Reds Beat Pirates; Wild-Card Race Tightens

The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 on Thursday after Noelvi Marte leapt at the right-field wall to rob Bryan Reynolds of a ninth-inning tying homer, and Emilio Pagán recorded his 30th save. Nick Lodolo tied his career high with 12 strikeouts and worked 6 1/3 scoreless innings before leaving with a right groin injury. The victory improved Cincinnati to 81-78 and kept the Reds within striking distance of the final NL wild-card spot with three games remaining. The result followed a wild Wednesday in which the Pirates beat the Reds 4-3 in 11 innings — Spencer Horwitz’s 11th-inning double produced the winner after Paul Skenes’s strong start — and Cincinnati left 13 runners on base in that loss. Earlier in the series the Pirates also beat Cincinnati 4-2 on Tuesday, underscoring the Reds’ streaky offense despite recent wins heading into the season’s final road series at Milwaukee.