• Who: Pirates (1-2) vs. Reds (2-1)
• What: MLB regular season, Game 4
• When: 6:40 p.m.
• Where: Great American Ball Park
• Pitchers: RHP Braxton Ashcraft vs. RHP Chase Burns
• TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh, FS1
• Stream: SNP 360 (local), Reds.TV
• Radio: Pirates Radio Network
• Satellite: SiriusXM 175/861
• Boxscore: MLB.com
• Media notes: Pirates | Reds
► FOLLOW ALONG
• The Pirates fall to the Reds, 2-0, here in the opener of a three-game set. Just four hits for the visitors. Lowe reached three times. Ashcraft provided six innings of two-run ball. That’s a 1-3 start to the season.
• Three sweepers and Triolo’s down on strikes. Two whiffs and caught looking. Just bad.
• Great at-bat from O’Hearn. He works a walk of his own. Two on, nobody out for Triolo.
• Ozuna walks to lead off the ninth.
• Lawrence strikes out the side in the eighth.
• Justin Lawrence gets the eighth.
• Pirates bats set down in order again in the eighth. Cruz and Lowe strike out and Reynolds grounds out 4-3.
• Mattson enters for the seventh.
• Three straight whiffs on Ashcraft sliders and Davis strands two. Three strikeouts for Henry here tonight.
• Pirates now have two on following a two-out single by Gonzales. Looked like it went under the glove of Hayes over at third. Franco exits and Graham Ashcraft will face Davis.
• Lengthy at-bat by Triolo, who fouled off some pitches, and he can’t do anything with a slider down the pipe.
• Isaac Mattson warming.
• O’Hearn leads off the seventh with a single to extend his MLB-best active hitting streak to 13 games.
• Ashcraft’s line: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K. Longest outing and most pitches thrown (87) as a big leaguer.
• Ashcraft does his job and gets through six innings of two-run ball. Sure he wasn’t entirely sharp, but he’s giving this team a chance to win. Guys with the bats aren’t doing their part.
• Four walks here tonight for Ashcraft. Ties a career high. Did it twice last season. Those free passes have put him in some tough situations, including the fourth when the Reds scored those two runs.
• Lowe reaches for a third time today, this time on a leadoff single, only to be wiped out on a 3-6-3 double play off the bat of Reynolds. The latter has been horrendous to begin this season.
• Burns allowed one hit and three walks over five innings. Struck out seven. Threw 46 of 78 pitches for strikes.
• Jose Franco replaces Burns. It’ll be his major-league debut.
• Scoring change: Benson now credited with an RBI triple rather than a double in the fourth.
• New guys are doing their job, aside from Ozuna, up to this point. But this lineup won’t go anywhere if everyone else doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain.
• Pirates get a runner into scoring position after Gonzales reaches and swipes second, but Burns strikes out Davis and Cruz to keep them off the board.
• Horwitz has the Pirates’ first hit of the night. A single to right to lead off the fifth. First hit of his season, too.
• RUN: Suarez scores from first on an RBI double to right by Benson. Reds, 2-0
• RUN: Stewart walk is followed by a single from Suarez. Steer drives in the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly to right field. Reds, 1-0
• De La Cruz is immediately wiped off the bases. He’s got elite speed and Davis throws him out trying to steal. Perfectly executed there.
• Ashcraft can’t put De La Cruz away with two strikes and he singles into center to lead off the fourth. A 2-2 heater down the middle.
• Pirates get two baserunners aboard on walks to Lowe and O’Hearn in the fourth. But Triolo strikes out swinging to end a rather uncompetitive at-bat and leave them stranded.
• A nine-pitch third for Ashcraft. Lineout, broken-bat groundout and a flyout to center. All nine of the outs he’s recorded have come in five pitches or fewer. He’s at 39 pitches through three innings.
• Burns has retired eight in a row after another 1-2-3 inning. A lot of weak contact the first time through the order. Only one baserunner with the Lowe first-inning walk.
• Ashcraft has gone to the curveball 10 times — more than any other pitch — through two innings. Seven swings, five whiffs. Finished both strikeouts with it.
• Another curve from Ashcraft to finish Stephenson. A 1-2-3 second.
• Four straight curveballs there from Ashcraft. Two out of the zone for balls, but then two whiffs, including one for a strikeout of Benson. Two outs after a 4-3 groundout to retire Steer.
• Pirates set down in order in the second. Two weak groundouts and a strikeout of Horwitz, who was frozen on an 0-2 fastball at 99.
• Suarez is retired by Davis to end the first. An 18-pitch first for Ashcraft.
• De La Cruz takes off and Stewart singles up the middle. De La Cruz doesn’t test Cruz’s arm. Runners on the corners with two outs.
• Ashcraft walks De La Cruz. Fifth pitch of the at-bat actually clipped the zone. Would have been strike three if challenged.
• Ozuna whiffs on two straight sliders to end the top of the first.
• Pirates get their first baserunner on a Lowe walk. Didn’t make it easy on Burns by just swinging at anything there. Good AB.
• First pitch: Pirates vs. Reds, 6:40 p.m., Chase Burns to Oneil Cruz, 73 degrees, Great American Ball Park
• Don Kelly‘s lineup for the visitors:
1. Oneil Cruz, CF
2. Brandon Lowe, 2B
3. Bryan Reynolds, LF
4. Marcell Ozuna, DH
5. Ryan O’Hearn, RF
6. Jared Triolo, SS
7. Spencer Horwitz, 1B
8. Nick Gonzales, 3B
9. Henry Davis, C
• Terry Francona’s lineup for the home team:
1. TJ Friedl, CF
2. Matt McLain, 2B
3. Elly De La Cruz, SS
4. Sal Stewart, 1B
5. Eugenio Suarez, DH
6. Spencer Steer, LF
7. Will Benson, RF
8. Tyler Stephenson, C
9. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B
