Harrison Has 4 Hits As Pirates Beat Reds 4-3
PITTSBURGH (KKDA/AP) -- They may be in the midst of their 19th straight losing season, but after hanging on for a 4-3 win over Cincinnati Saturday night, the Pirates need just one more victory to get to their highest total since 2004.
Rookie Josh Harrison led the way for the Bucs with four hits.
Harrison finished a home run shy of the cycle and set a career high for hits as he had two singles, a double and a triple against his former hometown team. The third baseman was the Big East Conference Player of the Year at the University of Cincinnati in 2008.
Neil Walker also added three hits for the Pirates.
With the loss, the Reds fell to 76-82 with four games remaining. They won their first division title in 15 years last season.
Brandon Phillips had two doubles among his three hits for Cincinnati and Joey Votto and Juan Francisco also doubled twice. Votto drove in two runs to become the first Reds player with back-to-back 100-RBI seasons since Dave Parker in 1985-86.
Brad Lincoln (2-3) went five innings for the win in his final start of the season, giving up two runs and six hits while walking four and striking out four.
He bounced back from an awful outing against the Dodgers at Los Angeles last Sunday in which he allowed six runs in 1 2-3 innings of a 15-1 loss.
Travis Wood (6-5) had his 17-inning scoreless streak snapped in the second inning. He gave up four runs and seven hits in 2 2-3 innings with two walks and two strikeouts.
Jason Grilli pitched a scoreless ninth, working around Phillips' leadoff single, for the third save of his nine-year career and first since April 15, 2009, when he was pitching for Colorado against the Cubs.
The Pirates snapped a 1-1 tie and chased Wood during a three-run third inning.
Harrison led off with a triple that one-hopped the left-field fence and scored on Andrew McCutchen's sacrifice fly. Ryan Ludwick also hit a sacrifice fly before Jason Jaramillo capped the inning with a single that drove in Walker, who had doubled.
Votto hit an RBI double in the fourth to draw the Reds within 4-2 and Edgar Renteria's two-out RBI single in the eighth made it a one-run game.
Cincinnati opened the scoring in the first when Phillips led off with a double and scored on Votto's one-out double. Ronny Cedeno hit a sacrifice fly in the second for the Pirates to tie the game at 1-1.
The Pirates and Reds finish out their three-game series Sunday afternoon at 1:35 p.m.
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