The Pittsburgh Pirates split their doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds Saturday.
However, the first game may have been one of the more wild conclusions to a ballgame the Pirates will see this year. Pittsburgh’s backup catcher, Andrew Knapp, was ejected from dugout in the first game for arguing with the home plate umpire. Just two innings later, starting catcher Roberto Perez injured his hamstring while rounding 2nd base. That forced Pirates manager Derek Shelton to look to his emergency catcher, which was starting second baseman Josh VanMeter.
VanMeter went behind the plate in the bottom of the 8th inning with the scored tied 2-2. The inning unraveled after a couple of walks by Wil Crowe and then a double to right field by Reds’ Tyler Stephenson.
The Reds would put six runs together in the 8th and cruise to an 8-2 win over the Pirates in game one.
It was a different story in game two, as the Pirates offense jumped on Cincinnati scoring four runs on three home runs in the 1st inning. The Pirates would slug four total in the game, one each from Bryan Reynolds, Diego Castillo, Yoshi Tsutsugo, and Ben Gamel.
The Pirates picked up the win in game two with an 8-5 victory.
The Pirates are now 11-15 on the season and will square off against the Reds at 1:40 p.m. which can be heard on WISR 680 AM and 107.5 FM.