PITTSBURGH – What began as an ominous 4-0 second-inning deficit didn't discourage the Cincinnati Reds Saturday night at PNC Park.
Instead, the Reds steadfastly battled back and picked up their second win of the season, 7-4, over the Pittsburgh Pirates behinda three-run homerin the eighth inning from third basemanEugenio Suárez, which helped him tie his career-high with five RBI.
"Put a good swing on it, that’s all I tried to do, man. He missed that pitch inside and I hit it big," saidSuárez.
Related: Reds show potential from top of the batting order
Reds manager Bryan Price said: "You know what? They all feel good, some feel even better than the others. Tonight was one of those, being down 4-0 and not sure in a situation where you don't want to get into your bullpen that early and Sal came up big being able to stem the tide there and ... give us three really good innings and get us back in the game, that was hugely important. If I get in the bullpen there in the third inning, it becomes a throw-away game for all intents and purposes because you're going to blow out your bullpen going into tomorrow's game. It was really a game-saving effort by Romano staying in the game and shut the damage down after the first two innings and allow our guys to chip back in and then some really, really good bullpen work."
Romano said: "That’s my job right there. Struggled a little bit in the first inning. Second inning, thought I made some pretty good pitches that just had some bad luck, they found the holes, couple broken bats, stuff like that, but my job right there is to stay in the game as long as I can and keep theteam in it. The team did an unbelievable job coming back and getting this win, obviously Geno with the big hits and the bullpen putting up zeros, it was a really good team win for us today."
The eighth started with a single from Tucker Barnhart, who had a 2-for-3 day at the plate, then a sacrifice from shortstopJosé Peraza, who went 2-for-4, and an infield single from Billy Hamilton who took second with his first stolen base of the season.
Just before theSuárez blast, which broke a 4-4 tie, leadoff hitter Jesse Winker, who reached base four times, ripped a line drive down the right side but Pittsburgh first baseman Josh Bell snagged it out of the air to keep the game tied.
"Off the bat, I was like, I was kinda in my mind -- I was shocked he caught it," said Winker. "I felt like I put a good swing on it, but it's part of the game. The guy right behind me can really swing, obviously. You want to talk about a great swing? That was incredible to see. You know, it's really early in the season, but it seemed like a huge time obviously, we really needed that one, so I'm really happy for Geno. It's fun to be on the winning side."
Big hits, at least through the first six games of the season, were hard to come by for the Reds.
Price said: "Yeah, the elusive two-out, multi-run base hit (by Suárez in the seventh). The big one was certainly the three-run homer. The two-run base hit to tie it up puts us in that situation where Quackenbush does a great job and Wandy Peralta came up big with two scoreless, put us in the situation to get into that first and third situation, Billy steals and the nice play by Josh Bell over there on the line drive that winker hit in a great at-bat. Saving the day was Suarez with a three-run homer. Really big.”
More: Patience is paramount for struggling Reds
Reds rookie Jesse Winker settles in atop the order
The Reds – behind Romano, Kevin Quackenbush, Wandy Peralta, who got the win, and Raisel Iglesias, who got the save – retired 16 straight Pirates after the third inning until a single in the ninth from Colin Moran, who Iglesias quickly picked off first base.
“Talk about a team win," said Price. "There were a lot of great things. Quackenbush had a shutdown inning. Wandy keeping me from having to utilize Iglesias for one-plus. I was able to simply give him the ninth inning, which he did a terrific job. It was big."
After the Pirates posted two runs in the first and two more in the second off Romano, the 24-year-old right-hander, who went five innings and allowed four earned runs, settled down while his offense finally lit the fuse.
In the third inning, Winker walked and made his way around to score on a sac fly line drive to right field from Joey Votto, who finished 2-for-5 with an RBI.
Winker drove inPeraza in the sixth with a single, then in the seventh Barnhart, who doubled, and Peraza, who reached on a single, both scored on a 2-RBI single from Suárez, which tied the game 4-4.
"You know, it's early. Streaks like that happen," Winker said of the slow start. "They're going to happen in multiple points throughout the year. I think it's just when it's the first six games of the year, everyone notices it. I mean, stuff like that happens. We were playing good ball and we just couldn't seem to get the hit and tonight we got that hit."
