Pirates play spoiler and beat Reds as Hunter Barco earns win in MLB debut

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sep 23, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CINCINNATI — The Pirates played a meaningful September baseball game on Tuesday night. They made the opportunity count.

The Pirates played spoiler at Great American Ball Park, beating the Reds, 4-2, to knock Cincinnati, at least momentarily, out of a wild-card berth. No. 4 prospect Hunter Barco made his major league debut and pitched a scoreless inning in relief to earn his first career win.

The Pirates opened the game with a four-run flurry off Reds starter Brady Singer in the second inning, and it was the bottom of the order that did it. Jack Suwinski started the inning with a double to the left-center field gap, before Nick Yorke scored him with a grounder up the middle. Alexander Canario then laced a double down the left-field line to bring Yorke in from first.

Oneil Cruz followed with the most important swing of the game, blasting a two-run homer to left field to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead. The homer, Cruz’s 20th of the season, made him one of six Pirates to be part of the 20/20 club (20 homers and 20 stolen bases) in multiple seasons, joining Barry Bonds, Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, Andy Van Slyke and Dave Parker.

But the Reds refused to go quietly. Shortstop Elly De La Cruz crushed a two-run homer to right field off Johan Oviedo in the bottom of the second inning, halving the deficit.

The Reds had one of their best opportunities to rally in the fourth inning. With one out, Oviedo walked first baseman Spencer Steer to bring De La Cruz to the plate as the tying run. After a De La Cruz single, Oviedo struck out second baseman Matt McLain and left fielder Will Benson to end the inning. Suwinski seemed to have ended it three pitches sooner, when he made what appeared to be a fantastic Superman-style diving catch down the left-field line, but the call was overturned to a foul ball upon review.

Barco made his major league debut in the sixth inning, entering to protect a two-run lead against a team fighting for October, and pitched a scoreless inning. He allowed two hits and plenty of hard contact, but with two runners on, got McLain to ground into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.

Both the seventh and eighth innings, pitched by Justin Lawrence and Isaac Mattson, respectively, ended in 6-4-3 double plays.

It was over when …

Dennis Santana pitched the ninth. With one out, he walked De La Cruz on four pitches, but he got McLain to ground into a double play to third base to end it.

On the mound

Oviedo completed 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on two hits and three walks. He struck out seven.

At the plate

Cruz’s homer was his first of September and just his second since Aug. 2.

Yorke was the only Pirate to have a multi-hit game, going 2 for 4 with two singles, a run and an RBI. In his current five-game hitting streak, he’s batting .388 (7 for 18).

Most valuable player

Despite the loss, De La Cruz stood out. The Reds shortstop has slumped, with just two homers entering Tuesday since the start of July and batting .212 since the beginning of August, but he went 3 for 3 against the Pirates with two RBIs. He also had multiple strong defensive plays at shortstop.

Up next

The Pirates and Reds continue their series on Wednesday with a matchup of two of baseball’s best young arms. The Pirates will start Paul Skenes (10-10, 2.03) against Reds right-hander Hunter Greene (7-4, 2.74).