The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Cincinnati Reds in 5-4 in 12-innings last night. The Bucs bullpen let a 4-1 lead escape in the eighth inning. Closer Felipe Vazquez blew his second-straight save opportunity, allowing a two hits in that inning. He pitched a perfect ninth inning to send the game into extra frames. The win snapped a four-game losing streak. Starting pitcher Chad Kuhl allowed just one run over six innings, striking out six.Steven Brault earned his fourth win of the season by pitching scoreless 10th and 11th innings. Kyle Crick earned his first major league save. The Pirates had 15 hits in the game. Corey Dickerson and Josh Harrison had four hits each.
The Bucs were unable to complete a comeback effort against the Reds in the finale of their three-game series, losing by a final score of 5-4 Thursday afternoon. Austin Meadows hit another home run but Ivan Nova gave up a grand-slam to allow the Reds to capture the series win. The Pirates continue to trail first-place Milwaukee, who completed a three-game sweep of Arizona last night.