Pirates hit 3 early home runs, hold on to beat Reds

Cincinnati Reds right-hander Anthony DeSclafani hadn’t allowed an earned run this season before playing the Pittsburgh Pirates.

That lasted only one pitch.

Adam Frazier hit DeSclafani’s second pitch for a leadoff home run, Colin Moran added another solo shot and Gregory Polanco led off a seven-run second inning with a homer, as the Pirates beat the Reds, 9-6, Thursday at Great American Ballpark.

It marked the first time in franchise history that three of the first six Pirates batters homered in a game, the kind of start they needed following a three-day break when their series at St. Louis was postponed because of a covid-19 outbreak for Cardinals players and staff. The Pirates got their fourth win in 17 games.

“It was huge,” Frazier said. “A lot of guys, including myself, are searching a little bit, trying to find. It feels great, a mental reset. The first 16 games didn’t go the way we wanted or expected, so those couple days we took advantage of and hope to build off this one.”

It was the kind of run support Trevor Williams had been desperate for in his first three outings, as the Pirates had only scored one run his 15 1/3 innings this season. Following an eight-day layoff, Williams (1-3) allowed three runs on seven hits, with four strikeouts and one walk in five innings to earn his first win.

“Trevor gave us what we needed,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “The fact that he hadn’t thrown in that long, and I thought at the end there he started to tire, that’s why he didn’t go out for the sixth. But I thought he was really good.”

Frazier got it started with his third homer of the season. He tied Andrew McCutchen with eight career leadoff homers, ranking third in team history behind Barry Bonds (20) and Al Martin (10). Moran crushed a slider 430 feet to center for his sixth homer and a 2-0 lead.

Polanco went deep to left to start the second, which saw the Pirates bat around the order. Erik Gonzalez almost made it four homers in seven at-bats when he followed with a double off the top of the left-field wall and then scored on Jacob Stallings’ single.

Frazier, Kevin Newman, Josh Bell and Moran hit successive singles off DeSclafani, with Bell driving in two runs and Moran another for a 7-0 lead. Bryan Reynolds drew a walk to load the bases for Polanco, who drew a walk to score Bell. A groundout by Gonzalez, who went 2 for 4 to improve his batting average to .350, scored Moran to make it 9-0.

DeSclafani (1-1) lasted only two innings, the shortest outing of his career, allowing a career-high nine runs on nine hits, with two walks and a strikeout.

“The way we came out was fantastic,” Williams said. “The offense really set the tone. We didn’t let up at all. Pitching with a 9-0 lead is almost a double-edged sword. You’re in ‘don’t walk them’ mode, but these are big league hitters and they can hit the ball 500 feet when they want to.”

The Reds got on the scoreboard in the second after Williams walked Eugenio Suarez, who took second on Jesse Winker’s single and scored on Nick Senzel’s single to left. With Winker on third, the Pirates prevented a run when Moran turned a double play from first base to second to force Senzel out to end the inning.

Senzel went 3 for 4 with four RBIs, as the Reds center fielder added a two-run homer to right in the fourth to cut the Pirates’ lead to 9-3. Freddy Galvis homered to left off reliever Sam Howard to start the seventh, as the Reds closed the gap to 9-4.

The Reds tagged Geoff Hartlieb for another run in the eighth, making it 9-5 when Senzel doubled to score Joey Votto. But with runners on second and third, Richard Rodriguez replaced Hartlieb and struck out Josh VanMeter and got Galvis to ground out to second to end the inning.

Closer Keone Kela, who missed all of training camp and the first 16 games after testing positive for covid-19, made his season debut in the ninth inning. Kela surrendered a solo homer to Tucker Barnhart as the Reds cut the Pirates’ lead to 9-6. Kela allowed a single by Phillip Ervin, who advanced to second on a fielder’s choice, but got Nick Castellanos to ground out, Joey Votto to fly out to the left field corner and got Eugenio Suarez to swing at a 3-2 pitch in the dirt for a strikeout to clinch the victory.

“I enjoy those high-leverage situations, but being that I haven’t been able to play in a game-like situation since spring training, I was ready and willing to go out and get that ball and toe the rubber and have fun and go play ball,” Kela said. “It’s been a long year for not only myself but everybody. I’m just happy I got to come back. We brought home a win, so I think it’s a good building block for us to move forward.”