Following Reds starter Mike Leake’s seven innings of work, the Cincinnati bullpen continued its scoreless-inning streak to bring home a 5-3 win against Pittsburgh at Great American Ball Park and secure the first two games of the three-game series.
The win reduced the Reds’ magic number to clinch the National League Central to 11 and then to 10 after the Cardinals lost in San Diego later Tuesday.
After tossing eight clean innings Monday and two more Tuesday night, the Reds’ bullpen has now gone 13 2/3 innings without giving up a run.
“You’ve got to have a good bullpen today, especially when pitchers are going six and seven innings and very few complete games, you’ve got to have a good bullpen,” Baker said. “In 30 seconds, you can ruin two hours’ worth of work if you don’t. It’s very deflating to a team to blow games late in the game. It’s very inflating for the opposing team.”
With 11 arms total in the bullpen and seven running on short fumes from Monday’s marathon, the Reds needed a strong outing from Leake. What he gave them was good enough.
Leake surrendered a solo home run to Alex Presley in the second at-bat of the game to put the Reds down, 1-0, early. He gave up a double to right later in the inning before eventually settling in and giving up just four hits throughout the next five innings.
Leake didn’t face too many jams for much of the night until he gave up a two-run shot to pinch-hitter Gaby Sanchez in the seventh to make it 4-3. It was the 10th multi-home run game for Leake this season, but Scott Rolen added a big insurance homer in the eighth and the bullpen — Logan Ondrusek, Sean Marshall and Jonathan Broxton — held on to give Leake his eighth win.
“I felt good,” said Leake, who had the Pirates down to their final strike in the seventh before surrendering the homer. “I missed a few spots, but I was able to make the pitch when I needed to. The first home run was a bad pitch. The Sanchez home run wasn’t a bad pitch. He was able to get to it.”
Aside from the two long balls given up by the 24-year-old righty, Leake cruised through a fairly smooth evening with the help of a stout defense behind him.
Cincinnati turned three double plays in the contest, including one to end the game, which earned Broxton his first save with the Reds.
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