Reds beat Yankees 5-3 to split series

The Yankees hit two impressive home runs in the first two innings on Tuesday, but those solo shots proved insufficient against a singles-filled Reds rally. Cincinnati scored five runs in the bottom of the second inning for a 5-3 victory that provided a split in the two-game series and ended New York’s six-game win streak.

Staked to a 2-0 lead on homers by Gary Sanchez in the first inning and Didi Gregorius in the second, Yankees starter CC Sabathia faced 10 batters in the bottom of the second while allowing five runs, six hits and a walk. Billy Hamilton’s two-run single with the bases loaded tied the game, and Joey Votto’s two-run single provided the go-ahead runs. Adam Duvall followed Votto with an RBI single.

After getting out of the second inning, Sabathia retired 10 in a row and 13 of 14, but the damage was done. He lasted six innings with five earned runs, seven hits, two walks, a hit batter and two strikeouts.

“He didn’t find his cutter until later on,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “Once he did, things got a lot easier.”

Reds starter Tim Adleman pitched five innings for the win, his second in a row. Adleman gave up three earned runs — including a Gregorius two-out RBI single in the fourth inning — with five hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Adleman also benefited from two double plays.

“I thought we had some good at-bats,” Girardi said. “We hit a couple of homers off him. It just didn’t seem like we could get that one big hit. His changeup was pretty effective tonight.”

“Sabathia got really tough after that inning. Both he and Adleman were about 50 percent strikes those first couple of innings,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “They tightened it up a bit. Sabathia was throwing a good fastball inside, a breaking ball and changeup away. He kept us off balance, but fortunately we took advantage of those opportunities in the second to plate all of those runs.”

Price utilized his best bullpen arms early to finish the game. Michael Lorenzen took over in the sixth and pitched two scoreless innings. Raisel Iglesias tackled the final six outs and overcame a hit and a walk in the ninth inning, getting a fortuitous game-ending double play for his sixth save.

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