Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cincinnati Reds Box Score on Sep 16, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Sep 16, 2017

CINCINNATI -- Jesse Winker homered and Sal Romano pitched a career-high eight shutout innings, lifting the Cincinnati Reds to a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday afternoon at Great American Ball Park.

Cincinnati (65-84) improved to 12-6 versus Pittsburgh this season. The Reds won eight of their first nine games with the Pirates to begin the year.

The Reds are rebuilding around a stockpile of young pitching, including Romano (5-6), who is one of four rookies in current rotation.

The 23-year-old right-hander allowed only five hits and had six strikeouts. Only one Pirate advanced past first base against him.

Pittsburgh rallied in the ninth against the Reds' bullpen.

With closer Raisel Iglesias having pitched 1 2/3 innings on Friday night, right-hander Kevin Shackelford began the ninth.

Andrew McCutchen homered off Shackelford for Pittsburgh (68-81) which lost its fourth straight game.

After David Freese walked with two outs, left-hander Cody Reed retired one batter for his first career save.

The Pirates have been looking for more consistency from right-hander Ivan Nova, who was 1-5 with a 7.31 ERA in his previous seven starts coming into Saturday's game.

Nova was much better on Saturday, allowing two runs on three hits over 6 1/3 innings with one walk and six strikeouts before leaving the game with right calf discomfort.

Nova retired the first 11 batters he faced with four strikeouts. There were a couple hard-hit balls in the first inning, one off Winker's bat that McCutchen made a diving catch on.

Joey Votto ended the streak with a solid single to left with two outs in the fourth. But Votto was picked off by Elias Diaz to end the inning.

Romano, making his 14th career start, allowed four hits through five innings.

Both pitchers made use of their defenses on Saturday.

Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez made a pair of back-handed stops.

Diaz doubled with one out in the fifth, but Adam Duvall's sliding grab of Jordy Mercer's sinking liner prevented the game's first run.

Diaz had two of the Pirates' five hits off Romano through seven frames.

Votto's single was the only blemish for Nova through six innings. But, things changed abruptly in the seventh.

Winker led off with his sixth homer to put Cincinnati ahead 1-0. Zack Cozart followed with a double. With one out, Nova walked Suarez and after a meeting at the mound was escorted off the field by the training staff.

Left-hander Dan Runzler replaced Nova and gave up Scooter Gennett's RBI single making the score 2-0.

NOTES: Reds 2B Scooter Gennett returned to the lineup after missing three games with left hand inflammation. ... Pirates OF Starling Marte hasn't played since Tuesday when he hurt his finger and shoulder sliding into a base. He was expected to get more treatment on Saturday. ... The Reds announced that standout rookie RHP Tyler Mahle had reached his innings limit and would not pitch again this season. ... Pirates RHP Joaquin Benoit is expected to rejoin the club on Monday. He had been in the Dominican Republic tending to a family matter.