Pirates 5, Reds 3: McCutchen, Walker, Doumit, McDonald Lead Pirates To Victory

The Reds scored first in this one on a solo homer by Jay Bruce in the bottom of the second, and at that point, I was hating life a little bit, because Johnny Cueto hadn't looked like he could hit water if he fell out of a boat in the first couple innings, and the Pirates had nothing to show for it. Things got better after that, though - James McDonald got better as the game went along, and then the Pirates scored three in the fifth when Andrew McCutchen hit a two-out double, Xavier Paul singled him in, Garrett Jones walked, and then Neil Walker brought home two runs with a double. Ryan Doumit, with the help of the Great American Ballpark, added a solo homer to lead off the sixth when he hit a low, outside sinker to the opposite field and it kept carrying and carrying and barely cleared the wall.

The Bucs caught a break in the eighth. Pedro Alvarez walked, and then Ronny Cedeno laid down a bunt that Reds pitcher Nick Masset got to rather quickly. He threw to second and would have nabbed Alvarez, but Pedro's slide caused the ball to pop loose. Clint Hurdle, pressing his luck, then bunted again, this time with Jose Tabata, who popped it up. Andrew McCutchen, fortunately, managed to bring a run home with another double.

The Reds added runs in the eighth (on a Joey Votto RBI single) and ninth (on another solo homer by Bruce), but it wasn't enough, and the Pirates won 5-3. Overall, it was a nice day for McCutchen and Walker, who had two doubles apiece, and it was nice to see Alvarez draw two walks. Also, McDonald posted a nice line overall, going 6.2 innings and picking up four strikeouts. Most of those were on fastballs, which he seemed to throw more and more as the start went on.