What a baseball team absolutely does not want to do is spot pitcher Paul Skenes a three-run lead before he even walks to the mound.
It is a certain recipe for a proverbial baseball death.
Cincinnati Reds’ Eugenio Suárez (28) celebrates with third base coach Willie Harris (99) after hitting a two-run homer during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Cincinnati, Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
Carolyn Kaster – AP
That was the unfortunate scenario for Andrew Abbott and the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday afternoon in Great American Ball Park.
Abbott gave up a three-run home run in the first inning to Oneil Cruz to provide Skenes with a three-run lead. Then Skenes, the National League Cy Young winner, took it from there as the Pittsburgh Pirates buried the Reds, 8-3.
“He left a hanging breaking ball to a guy who really feels good about himself right now,” said Reds managaer Tito Francona told reporters after the game, referring to Cruz’s home run.
Skenes pitched three scoreless and hitless innings to start the game and stretch his scoreless streak against the Reds to 31 innings.
“With Skenes on the mound, you hate to give them anything early because you know you are going to have to fight for everything you can get,” said Francona.
The Reds finally scored a run against him in the fourth on a single by Elly De La Cruz and a double by designated hitter Nathaniel Lowe to cut the lead to 3-1.
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati, Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
Carolyn Kaster – AP
Skenes left after five innings with a line of one run, three hits, two walks and five strikeouts.
The multi-talented righthander is 5-0 in six starts against the Reds and has given up two earned runs in 34 innings for a 0.52 earned run average.
Abbott retired the first two Pirates in the first on weak ground balls, but Bryan Reynolds singled, Marcell Ozuna walked and Cruz unloaded a 407-foot blast into the right field sun deck.
It was his third home run of the series, won by the Pirates two games to one, and his ninth homer in 19 games in GABP.
Abbott righted himself after that and retired 14 of the next 15 hitters and the one that reached base got there on a walk and was quickly erased on a double play.
“After the first, he got into a rhythm like he can, which is good,” said Francona. “He had seven-pitch and six-pitch innings, a lot more like Abbott.”
Once again he retired the first two hitters in the sixth when it was 3-1. But Cruz singled and Nick Yorke walked, ending Abbott’s day.
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Connor Phillips, right, and catcher Tyler Stephenson, left, talk on the mound during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Cincinnati, Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
Carolyn Kaster – AP
Carson Phillips replaced Abbott and took a walk on the wild side. Eight of his first nine pitches were balls, a walk to Jared Triolo and a 3-and-1 walk to Spencer Horwitz that forced in a run to make it 4-1.
The Reds scrambled back into the game in the sixth against Pittsburgh relief pitcher Mason Montgomery. Sal Stewart walked and Francona sent up Eugenio Suarez to pinch-hit.
Nathaniel Lowe started the game as the DH, but with lefthander Montgomery on the mound, Suarez was sent up to pinch-hit. And he crushed a two-run home run into the upper deck in left field and the Reds were within, 4-3.
It was Suarez’s second pinch-hit home run of his career and the other was way back in 2017 in Cleveland.
The Reds then had three innings to overcome the one-run deficit, but three Pittsburgh relief pitchers retired nine straight.
It was still 4-3 in the ninth when Francona sent closer Emilio Pagan to pitch in a non-closing situation. Too often when a closer pitches in a non-closing situation the adrenaline is not there.
That was the case with Pagan. He gave up four runs in the top of the ninth that included a two-run home run by Reynolds. Those were the most runs he has ever given up while wearing a Reds uniform.
He began the inning by giving up a single to Spencer Horwitz. Number nine hitter Henry Davis, a lightweight with the bat, tried to bunt and Pagan hit him.
Then he threw a wild pitch to Nick Gonzales, moving the runners to second and third and forcing the infield to play in. Gonzales rolled a two-run single between short and third. And Reynolds homered.
“Y’know, the wild pitch was huge for us,” Francona told reporters. “If we’re playing back, that’s probably a double play ball. But we can’t play back in that situation and it just got away.”
That made it 8-3, the same score by which the Reds lost the second game of the series Tuesday night.
After the Reds won the opener, 2-0, Cruz and Reynolds, both career-long Reds’ assassins, took over in games two and three.
For Reds pitchers, facing those two is like standing under a dangling chandelier. They come, they see and they hit.
Cruz was 5 for 9 with three homers, six RBI and five runs scored. Reynolds was 3 for 9 with two homers, three RBI and three runs scored.
The Reds (3-3) are off Thursday before hitting the road for a three-game series against the Texas Rangers that begins Friday night in Arlington, Tex.