JT Brubaker stops Reds' hit parade, Troy Stokes Jr. gets 2 RBI hits as Pirates win
May 12—The Cincinnati Reds had pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates for double-digit runs in three consecutive meetings, a streak that required a stopper after the Reds scored 39 runs on 42 hits — 20 for extra bases.
JT Brubaker was just the man for the job.
The Pirates right-hander held the Reds to one run on five hits in six innings, and Troy Stokes Jr. got his first two major league hits and RBIs in a 7-2 win Tuesday night before 4,049 at PNC Park.
"It feels good," Brubaker said. "Every starter wants to go out there and be the stopper of it. Really it's just any given day, an offense can go off. We've been on the short end of that stick, and just to be able to show that they can get out was a big momentum shift, I think."
Brubaker (3-2) allowed his only run on a Jesse Winker homer, while striking out four Reds and walking one. It marked Brubaker's sixth consecutive start of pitching at least five innings, and the fourth start in which he's allowed one unearned run.
"He's attacking hitters. He's going right after people," Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. "I think with young pitchers that's kind of a learned thing. It was something that he was challenged on. He's really stepped up and done a nice job. ... He controlled the zone the entire night. I thought his slider was probably the best we've seen it all year."
Stokes thought he got his first major league hit Sunday in Chicago but, to his surprise, it was later reversed and scored an error. Stokes admitted that it started to weigh on him. In his third start in right field, he left no doubt, going 2 for 4 with two RBIs. He ripped a single down the left field line to score Kevin Newman in the fourth.
"It's kind of like icing on the cake," said Stokes, who added an RBI double in the eighth. "I knew Newman just hit a triple, so I've got an RBI situation here. I was trying to see the ball up, just put a good swing on it. It was icing on the cake that it was a ribbie, too. I just wanted to get my first knock."
The Pirates (15-20) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when their first two batters reached, as Adam Frazier singled to left and Bryan Reynolds followed with a double. Frazier, who tied his career-best with a 12-game hitting streak, scored on a wild pitch by Reds starter Jeff Hoffman.
Brubaker worked out of a 3-0 count before Winker drove his 3-2 sinker 438 feet over the right-field seats and into the Allegheny River on a bounce for his eighth home run to tie the game in the third. Winker became the 41st player to put one into the river, a feat that has been accomplished 61 times at PNC Park. Brubaker bounced right back, mixing his slider and curveball to retire the next seven batters.
"To be able to do that as a young pitcher and be able to pitch with his secondary stuff," Shelton said, "I thought he was really good."
The Pirates got rolling in the fourth, when Ka'ai Tom was hit by a pitch and scored on Newman's triple over the outstretched arms of Winker and into the North Side Notch in left-center to give the Pirates the lead. Stokes recorded both his first major league hit and RBI with a single to left that scored Newman for a 3-1 lead.
The Reds pulled Hoffman (2-3) after he gave up three runs on four hits, two walks, a hit batsman and a wild pitch in four innings. Ryan Hendrix didn't fare any better, starting the fifth inning by walking Reynolds and giving up an RBI double to left-center to Phillip Evans to make it 4-1.
Winker continued his tear by sandwiching a pair of doubles around the homer, the second of which came off David Bednar in the eighth to score Nick Senzel and cut the lead to 4-2.
The Pirates increased their lead in the bottom of the eighth, when Stokes doubled down the left field line to score Newman for a 5-2 lead. Frazier hit his first homer of the season, a 389-foot homer to right off lefty reliever Sean Doolittle, to stretch it to 7-2.
The Reds have Brubaker to blame for putting an end to their double-digit run.Meantime, the Pirates are enjoying watching Brubaker develop into a stopper.
"The guy's got really good stuff, and you know every time he takes the mound he's going to give us a chance," Frazier said. "He's got some confidence, and he's just using his stuff — mixing in and out, up-down, changing speeds. So, you know, he's starting to really grow into his own as a pitcher, and I think he's going to be able to keep going and be a really productive arm."
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .
