Nick Castellanos homered to highlight his five-RBI performance and Joey Votto belted a pair of two-run shots to propel the host Cincinnati Reds to a 13-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday.
Castellanos had a pair of sacrifice flies before launching a three-run blast in the sixth inning for his 33rd homer of the season. Castellanos has gone deep in four straight games for the Reds (82-75), who banged out 17 hits.
Rookie Jonathan India belted a two-run homer to highlight his first career four-hit performance. Eugenio Suarez had a solo shot among his three hits.
Cincinnati, which has won four in a row, resides 5 1/2 games behind red-hot St. Louis for the second wild card in the National League. The Reds would need to win their remaining five games and have the Cardinals — winners of 16 straight — lose their final six contests to force a tie.
The offense was more than enough for Reiver Sanmartin (1-0), who was recalled from Triple-A Louisville to make his MLB debut. The 25-year-old left-hander allowed one run on five hits while striking out five in 5 2/3 innings.
Anthony Alford had two hits and scored on a wild pitch in the fifth inning for the Pirates (58-98), who have lost 12 of 16 encounters against Cincinnati this season.
The game was being made up after last Wednesday’s contest was postponed due to inclement weather.
The Reds bolted out of the blocks as Castellanos’ first sacrifice fly plated India before Votto deposited a 3-1 fastball from Connor Overton (0-1) over the wall in left field.
Tucker Barnhart gave Cincinnati a 4-0 lead later in the first inning with an RBI single to center field that plated Suarez.
The Reds followed up that four-run inning by scoring four times in the fourth.
Castellanos tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly before Votto sent a 3-2 cutter from Cody Ponce an estimated 466 feet, landing well into the seats in right field. The homer was Votto’s team-leading 35th of the season and fifth in his last six games.
Suarez followed suit three pitches later with his 29th homer of the season and third in his last seven games.
–Field Level Media