Oneil Cruz reaches 20/20 but Reds rough up Mitch Keller for 8 runs to win series opener

Mitch Keller couldn’t find the strike zone, and when he did the Cincinnati Reds pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander.

Where Keller tied a career high by giving up eight earned runs and a season-high five walks, the Pirates couldn’t touch Reds righty Nick Martinez’s changeup.

Martinez recorded a career-best nine strikeouts over six shutout innings, and Tyler Stephenson had five RBIs as the Reds battered the Pirates, 8-3, Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at Great American Ball Park.

Keller (11-11) lasted only 3 ¹⁄₃ innings — his second-shortest outing this season — and threw strikes on 46 of his 84 pitches (54.8%). He got just three whiffs on 33 swings, allowing a season-high five walks. Meantime, the 34-year-old Martinez (10-6) threw strikes on 57 of his 78 pitches (73.1%), getting five strikeouts with his changeup and holding the Pirates to two hits without a walk.

Stephenson was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle against Keller. When Keller left an 0-1 sinker over the middle of the plate, Stephenson sent it 410 feet to center for his 19th home run to give the Reds a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Stephenson was at the center of the Reds’ four-run third inning when Keller loaded the bases by walking Will Benson and Jonathan India and giving up a single to Elly De La Cruz. Stephenson smacked an 0-1 sinker to the left-center gap for a bases-clearing double and 4-0 lead, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Ty France for a five-run cushion.

The 30-pitch inning took a toll on Keller, who got only one whiff out of 21 swings through the first three innings.

When Keller left a 1-1 slider over the middle of the plate with one out in the fourth, India hammered it for his 15th homer and a 6-0 lead. De La Cruz drew a walk, then stole second base to join Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman as one of only three players with 100 stolen bases in his first two major league seasons. Stephenson drove in De La Cruz with a check-swing single to right for his fifth RBI and a 7-0 lead.

After Spencer Steer ripped a double down the left field line to put runners on second and third, Pirates manager Derek Shelton pulled Keller and brought in lefty Joey Wentz. Stephenson scored when TJ Friedl hit into a fielder’s choice at first base, making it 8-0.

The Reds brought in lefty Brent Suter for the seventh inning only for Cruz to crush his first pitch, a slider, 411 feet to center for his 20th home run. Cruz became the 10th Pirate to have a 20/20 season in homers and steals, the first since Starling Marte (2019), and joined NL MVPs Barry Bonds and Andrew McCutchen as the only Pirates to post a 20/20 season at the age of 25 or younger.

Andrew McCutchen drew a walk and reached second on a single by Nick Gonzales but was thrown out at home plate by left fielder Will Benson while attempting to score on Jared Triolo’s single.

The game also marked the season debut of 29-year-old righty reliever Isaac Mattson, a Pitt product who became the first player from the Washington Wild Things of the independent Frontier League to play for the Pirates. Mattson had his contract selected on Thursday, when righty Jake Woodford was designated for assignment. Mattson retired all six batters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings, getting De La Cruz swinging and Stephenson looking for a pair of strikeouts.

Cruz beat De La Cruz’s throw on a grounder up the middle for a leadoff single off Alan Busenitz in the ninth, then reached third on McCutchen’s single to right and scored on a single to left by Joey Bart to cut it to 8-2. After Nick Gonzales grounded into a double play, Rowdy Tellez followed with a two-out RBI single to score McCutchen to make it 8-3.