Pirates clinch home field in National League wild-card game with 4-0 victory over Reds

PITTSBURGH _ J.A. Happ wasn’t yet a Pirate on May 20, when the Pirates lost a 13-inning game against the Minnesota Twins. Their record was 18-22. They were nine games out of first place.tmpplchld “If I’d asked any one of you at the end of April if we would be in a position to win 98 games,” general manager Neal Huntington told reporters prior to Sunday’s game, “I don’t think there would have been very many takers on that bet.”tmpplchld After losing to the Twins, the Pirates went on a seven-game winning streak. They went 80-42 after the 18-22 start, culminating their season with a 4-0 victory against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday at PNC Park.tmpplchld They won 98 games for the sixth time in club history and the first time since 1991. Their reward is a one-game playoff against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, but by winning today, they made sure they would play at PNC Park.tmpplchld Happ (7-2) pitched six scoreless innings for the second consecutive start. In 11 starts since the Pirates acquired him at the trade deadline, Happ has a 1.85 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 63 1/3 innings.tmpplchld Josh Harrison went 3-for-4 and Pedro Alvarez homered. Neil Walker, Francisco Cervelli and Jordy Mercer each had two hits.tmpplchld Harrison, who was hitting .307 since the start of September, doubled in the first. Walker brought Harrison home with a single.tmpplchld The Pirates didn’t score again until the fourth, when Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez hit his 27th homer over the seats in right-center field, 479 feet away.tmpplchld Consecutive doubles from Cervelli and Mercer created a run in the sixth, and Gregory Polanco and Harrison used the same formula to score another run in the seventh.tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Pittsburgh Post-Gazettetmpplchld Visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at www.post-gazette.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld