Luis Ortiz ties career best with 7 strikeouts, delivers quality spot start as Pirates beat Reds

Just as Luis Ortiz was adjusting to life in long relief out of the bullpen, the Pittsburgh Pirates asked the 25-year-old right-hander to make a spot start with the series against the Cincinnati Reds on the line.

“I was excited, obviously,” Ortiz said through interpreter Stephen Morales on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “I see it as another opportunity to show that I can do my job, out of the bullpen or starting. And that’s what I did.”

Ortiz exceeded expectations in his first start of the season, tying his career best by striking out seven without a walk while allowing one run on four hits over six innings.

Behind Ortiz’s quality start, home runs by Rowdy Tellez and Andrew McCutchen and a pair of doubles from Jason Delay, the Pirates rolled to a 6-1 win over the Reds on Wednesday afternoon at Great American Ball Park to clinch the three-game series against their NL Central rival.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton called Ortiz’s start “outstanding,” noting he didn’t issue a walk and it was an “extremely impressive” outing that could give Ortiz consideration for a spot in the rotation.

“I think he’s proven that he can start at the major-league level,” Shelton said. “What we do going forward is something we haven’t decided yet, but I think he’s thrown well in multiple roles. … It’s a good situation to be in.”

Ortiz (4-2) was efficient in throwing 61 of his 85 pitches for strikes, using a four-pitch mix to draw 19 whiffs and 10 called strikes. He used his four-seamer to get four strikeouts, his slider for two and cutter for one. It was his most strikeouts since had seven in 4 2/3 innings as a rookie in an 8-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 25, 2022.

It was an impressive bounce-back performance by Ortiz, who allowed six runs on 10 hits — including two homers — in four innings in a 10-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on June 21 at PNC Park.

“I changed nothing,” Ortiz said. “I just went out there with the same mentality, attacking the strike zone and work hard for this next opportunity.”

More important, Ortiz saved both the starting rotation and the bullpen before a day off by delivering his deepest start since last Sept. 4, when he went six innings in a 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Kyle Nicolas pitched two scoreless innings and Aroldis Chapman the ninth.

“It was a really good performance out of him to go seven innings and save the bullpen a little bit,” Delay said in an on-field interview with SportsNet Pittsburgh, “and to go into Atlanta with a series win, it was awesome.”

The Reds recalled right-hander Graham Ashcraft from Triple-A Louisville to replace lefty Nick Lodolo, who was placed on the 15-day injured list while dealing with a blister on his left index finger.

The Pirates got nine hits off Ashcraft (4-4) and finished with 10 hits for the third consecutive game against the Reds. It marked the first time this season the Pirates have had double-digit hits in each game of a series.

Bryan Reynolds singled to center in his first at-bat, extending his hitting streak to an MLB-best 23 games, but Oneil Cruz followed by grounding into a double play. The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the second, when Jack Suwinski hit a two-strike, two-out single to center to score Ke’Bryan Hayes from second base.

The Reds tied it in the third, when Stuart Fairchild hit a leadoff single to right, advanced to second on a balk by Ortiz and scored on Jonathan India’s double to center.

With 7-year-old Canadian Xander Brown celebrating his birthday for the third consecutive year by attending a game to see Tellez, his favorite player continued his red-hot June by belting a full-count cutter 362 feet to left for his third home run and a 2-1 Pirates lead to start the fourth.

In what Shelton called a “cool moment,” Tellez pointed to Brown as he rounded third base. The fan who caught the home run ball later gave it to Xander as a birthday present.

“Rowdy being able to round the bases and point up at him, that’s cool stuff,” Shelton said. “Those are the feel-good stories you like. … I don’t know what Xander told him, but whatever he did, it worked.”

Added Tellez: “I’m going to have to bring him everywhere now.”

Delay hit a jam shot to left for a leadoff double in the fifth, and McCutchen followed by driving Ashcraft’s 2-0 cutter 422 feet to straightaway center for his 11th home run and a 4-1 Pirates lead. McCutchen moved ahead of Gus Suhr for sole possession of seventh place in franchise history for RBIs (792), trailing Ralph Kiner by 10.

The Pirates got a pair of singles by Nick Gonzales and Connor Joe in the sixth, and both scored on Delay’s two-out double down the left-field line for a 6-1 lead. The extra two runs saved the Pirates from having to use Colin Holderman in a high-leverage spot.

“Sometimes, you just put it in the right spot,” Delay said. “To be honest, I didn’t really hit either one very well. But I hit it in the right spot, got some RBIs and got the win.”