Home runs (again) cost Mike Minor as Reds lose to Pirates, drop third straight game

Mike Minor watched the ball drop into the second row of seats in left field and he stood motionless on the mound for a few seconds before turning to ask for a new ball.

There was surely some frustration as Minor stared into the distance.

After the Reds took a one-run lead in the fourth inning, everything fell apart in a six-pitch sequence. Three straight Pittsburgh Pirates hitters reached base in those six pitches through two singles and a three-run homer.

It was those six pitches and those three batters in the fifth inning that led to the Cincinnati Reds’ 6-3 loss at Great American Ball Park on Monday, their first three-game losing streak since they were swept by the Philadelphia Phillies in a four-game series from Aug. 22-25.

"I made some bad pitches and they made me pay," Minor said. "It’s a team that I feel like we should hang with, we should beat them and I just didn’t do my job."

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Aristides Aquino drilled an elevated fastball past the left-field wall for a two-run homer in the fourth inning off Pirates starter Bryse Wilson. It was Aquino’s fourth home run in his last eight games.

Minor, tasked with facing the top of the Pirates lineup for the third time, failed to sustain the momentum. Kevin Newman lined a single to center on the second pitch of his at-bat. Bryan Reynolds hit a first-pitch slider to left field to put another runner on base.

Next up was Rodolfo Castro. Minor threw back-to-back changeups to him, a pitch that was drawing a lot of swings and misses, but the second one remained elevated in the strike zone. Castro lifted it to left field where it dropped just beyond the wall.

"Mechanically, I felt like I was off and I couldn’t figure out why," Minor said. "I felt like I was maybe a little early, rushing a little bit, whereas early on, I felt really crisp with the pitches. Just trying to figure out and as I’m trying out there, I kind of lost focus on making a pitch and competing against the guy. Then the game gets out of hand."

The damage was done, but the Pirates didn’t stop. Ke’Bryan Hayes reached on a fielding error by second baseman Alejo Lopez, and Diego Castillo hit a two-out, two-run homer to left field. Minor immediately asked for a new ball from the home-plate umpire after giving up his 23rd homer of the season in 95 innings.

Minor, who surrendered a second-deck solo homer to Reynolds on his fifth pitch of the evening, is one of four MLB pitchers who has permitted more than 20 home runs this season in fewer than 100 innings. He gave up six runs (four earned) on seven hits and three walks across five innings in his third start against the Pirates this season.

"My slider, I tried to make it more like a cutter," Minor said of the pitch to Castillo. "It started having more depth. That was one of the home runs. I wasn’t trying to go down-and-in, I’m trying to go up-and-in. The changeup (to Castro) was up. I just made some bad pitches."

After Pittsburgh’s five-run fifth inning, the Reds had an opportunity to rally in the sixth inning in front of the crowd of 12,083. After a single and two walks loaded the bases, Alejo Lopez drove in a run on an infield single to the shortstop.

With the tying run at first base, the Pirates brought in reliever Robert Stephenson, the Reds’ first-round pick in 2011, to face Nick Senzel, the Reds’ first-round pick in 2016. Stephenson won the matchup on a lineout to center, then struck out the side in the seventh inning.

Senzel, showcasing a new stance after he was out of the lineup for the last two games, had two of the Reds’ three hardest-hit balls of the night.

"I’ve got three weeks left in the season and I’m just trying to think about how I can be a better player and contribute more to this club," Senzel said. "This year it obviously hasn't been the results I’d like. Just have to take a strong look at what I need to do to make some adjustments offensively. I’m going to do that.”

The Reds put their first two batters on base in the bottom of the ninth inning, via a walk and a single, against Pirates closer Wil Crowe. Jonathan India, pinch-hitting as the tying run at the plate, struck out on a called third strike. TJ Friedl lined out and Crowe induced a groundball for a game-ending fielder's choice.

It was just the fourth time the Reds lost to the Pirates in their last 16 games at GABP.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds lose to Pirates: Aristides Aquino homers, Mike Minor struggles