Reds rough up Tyler Beede and pile it on in the 9th, beating the Pirates, 10-1

Saturday evening’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds featured two teams battling to avoid beginning Sunday as the National League Central cellar dweller.

After the Pirates’ walk-off win Friday, the Pirates and Reds were tied for last place, 20.5 games back of the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals.

In front of a crowd of 31,761 at PNC Park, the Reds roughed up Pirates spot starter Tyler Beede for four runs in the fourth inning, ending his night after 65 pitches and winning 10-1.

With the Pirates down 5-1 to begin the top of the ninth inning, things got out of hand quickly with Eric Stout taking the mound.

By the time manager Derek Shelton was forced to relieve Stout, he had allowed six consecutive singles to the Reds, three of which scored runners.

With one out and runners on second and third, Shelton’s choice to replace Stout, Duane Underwood Jr., allowed yet another base hit, this time to Jose Barrero, adding two more runs for the Reds, both charged to Stout.

Beede (1-3, 4.13 ERA) took the loss but had little help from the Pirates’ offense, which produced four hits.

Before Rodolfo Castro’s fourth-inning solo home run, the Pirates had an opportunity early, loading the bases with two outs after back-to-back walks to Greg Allen and Bligh Madris.

But nothing came of it as Tyler Heinemen grounded out to second base to end the inning.

Beede’s evening already had begun to go awry in the top of the fourth after a two-run double by Cincinnati’s Austin Romine, which made the score 3-0 in favor of the Reds.

But, immediately thereafter, Jake Fraley crushed a 1-1 pitch from Beede well over the Clemente Wall in right field, launching a ball that bounced into the Allegheny River an estimated 437 feet for a two-run shot.

“(I) could have executed and thrown a different pitch, but I didn’t execute the pitch,” Beede said after the game. (Romine) put a good swing on it, extended the inning and then with Fraley, I left the pitch over the middle.”

After Castro’s homer to left center field off of Reds starter Justin Dunn slightly lessened the Pirates’ deficit, they were unable to create many more legitimate scoring opportunities.

As it would turn out, Castro was the Pirates’ lone offensive bright spot, accounting for two of the team’s measly four hits. Prior to his home run, he reached base safely on an infield single in the second inning that deflected off of Dunn, which was originally ruled an error on the Reds’ starter.

“I think he’s been consistent with the pitches he’s swinging at,” Shelton said of Castro. “That’s one of the things that we asked him to focus on when he went to Indy. He’s swinging at the right pitches and when we’ve seen him do that, he’s hit the ball hard. That was evident tonight.”

Including his 2 for 4 night Saturday vs. the Reds, Castro is hitting .308 in August.

Cincinnati got on the board first, scoring a run in the top of the third when Oneil Cruz committed a throwing error to first base, a one-hopper that bounced past first baseman Madris and rolled to the Cincinnati bench, allowing Fraley, who had walked, to score from second.

It was the second straight game that featured a costly throwing error by the rookie shortstop.

Friday, Cruz’s wild throw to first base allowed Michael Papierski, who later scored on a single by Jonathan India, to reach base safely.

Ultimately, Cruz’s throwing gaffe wasn’t a mortal blow to the Pirates’ chances of winning Saturday.

And he had to rush his throw to first after fielding Papierski’s grounder backhanded and at the edge of the infield.

Yet, with the 23-year-old’s batting average (.196) continuing to remain under the Mendoza Line, repeated slip-ups in the field present another potential layer to what’s becoming an increasingly frustrating debut campaign.

Following Beede’s early departure after a five-run (four earned), six-hit night, the Pirates bullpen was tasked to cover the remaining five innings.

Chase De Jong stepped in and pitched two scoreless innings, striking out four and getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth.

He was followed by Yohan Ramirez, who pitched a painless seventh and eighth.