The Pittsburgh Pirates were relentless in the N.L. Wild Card Game, defeating the Cincinnati Reds, 6-2 Tuesday Night. With a great performance from Francisco Liriano and an offensive explosion from catcher Russell Martin, the Pirates were able to cruise in their historic playoff appearance, advancing to the NLDS.
Liriano had an amazing pitching performance in this game. He completely out-dueled Reds' starter, Johnny Cueto, who had the edge heading into this ball game. Liriano tossed seven innings one-run baseball, walking one and striking out five. Reds' manager, Dusty Baker warned his players about laying off Liriano's slider in the dirt and this pitch proved devastating as the Reds could not lay off the mystifying pitch.
Martin led the way on offense, finishing 3-4 in the evening with two runs scored, two home runs and two RBI. Andrew McCutchen and Starlin Marte joined the hitting fun as they finished the evening with a multi-hit game.
The Pirates struck first in the bottom of the second as Marlon Byrd and Martin took Cueto deep. The fans had a lot to do with these bombs as they startled the Reds' starting pitcher when facing Byrd. While roaming through the infield grass, Cueto rubbed the ball and bobbled it as he got back to the mound. What followed next? Byrd's first career postseason home run.
The Pirates struck again in the top of the third as McCutchen scored on a sac-fly to center, giving the Pirates a 3-0 lead.
Liriano found himself in a jam in the top of the fourth. After hitting Shin-Soo Choo and surrendering a base hit to Ryan Ludwig, he worked his way through the middle of the Reds' order. He struck out Joey Votto and got Brandon Phillips to popup. However, Jay Bruce played the Reds' first run of the game with an opposite-field single between short and third. This was all the Reds were able to squeeze out of the Pirates' ace.
Choo later added a home run in the top of the eighth, but that came off reliever, Tony Watson.
Up next for Pittsburgh, they face the St. Louis Cardinals in a best of five series. The Pirates took 10 of 19 games, winning the regular season series.
