored the second run for the Reds in the fifth inning to bring the lead down to 4-2. Edgar Renteria tried his bid in the eighth inning with his single to centre. With the lead now coming down to 4-3, the Pirates looked to Jason Grilli to put
things in order.
The closer came down hard on the Reds’ hitters and did not allow them any space to score in the ninth to conclude the game with a 4-3 victory for the team. The win also gave the Pirates a 2-0 lead in the three-game series.
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