Cincinnati Reds: Suarez powers win over Pirates

There was no bullpen implosion on Saturday as the Cincinnati Reds reclaimed a share of first place in the NL Central.

After blowing a lead and suffering their first loss of the season on Friday, the Reds bounced back to hand the Pittsburgh Pirates their first loss of the season by a 5-1 score on another chilly day in Great American Ball Park.

The top of the Reds’ lineup fueled the victory, as the first two hitters in the order — Billy Hamilton and Eugenio Suarez — combined for all five runs and the top five hitters picked up seven of the team’s eight hits on the day.

Suarez stays hot

Has any Reds hitter been more impressive than the third baseman thus far? Suarez scored thrice and reached base in three of his four plate appearances on Saturday, with an RBI single, a walk and a 420-foot, two-run home run — already his third of the season — to dead center field in the seventh inning to extend the Cincinnati lead to 5-1. Through five games, the 24-year-old is batting .368/.455/.842 and looks like he could very well be a breakout star in the making.

Reds knock Cole around (again)

Pirates ace Gerrit Cole has strangely struggled against the Reds in his young career and that continued on Saturday in his season debut. Cincinnati hitters jumped on him for two runs in the first inning and did an admirable job working counts against him all afternoon long, eventually knocking him from the game after 4.2 innings and 100 pitches. The right-hander allowed three total runs on five hits and three walks on the day. In Cole’s seven starts against the Reds, he now has a 5.30 ERA and the Pirates are winless.

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Escape artists

Reds pitchers danced in and out of trouble all day, but were able to hold the Pirates to one run despite allowing 10 hits. Raisel Iglesias wasn’t at his best as he allowed eight hits and two walks in his 5.2 innings, though he escaped further damage due to key double plays in the second and fourth innings. Blake Wood also got himself into a bind by allowing a walk and a double to start the seventh inning, and was bailed out by a heads-up play from first baseman Joey Votto for another critical double play.

Notes

• J.J. Hoover got right back on the mound and fired a perfect frame in the top of the ninth after giving up a costly grand slam in the eighth inning of Friday’s loss.
• As expected, manager Bryan Price held Zack Cozart and Devin Mesoraco out of the lineup following a night game.
• Reliever Caleb Cotham continued his solid start to the year by tossing a shutout inning in the eighth. He’s allowed no runs and just three hits through his first four innings with the Reds.
• After a fairly slow start with the bat, Votto picked up his first multi-hit game of the year, going 2-for-3. And, of course, he also walked.