Reds collect 13 hits, draw six walks to roll past Pirates for series win

Jake Fraley hit a solo home run and a two-run double, so the Pittsburgh Pirates knew there was trouble when the Cincinnati Reds desginated hitter was almost as dangerous when he wasn’t swinging the bat.

That Fraley went 2 for 2 with three walks, four runs scored and three RBIs was indicative of how the Reds rolled to a 9-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon before 15,046 at PNC Park.

The Reds (48-71) collected 34 hits in taking two of three games in the series to stay two games ahead of the Pirates (47-74), who slipped to last place in NL Central standings. It doesn’t get any easier, as the reigning World Series champion Atlanta Braves (75-48) visit Monday for a three-game series.

The first four Reds batters – Fraley, Jonathan India, Donovan Solano and Mike Moustakas – combined for eight hits, drove in eight runs and scored seven. Pirates pitchers gave up 13 hits, six walks and hit one batter, providing traffic on the basepaths throughout the game.

“Walks killed us,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We walked six guys and five of them scored, hit a guy and he scored. Just giving away free passes, which we can’t do.”

Fraley sent Pirates starter Zach Thompson’s fourth pitch, an 0-2 curveball, 341 feet into the right field seats for his first career leadoff home run and a 1-0 Reds lead. It was the fourth homer in six games and seventh of the season for Fraley, batting leadoff for the 10th time.

“It snuck a little bit inside, not what I wanted, and he just flicked his wrist at it and got it,” Thompson said. “I don’t think it went out by much. I just kind of have to shake my head and move on and think of the game (as if it’s) still 0-0.”

The Pirates answered with two runs on four hits in the bottom of the first. Ben Gamel singled to left to score Bryan Reynolds to tie the game, and Rodolfo Castro doubled down the left-field line to score Michael Chavis to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Greg Allen had runners on second and third when he lined into a double play at third base.

The lead didn’t last long. Thompson walked Fraley on four pitches to start the third, then gave up a two-out, two-run homer to Moustakas. The Reds first baseman hit a 2-0 fastball 416 feet to the top of the right field seats for his seventh homer and a 3-2 Reds lead.

It was another uneven performance for Thompson (3-10), who gave up two runs in one third of an inning of relief in Thursday’s 8-2 win over the Boston Red Sox. Over his seven games (six starts), Thompson has allowed 29 earned runs in 29 1/3 innings. That could prompt the Pirates to switch him to a relief role, though Shelton was noncommital.

It could have been worse for Thompson against the Reds. He gave up eight hits and three walks, and had runners on base every inning but got inning-ending double plays in the fourth and fifth.

“Obviously, it’s unfortunate,” Thompson said. “You don’t want to issue any free passes. It’s just one of the situations that we have to try to buckle down and get our outs anywhere we can.”

Lefty Manny Banuelos replaced Thompson, only to walk the first two batters he faced in a four-run sixth. After Michael Papierski advanced both with a sacrifice bunt, Fraley smacked a two-run double off the Clemente Wall to give the Reds a 5-2 lead.

Where Gamel played the double off the wall to perfection, he erred by attempting to make a diving catch on India’s sinking liner to right. The ball bounced under his glove and rolled toward the warning track for a triple, allowing Fraley to score for a 6-2 lead. Solano followed with a single to left to score India to make it 7-2.

Reds lefty Mike Minor allowed five runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings, and was pulled after Tucupita Marcano’s two-run double off the Clemente Wall in the sixth. Marcano advanced to third when right fielder Aristides Aquino misplayed the bounce off the wall, then scored on Jason Delay’s single off righty reliever Ian Gibaut to cut it to 7-5.

The Reds padded their lead in the eighth when righty reliever Colin Holderman walked Fraley and hit India with a pitch before giving up a single to Solano that scored Fraley for an 8-5 lead. Lefty Cam Vieaux, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Indianapolis, gave up a single to Nick Senzel that stretched the Reds’ lead to 9-5.

“The traffic was created by a walk, hit by pitch,” Shelton said. “It wasn’t created by hard contact. It was created by the fact that we just didn’t command the zone.”