CINCINNATI -- The Pirates officially clinched a losing 2020 season on one swing of Tyler Stephenson’s bat Monday at Great American Ball Park, having their comeback bid fall short against the Reds, 3-1, in game one of a doubleheader.
Colin Moran tied the game with a leadoff top of the seventh home run to right, but the Reds salvaged a must-win game as they try to pick up ground for a playoff spot.
Meanwhile, the Pirates fell to 14-31, lowering their already league-worst winning percentage. In a 60-game season, they now have clinched more losses than wins for the 24th time over the last 28 years.
After working a scoreless sixth and retiring the first two batters of the seventh, Sam Howard allowed a bloop single to Jose Garcia that just went over shortstop Erik Gonzalez’s glove before Stephenson was brought in to pinch-hit, replacing the left-handed swinging Shogo Akiyama.
That swing made up for Trevor Bauer’s shaky end to what had been a dominant afternoon, striking out a dozen over 6 ⅓ innings. Moran’s home run was one of four hits he allowed on the night, though three of them came in the final inning.
Bauer struck out a dozen on the afternoon and retired 14 straight hitters from the second through sixth innings, bolstering his Cy Young candidacy.
Derek Shelton cited Bauer's curveball as the reason for his success. Seven of his 12 strikeouts were with that pitch.
"That’s the best curveball I’ve ever seen him have," Shelton said. "The ability to execute it, the top to bottom on it. The ability to change speeds on it – I think he threw one that was like 70 – that’s what made him effective."
With runners on first and second, the Reds turned to Raisel Iglesias, who went on to strike out pinch-hitter Gregory Polanco and JR Murphy to end the threat.
The Pirates only had a runner reach base in three of their innings, but went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Pirates starter Cody Ponce gave a valiant effort to try to match Bauer in this third spot start in a doubleheader this season, allowing just one hit over four innings pitched. Unfortunately for him, that one hit was an opposite field solo shot by Joey Votto, his eighth home run of the year.
Ponce was pulled after 63 pitches. Shelton said he had a 65-pitch limit, citing his recent workload. Though he has not pitched much in the majors this season, he has been working at in the Altoona, Pa. alternate training site.
He walked two and struck out three.
"I thought he was outstanding," Shelton said. "Really, really good. His stuff was electric coming out of his hand."
Before game two of the doubleheader, the Pirates placed right-handed reliever Kyle Crick on the 10-day injured list with a lat strain. Game two starter Mitch Keller was activated off the injured list to take his place.