Reds rely on first time around the order to hand Pirates 7th consecutive loss

The Pittsburgh Pirates have reached the point of their season where it has become obvious they are the worst team in baseball — only for them to painfully prove it in different ways every game.

The Cincinnati Reds found out the first time around the order would be enough, scoring three runs on their way to a 4-1 victory Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park.

It was the seventh consecutive loss for the Pirates (14-33), tying their longest losing streak of the season. They also lost seven games from July 29 to Aug. 5.

Pirates starter Joe Musgrove (0-5) struggled from the start, surrendering three runs in the first inning. He gave up singles to Shogo Akiyama and Nick Castellanos and walked Joey Votto to load the bases.

Musgrove flipped Jesse Winker’s short grounder to Jacob Stallings to force Akiyama at the plate but hit Mike Moustakas with an 0-2 back-foot breaking ball to score Castellanos. It marked the 13th time this season the Pirates allowed a runner to score with the bases loaded via walk or hit batter.

Brian Goodwin followed with a sacrifice fly to right to score Votto, and Freddy Galvis singled to left to score Winker from second for a 3-0 lead.

“The first inning has been troublesome for me in the past,” Musgrove said. “I tend to get a little too amped up or try to ease my way into things. I think I just need to go pedal to the metal from the start and just try to go as long as I can.”

Tucker Barnhart led off the second inning with a 404-foot solo shot to right for his fourth home run to stretch the Reds’ lead to 4-0. Musgrove retired 12 of the next 14, striking out the final four to finish with eight strikeouts. He allowed four runs on six hits and one walk, throwing 57 of his 87 pitches for strikes.

“I thought his stuff was pretty sharp, and he continued to get better as the game went on,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Musgrove. “I think we saw his highest velocity in the fifth, so he had good stuff.”

Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a one-out double in the fourth, then scored on Colin Moran’s single through the shift. Josh Bell hit a dribbler down the first-base line for an infield single to put runners on first and second, but Michael Lorenzen struck out Gregory Polanco and got Cole Tucker to fly out to left.

In his first start after spending the season in the bullpen, Lorenzen allowed four hits and a walk with six strikeouts in five innings to get the win.

The game also marked the major league debut of Pirates right-handed reliever Blake Cederlind, whose triple-digit fastball was the talk of spring training. Activated from the taxi squad, Cederlind’s first pitch was a 98 mph fastball that got Goodwin swinging, followed by a fastball that touched 99. Cederlind got Goodwin and Galvis to ground out to second, and Jose Garcia flew out to left.

Moran hit a 395-foot shot to the center in the ninth off Amir Garrett, but Goodwin robbed Moran of a home run by making a leaping grab at the fence. Bell and Polanco drew walks to put the tying run at the plate with one out, but Garrett struck out Tucker and got pinch-hitter Kevin Newman to fly out to earn the save.

Musgrove said the starting pitching has to do a better job putting the Pirates in position to win.

“Looking at our numbers as starters, I think we’ve only had two quality starts on the year, which is a big problem,” Musgrove said, noting that injuries and piggyback starts have limited the opportunities for quality starts. “Pitching controls the game, man. We’ve got to set the tone better, and we’ve got to find a way to get six innings every night. I think that’s where it’s going to start.”