Reds hit 3 home runs off Wil Crowe, top Pirates despite 4-run rally

Wil Crowe threw a career-high 100 pitches against the Cincinnati Reds. What spelled trouble for the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander is that 47 of them came in a six-run second inning that doomed his start.

After giving up a solo shot to Jonathan India in the first inning, Crowe served up three-run homers to Eugenio Suarez and Joey Votto in the second, as the Cincinnati Reds rolled to a 7-4 win Thursday night at Great American Ball Park.

It was the fourth loss in five games for the Pirates (41-68), who rallied with a four-run fifth inning against the Reds (58-51).

“It’s really the first two innings,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Got a little bit frustrated and missed with some fastballs in the middle of the plate. You cannot do that with that lineup in this ballpark.”

Crowe’s troubles started when India hit a 3-2 four-seam fastball 410 feet into the second deck in right field for a leadoff home run to give the Reds a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

Things unraveled for Crowe in the second, when Kyle Farmer singled and second baseman Wilmer Difo — the lineup replacement for outfielder Ben Gamel, who was scratched with a tight hamstring — booted a Tyler Naquin grounder to his left. Suarez then smacked a 3-2 four-seamer 388 feet to right for his 22nd homer and a 4-0 lead.

After Reds starter Sonny Gray singled and India drew a walk, Crowe got Jesse Winker to pop out to third and Nick Castellanos to ground out to second. Next up was Votto, the six-time All-Star first baseman and former NL MVP. The 37-year-old Votto had homered 10 times since July 19, including a streak of seven consecutive games.

Instead of walking Votto to load the bases, Crowe turned to his fastball again — and Votto made him pay again, sending it 377 feet to right for his 22nd homer and a 7-0 lead.

“You tip your cap to him,” said Crowe, who offered that his plan was to throw up and in on Votto. “If you watch it back, I think you’ll see where (Pirates catcher Jacob) Stallings is even visibly upset that he got that homer, because that was, in my mind, probably the best pitch I threw all night.

“Sometimes, some guys get you on really good pitches, and that was one of the zones where I was supposed to attack and get him out at. And he called it, I felt comfortable with it, I threw it, and when he hit it, I didn’t think it was gone. It might not be gone at PNC. It might not be gone a lot of places, but it gets out here. Then, it’s just trying to grind and battle through it and do what we can.”

With a bullpen shortened by the trades of three relievers last week, Shelton left Crowe in the game. Tyler Stephenson and Farmer both singled, as the Reds batted around the order. It wasn’t until Crowe’s 47th pitch — he got Naquin looking at a change-up for a called third strike — that he got out of the inning.

Crowe (3-6) pitched two more innings, allowing seven runs (three earned) on eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts. In his eight starts since giving up eight runs on eight hits in a 10-5 loss to Kansas City on June 1, Crowe was 3-1 with a 3.98 ERA.

“We were trying to get as many innings as possible, which is why we sent him out for the third and the fourth, because we were a little bit taxed in our bullpen,” Shelton said. “That was a major concern in the first game of a four-game game series.”

Gray got the win (4-6) after giving up four runs on six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in five innings. The Pirates rallied for four runs while batting around the order in the fifth inning.

It started with a pinch-hit RBI single by Phillip Evans to score Stallings. Hoy Park hit a soft grounder to Votto, who looked to throw to third only to find that Suarez wasn’t covering the bag.

That left the bases loaded for Kevin Newman, who singled to score Difo. Evans scored on a fielder’s choice by Bryan Reynolds to make it 7-3. Ke’Bryan Hayes snapped an 0-for-19 streak with a single through the middle to score Park to cut it to 7-4.

The Reds almost stretched their lead in the fifth but Reynolds robbed Naquin of a two-run homer with a leaping grab at the wall.

That was the first of 12 consecutive outs by the bullpen, as Duane Underwood Jr. pitched two scoreless innings, lefty Anthony Banda — activated Thursday after being claimed off waivers from the New York Mets — completed a 1-2-3 seventh and Nick Mears struck out the side in the eighth. Mychal Givens retired the side in the ninth to earn his first save for the Reds.

As much as Crowe got shelled, Shelton considered it a confidence booster that he rebounded to pitch two more scoreless innings and save the bullpen from being overburdened.

“It was important for him to get those outs as much as it was making sure that we didn’t run through six or seven guys in the bullpen,” Shelton said, “because we’re playing three more games here.”