Taiwan’s Cheng Tsung-che on Sunday helped the Pittsburgh Pirates limit the damage from the Cincinnati Reds with quick plays from the infield during the Bucs’ 4-0 defeat.
Hunter Greene pitched seven sparkling innings as the Reds completed a three-game sweep of the Pirates.
Greene (2-1) allowed two hits, struck out eight and walked one. The 1.95m right-hander extended his scoreless streak to 18-2/3 innings.
Photo: AP
Reds pitchers retired their final 23 batters.
In the bottom of the third inning, 23-year-old shortstop Cheng, making his third MLB appearance, fired a grounder off Gavin Lux to first baseman Endy Rodriguez to end a two-run inning for the Reds.
The Pingtung County native repeated the quick play in the fourth to keep Spencer Steer off base.
Photo: AFP
In the seventh inning, Cheng caught a pop out to deny Santiago Espinal and a lineout from Lux in the eighth.
At bat, Cheng was twice struck out by Greene, once in the second inning and again in the fifth.
Cheng was last night to return to the field for the Bucs in the first of a four-game series against the Washington Nationals in Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, where Pirates’ ace Paul Skenes is aiming to get his team back on track.
Offense continues to be a problem for Pittsburgh, which scored five runs combined in its three games against Cincinnati.
Pittsburgh was tied for the third-fewest runs scored in the majors (50), with the worst team batting average (.184), team slugging percentage (.290) and team OPS (.563).
The Pirates were held to two hits against Greene, who pitched seven shutout innings and retired the final 17 batters he faced.
“We can’t let opportunities be squandered,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We have to capitalize on opportunities when we do have them.”
Skenes, who has never faced the Nationals, gave up a career-worst five runs over six innings on Tuesday last week in a 5-3 home loss to the St Louis Cardinals. Skenes struck out seven, but struggled with his location, giving up those runs on six hits, including two extra-base hits.
“One walk, seven punchouts is a bad start that most guys would take,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said on Sunday during his weekly radio show on the Pirates’ flagship station 93.7 FM in Pittsburgh. “It speaks to the sort of level that he’s created for himself.”
Elsewhere, on Sunday, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Taiwanese-American outfielder Corbin Carroll, who has reached base in all 16 games this season, collected two hits and scored twice, including the go-ahead run in the seventh, as the Diamondbacks beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2 to win the rubber match of their three-game series.
The San Diego Padres blanked the Colorado Rockies 6-0, the Chicago Cubs outplayed the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Chicago White Sox 3-1, the San Francisco Giants pipped the New York Yankees 5-4 and the Kansas City Royals survived the Cleveland Guardians 4-2.
The Seattle Mariners dropped the Texas Rangers 3-1, the Miami Marlins overpowered the Nationals 11-4, the Tampa Bay Rays trampled the Atlanta Braves 8-3, the Toronto Blue Jays overcame the Baltimore Orioles 7-6, the St Louis Cardinals blanked the Philadelphia Phillies 7-0, the Houston Astros brought down the Los Angeles Angels 7-3, the New York Mets shut out the Athletics 8-0 and the Minneapolis Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 5-1.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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