Quality start streak ends but bullpen shines as Pirates win 6th in a row

One impressive streak came to an end for the Pittsburgh Pirates but not at the expense of the more important one.

The string of 11 consecutive quality starts by Pirates pitchers ended when left-hander Rich Hill was pulled after five innings.

Instead, they got a quality finish.

Yohan Ramirez and Duane Underwood Jr. combined to toss four scoreless innings in relief as the Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1, on Saturday night before 12,575 at PNC Park to run their winning streak to six games.

“We like to keep a good mesh down there, just because our model is next man up in any situation, in any role, be ready to pitch whenever skip calls your name,” Underwood said, “and that’s what we’ve always gone with, and I think it’s coming out on the baseball field now.”

The Pirates won their third consecutive game against the Reds by two runs or fewer. It’s not lost on Pirates manager Derek Shelton, whose contract was extended beyond the 2023 season, that those are the types of games the Pirates frequently lost last season.

“I think it’s a considerable difference, the fact that we’re finding ways to win games,” Shelton said. “We had talked about it over the last couple years, with young teams they have to find ways to win games like that.

“With the back end of our bullpen being unavailable, what Yo and Duane did was outstanding. We were able to scrape across runs. I think that’s really important. We saw the back end of their leverage bullpen. It was a situation where they got the right matchups, and we just continued to go.”

Hill allowed one run on six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in five innings, one short of qualifying for a quality start. The Pirates’ streak started April 11, when Mitch Keller allowed two runs in six innings in a 7-4 win over the Houston Astros.

The Pirates (15-7) had used high-leverage relievers Robert Stephenson and Colin Holderman and All-Star closer David Bednar in back-to-back games Thursday and Friday, so they weren’t available. That forced Shelton to turn to Ramirez and Underwood, who combined for five strikeouts and two hits over the final four innings.

“I think it was really important what we got from Yohan and Duane,” Shelton said, “and I think it was important what we got from Rich, just because we’ve seen him have good feel and tonight the fastball he didn’t have his best feel for it.”

Hill struck out the first two batters he faced before Stuart Fairchild hit a flare to right and advanced to third on Tyler Stephenson’s single to left. With runners on the corners, Hill got Wil Myers swinging at a full-count curveball.

Ke’Bryan Hayes led off the bottom of the first with a triple, racing around the basepaths after Reds center fielder Jose Barrero missed a diving attempt and right fielder Nick Senzel fumbled the ball at the warning track. Hayes’ head-first slide beat Senzel’s throw to third, and Hayes scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Bryan Reynolds for a 1-0 lead.

Hill (2-2) had runners on first and second in the second inning but got Jonathan India to fly out to right. In the third, Hill threw nine consecutive balls on back-to-back walks of Spencer Steer and Fairchild with no outs, which prompted a mound visit from catcher Austin Hedges, who suggested an adjustment on Hill’s curveball.

“The mound visit by Austin was huge, just being able to pick out a few things that he saw, and it clicked with me,” Hill said. “It was perfect timing for it. He did an incredible job tonight behind the dish.”

Hill responded by striking out Stephenson and Myers, then got Kevin Newman to ground into a forceout at second to keep the Reds scoreless.

Reds righty Luis Cessa (0-3) gave up a leadoff double to Tucupita Marcano, who advanced to third on Hedges’ sacrifice bunt. Cessa then used his slider to get Hayes and Reynolds to go down looking at called third strikes.

The Pirates took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Carlos Santana doubled to right — his third this week and eighth this season — and scored on Jack Suwinski’s line drive double to right.

The Reds got a leadoff single in the fifth from India, who scored on Ji Hwan Bae’s error in center field when he missed the scoop on a Fairchild single to cut it to 2-1. Hill got the next two batters to ground out but was at 96 pitches by the end of the fifth.

Ramirez replaced Hill and recorded four strikeouts in two innings, stranding two runners in the sixth with a whiff of Jonathan India and fanning the 3-4-5 hitters in the seventh.

Bryan Reynolds roped a one-out double to right, his second of the game, in the eighth inning. The Reds brought in Alexis Diaz, who hit Connor Joe with his first pitch to put runners on first and second. Carlos Santana flied out to the left-field corner, then Jack Suwinski struck out.

Underwood followed a 1-2-3 eighth with a clean ninth — highlighted by a spectacular play by Hayes at third to field TJ Friedl’s grounder and throw him out — to earn his second save of the season.

“It was incredible,” Hill said.

“The way Ramirez has been throwing the ball, the confidence and the conviction he has behind each pitch … and obviously with what Duane has been able to do has been incredible. The consistency of attacking hitters and putting the onus on the hitter to swing the bat. That’s one thing that everybody heard loud and clear throughout spring training: Let the chips fall where they may, but go up there with your best stuff.”