Jesse Winker homers twice for Reds, who rough up Pirates with four-run seventh inning

Jesse Winker was one of the hottest hitters in baseball, so the Pittsburgh Pirates certainly were wary of the Cincinnati Reds designated hitter.

Where Chad Kuhl missed on his pitches, Winker didn’t.

The left-handed Winker homered twice off the Pirates righty for his first career multi-homer game to spark the Reds to a 8-1 victory Friday night at Great American Ball Park.

Winker was 15 for 26 in his previous nine games, slashing .577/.616/1.038 with three doubles, three home runs, four RBIs and six runs scored.

“I think we made mistakes,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I think it was probably one of the few pitches that Chad did not execute. When he made the mistake, Winker made him pay for it and put two pretty good swings on it.”

Reds right-hander Sonny Gray was just as hot on the mound, relying on his curveball and sinker to strike out 10 Pirates — including four looking — in allowing one run on four hits and one walk in 6²/₃ innings. Gray’s 45 strikeouts in his first five appearances are the most in Reds history.

“We saw Sonny Gray close to his best,” Shelton said. “He’s a different guy. He’s the guy he was in Oakland.”

The Reds took a 1-0 lead when Winker went opposite field to lead off the second inning with a 362-foot homer to left-center, marking his fourth home run in the past five games. Kuhl knew that he left a low fastball in Winker’s sweet spot, in the middle-down zone, and knew that it could be dangerous in a park with such small dimensions.

”You kind of hold your breath a little more in this ballpark,” Kuhl said. “It’s just one of those things where he’s the hottest guy in that lineup right now. He’s seeing it well and any ball really in that zone where he’s hitting the ball well, he’s not missing. You’ve just got to tip your cap to him.”

Kuhl then walked Nick Senzel on four pitches, but he attempted to take second on Josh VanMeter’s fly out to right field, and Gregory Polanco threw Senzel out at second.

Kuhl got out of another jam in the third, when Kyle Farmer singled to right, stole second base and reached third on a cross-up between Kuhl and catcher Jacob Stallings. But Kuhl struck out Shogo Akiyama, then got Nick Castellanos to ground out to short to end the inning.

Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds evened it at 1-1 with his first home run — and RBI — of the season, a 403-foot shot off Gray to right-center in the fourth.

But the Reds responded as Winker followed Joey Votto’s leadoff double with his second homer of the game, a 400-foot shot to right-center for a 3-1 lead.

Otherwise, Kuhl fared well. He allowed three runs on four hits and one walk while striking out six in throwing 78 pitches over five innings, his longest outing of the season.

“ I actually thought Chad was good,” Shelton said. “I thought he executed pitches. I thought he threw some really good breaking balls.”

The Reds used a four-run seventh off reliever Chris Stratton to pull away, a rally started by VanMeter’s leadoff double. VanMeter scored on a Tucker Barnhart fielder’s choice for a 4-1 lead. With two outs, Castellanos hit a three-run homer 399 feet to center, just over the outstretched glove of Cole Tucker at the wall, for a 7-1 Reds lead.

Pirates left-hander Brandon Waddell replaced Stratton after Votto’s infield single. In his major league debut, Waddell struck out Winker looking to end the seventh and got VanMeter looking for two outs in the eighth. But Freddy Galvis and Barnhart hit back-to-back doubles, with Galvis scoring to give the Reds an 8-1 lead.