Cincinnati Reds vs Pittsburgh Pirates Box Score on Sep 04, 2020

Nick Castellanos hit a solo homer Friday and the visiting Cincinnati Reds jumped out to an early lead as they topped the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 in the opening game of a doubleheader.

Jose Garcia and Jesse Winker each added an RBI single for the Reds (17-21).

Gregory Polanco hit an RBI double and Colin Moran had an RBI single for Pittsburgh (11-25).

The Reds' Luis Castillo (1-5), in his eighth start of the season, finally got his first win. He gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings, with eight strikeouts and two walks.

Raisiel Iglesias pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.

Pittsburgh starter Steven Brault (0-2) allowed four runs, three of them earned, and six hits in 4 2/3 innings, with two walks and six strikeouts. Brault was 4-0 in his career against Cincinnati in 10 previous appearances (four starts).

The Reds took a lead they would not lose in the second. After two strikeouts by Brault, Aristides Aquino got hit by a pitch. Curt Casali reached on first baseman Josh Bell's fielding error, with Aquino going to second. Garcia's single to left brought Aquino home to make it 1-0, and gave him his first career RBI in his seventh game.

Pittsburgh had runners on second and third with no outs in the bottom of the second, but Castillo got out of it with a flyout and two ground balls.

In the third, Joey Votto and Castellanos opened with singles and advanced on Matt Davidson's groundout. Votto scored on Eugenio Suarez's sacrifice fly, and Castellanos came home when Winker dropped a single into shallow center, pushing Cincinnati's advantage to 3-0.

The Pirates scored twice in the third. Erik Gonzalez doubled and after Bryan Reynolds walked, Moran's base hit to center field drove in Gonzalez. Polanco followed with an RBI double to make it 3-2.

Castellanos led off the fifth with his 11th homer, a shot to left-center for a 4-2 Reds lead. It was the first homer allowed by Brault in eight appearances this year.

--Field Level Media