Yasmani Grandal hit a walk-off two-run home run to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 win against the visiting Cincinnati Reds on Sunday in the finale of a four-game series.
With Bryan De La Cruz on first and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Grandal knocked a fastball into the seats in right-center field against Cincinnati closer Alexis Diaz (1-4) to give Pittsburgh its third victory of the series.
Aroldis Chapman (5-4) threw a scoreless top of the ninth to earn the win.
The Reds struggled to capitalize on having a handful of baserunners through the first six innings against Pirates starter Luis L. Ortiz, who held Cincinnati scoreless on four hits while fanning five and walking one.
Reliever Kyle Nicolas stepped in to start the seventh with the Pirates holding a 2-0 lead, and Cincinnati finally broke through.
Noelvi Marte hit a one-out single to left field and Jonathan India followed with a double. That ended a brief outing for Nicolas, as Jalen Beeks came in to face Elly De La Cruz.
Elly De La Cruz singled to drive in Marte and cut the Reds’ deficit in half. Beeks then intentionally walked Tyler Stephenson to load the bases with one out, and TJ Friedl connected on a sacrifice bunt. Friedl reached first on a fielding error by Beeks, which brought in India to tie the game at 2-2.
With the bases still full, Beeks walked Spencer Steer, which sent Elly De La Cruz home to put the Reds in front 3-2.
The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the first. Isiah Kiner-Falefa opened the inning with a single to left field, went to second on the play on a fielding error by Steer and advanced to third on Oneil Cruz’s single to right. He then scored when Joey Bart grounded out.
Bart, playing as the designated hitter, later left the game due to a hamstring injury sustained while running to first base on his groundout.
In the third, Michael A. Taylor knocked a leadoff single to center and made it to second on Friedl’s fielding error on the play. He went to third on Kiner-Falefa’s groundout and scored on a single from Bryan Reynolds.
Reds starter Nick Martinez went three innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits.
–Field Level Media
