McCutchen’s 3-run homer lifts Pirates to 7-3 victory against Reds

CINCINNATI There was little fanfare at sparsely populated Great American Ball Park on Tuesday as the Pirates downed the Cincinnati Reds, 7-3, to clinch their third consecutive winning season.

Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco did their winners dance in center field and filed into a handshake line as the Pirates quietly celebrated win No. 82. The scene was a far cry from the one Sept. 10, 2013, when McCutchen held his hands high toward the heavens and broadcaster Greg Brown bellowed, “Pirates fans, your long national nightmare is over.”

This No. 82 felt a little less special, but no less significant.

McCutchen and Jung Ho Kang homered, while left-hander Francisco Liriano struck out 10 over six scoreless innings and scored his first career multiple-hit game. For the Pirates (82-55), it was business as usual, with plenty more to play for during the next 25 games.

The Pirates improved to 5-10 this season against the last-place Reds (57-80), and 3-6 here in Cincinnati. They entered the night 5 1/2 games back of the first-place St. Louis Cardinals and two games ahead of the Chicago Cubs.

Marte tripled and had three hits. Polanco, Kang and Liriano had two hits apiece.

Closer Mark Melancon gave up three runs in the ninth in his first outing since Aug. 29. He was pulled with two on and two outs, a run in, and Arquimides Caminero allowed the inherited runners to score.

Liriano (10-7) was as sharp as he’s been all season, allowing just three hits and a walk in six innings, his first scoreless outing since July 2. He leaned on his wicked slider, the pitch he used to finish six of his 10 strikeouts, including in the sixth inning when he struck out sluggers Joey Votto, Todd Frazier and Jay Bruce on third-strike sliders.

At bat, Liriano singled, hit a ground-rule double and scored a run.

The Pirates won for the 12th time in Liriano’s past 13 starts. He beat the Reds for the first time in 11 career starts and now has at least one win against every major-league team he’s faced he’s never faced the Miami Marlins.

Liriano joined right-hander Gerrit Cole as the first Pirates pitching duo to record at least 175 strikeouts in the same season.

The Pirates piled on Reds rookie right-hander Raisel Iglesias, chasing him after three innings to snap his streak of seven consecutive quality starts. Iglesias surrendered six hits and five runs, three of them coming on McCutchen’s opposite-field blast and another on a two-out balk.

After looking lifeless in a 3-1 loss in Monday’s series opener, the Pirates hitters jumped on Iglesias early. Marte tripled in the first but was stranded there after McCutchen and Aramis Ramirez both struck out.

In the third, the Pirates rattled off four hits and four runs before Iglesias could record an out.

Liriano led off by swinging at ball four Iglesias’ 3-1 sinker that stayed well high of the strike zone and drilled it to the base of the center-field wall for a ground-rule double, his first major-league double.

After Polanco’s RBI single and Marte’s base hit to left, McCutchen roped a first-pitch sinker for his 21st home run this season. The ball flew 404 feet and rattled around a cement alcove halfway up the right-field bleachers.

Kang doubled to center, moved to third on a groundout and scored when Iglesias dropped his hands in the stretch and was called for a balk. Kang jogged home for the Pirates’ fifth run. Four innings later, he scored the sixth.

Reds reliever Collin Balester, who spent the first half of the season with Class AAA Indianapolis, hung a curveball to Kang leading off the seventh, and the Pirates rookie tattooed it into the second deck in left-center field for his 14th home run. ESPN measured the blast at 476 feet, the longest by a Pirates player since 2009.

In his first career appearance at first base, Ramirez, 37, played clean defense before being lifted in the seventh for defensive replacement Sean Rodriguez. Rodriguez doubled home Polanco in the ninth for the seventh and final Pirates run.

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