TJ Friedl homered in the sixth and hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh Sunday as the Cincinnati Reds topped the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 to avoid a series sweep.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand also homered for the Reds (80-77), who snapped a four-game losing streak and were playing their final regular-season home game.
Cincinnati starter Brandon Williamson pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up two runs and four hits, with three strikeouts and one walk.
Lucas Sims (7-3) pitched a scoreless seventh. Ian Gibaut pitched the ninth for his third save.
Jack Suwinski homered and Jason Delay added an RBI single for the Pirates (74-82), who had won four in a row.
Pittsburgh rookie Quinn Priester pitched five no-hit innings before allowing two runs and two hits over six innings, with four strikeouts and five walks.
Jose Hernandez (1-2) gave up one run and two hits while recording two outs.
Jared Triolo’s one-out double in the Pirates’ second was the only hit by either team until Suwinski led off the fifth with his team-leading 26th home run, to center, for a 1-0 Pittsburgh lead.
After Liover Peguero flied out, Henry Davis doubled to center. Delay’s single to center drove in Davis to increase it to 2-0.
That chased Williamson for Buck Farmer, who got out of the inning with the only further damage being a walk.
Jonathan India broke up Priester’s no-hit bid when he singled to left to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Friedl ended the shutout, too, when he homered to right-center, his 17th, to forge a 2-2 tie.
Two flyouts later, Encarnacion-Strand walked and Joey Votto got hit by a pitch. Tyler Stephenson grounded into a fielder’s choice, with Peguero bobbling the ball at short for an error. Encarnacion-Strand attempted to score but was easily thrown out at home.
With two outs in the seventh against Hernandez, India doubled to the corner in left and scored on Friedl’s single to left-center to give the Reds a 3-2 lead.
Encarnacion-Strand homered to left, his 11th, in the eighth to increase it to 4-2.
–Field Level Media
