The Pittsburgh Pirates scored 15 runs in the first four innings and took advantage of record wildness from Cincinnati pitching to register another blowout win over the Reds, 17-7, Saturday in Pittsburgh.
Since losing 2-0 to Cincinnati in the first meeting on March 30, Pittsburgh has won the last four by a combined 42-14 score.
Rookie Konnor Griffin doubled, tripled and went 4-for-5 while driving in two, while Ryan O’Hearn doubled and drove in three as the top eight hitters in the Pirates lineup each had at least one hit while seven batters had at least two hits.
Pittsburgh right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski (2-2) was the beneficiary of the offensive outburst, scattering eight hits and five runs over 5 2/3 innings, striking out 10 and walking two for just his second win in seven starts.
For a second straight day, the game was played in raw conditions, with a game-time temperature of 43 degrees.
Pittsburgh reliever Chris Devenski was ejected for throwing inside near the ribcage of Sal Stewart to open the seventh inning. Stewart took exception and stared out at the mound. But the encounter did not escalate as umpires intervened.
Cincinnati starter Rhett Lowder (3-2) appeared miserable in the cold and struggled badly early. Lowder was unable to find his rhythm or command while allowing four runs before there were two outs in the first inning. The five runs allowed in the first inning were a career high for the right-hander.
Lowder labored through 30 pitches in the first as O’Hearn, Marcell Ozuna and Griffin all doubled in the five-run outburst. Lowder then walked the bases loaded in the second and was pulled after a career-short 1 1/3 innings, charged with eight runs on five hits, four walks and one strikeout.
Reliever Connor Phillips walked all four batters he faced, forcing in four runs, throwing 21 pitches, only five for strikes as the Pirates scored five more runs in the second without benefit of a hit in the inning, with Cincinnati walking seven straight batters.
The last time seven straight walks were issued in a Major League game came on May 25, 1983, when three different Pirates pitchers walked seven in a row at Atlanta in a 6-0 Braves win.
The five runs in the second inning without benefit of a base hit marked the first time since April 27, 1994, that a team allowed at least five runs in an inning without giving up a hit when Seattle allowed five runs to the New York Yankees in the top of the third inning.
