Reds homer twice off Pirates starter Vince Velasquez to win opening weekend series

The Pittsburgh Pirates like the pitch repertoire right-hander Vince Velasquez offers but believe he needs to stay in the strike zone to be effective as a starting pitcher.

Just not up in the zone.

Velasquez surrendered a pair of solo home runs in his Pirates debut as the Cincinnati Reds rolled to a 3-1 win Sunday afternoon to take the opening weekend series at Great American Ball Park.

The 30-year-old Velasquez, who signed a one-year, $3.15 million contract, allowed three runs on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 4²⁄₃ innings.

The difference was the homers by Jason Vosler and TJ Friedl, where Velasquez left both pitches above the belt.

“My job is to execute,” Velasquez said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “That’s where I fell short with Vosler, and that’s where I fell short with Friedl.”

Velasquez retired the first four batters he faced before Vosler hit a 2-1 curveball 365 feet to right field for a solo home run to give the Reds a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

The Reds took a 2-0 lead in the third when Jonathan India hit a leadoff single and scored on Tyler Stephenson’s single off the glove of shortstop Oneil Cruz, who tried to make a sliding backhand stop.

“The main focus here is putaways,” Velasquez said. “I think I did a good job of secondary stuff, getting in the zone, starting them off. Every time I executed a secondary pitch, it just seemed like they put something on it and at least give themselves life. That’s where I need to close the doors and shut them down and minimize damage as much as I possibly can.”

Bryan Reynolds led off the third with his first homer of the season, driving Reds starter Graham Ashcraft’s 2-1 cutter 410 feet to center to cut the lead to 2-1.

It was the third time through the order that Velasquez ran into trouble. After he got the first two batters of the fifth to line out, manager Derek Shelton kept him in even with a pair of lefties up next. Friedl sent a belt-high 3-1 fastball 392 feet to right for a home run and 3-1 Reds lead.

Velasquez said he had trouble gripping the ball in the weather — the game-time temperature was 49 degrees — which made the ball slippery but didn’t blame that for his mistakes.

“There’s no excuse to not execute,” said Velasquez. “I take full responsibility for that at this given cost. We knew that we had a chance to come into this series and take control. I didn’t really do my job by setting the tone, but I did my best to try to minimize damage.”

Ashcraft allowed one run on four hits and one walk while striking out six in seven innings. Reds manager David Bell allowed Ashcraft to face the top of the Pirates’ order a third time, and he did so without giving up a run despite a pair of two-out hits.

Andrew McCutchen doubled to right in the sixth, but Ashcraft got Carlos Santana to ground out to second. Connor Joe singled to right in the seventh, but Ashcraft got Ji Hwan Bae to ground out to short.

“He’s good,” Shelton said. “You’re talking 97 with a cutter on top of it, the ability to execute a breaking ball. He’s a good young pitcher.”

The Pirates got a pair of nice defensive plays to help reliever Wil Crowe in the seventh, first on a diving catch by Joe to rob Kevin Newman. The Reds challenged the call, questioning whether Joe trapped the ball, but it was upheld after video review.

After India singled and Friedl reached on a bunt, Jake Fraley hit into a fielder’s choice to third to put runners on second and third for Crowe. Stephenson hit a line drive to the right-center gap, but the 36-year-old McCutchen sprinted to make a backhand catch.

“Connor made the nice diving running play, Cutch made the nice diving play to save us runs,” Shelton said. “Overall, defensively, I thought we’ve played really solid so far in three games.”

The Reds answered with a defensive gaffe. After pinch hitter Rodolfo Castro hit a leadoff single off lefty reliever Alex Young, Newman called off Fraley on a Cruz pop fly, but it dropped for a single.

Castro advanced to third on a Reynolds fly out to right, but the Reds replaced Young with Seton LaSalle graduate Derek Law, who got McCutchen to fly out to right and Santana to ground out to third. Alexis Diaz pitched a clean ninth to earn the save for the Reds.

After a 5-4 win on Opening Day, the Pirates scored only three runs against the Reds over the next two losses.

“We faced some pretty good pitching,” Shelton said. “The top of the rotation for the Reds is pretty good, with (Hunter) Greene, (Nick) Lodolo and Ashcraft. They have good stuff, and they kind of kept us in check. (Saturday), we had some opportunities early and didn’t break it open. (Sunday), we had some opportunities late and didn’t get a big hit.”