CINCINNATI — The Pirates fell to the Reds by a final score of 4-0 Sunday afternoon at Great American Ball Park. Hunter Greene was the winning pitcher, improving to 2-1, while Carmen Mlodzinski suffered the loss, falling to 1-2.
The Reds jumped ahead 2-0 in the third inning thanks to a single from Santiago Espinal that scored Austin Wynns and TJ Friedl. Terry Francona’s ballclub added two more to its total in the fifth, bringing the game to its final score. Once again, the Pirates offense struggled, tallying only two hits throughout the nine innings of play.
A complete recap of Sunday’s game can be read here. Below are the Post-Gazette’s three takeaways from the contest.
Greene dominates
The Pirates offense has made plenty of average pitchers look like All-Stars this young season. When matched up against Greene, one of the top arms in the National League, it was easy to assume how things would unfold.
Greene dominated for seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out eight. His full arsenal was on display, overpowering hitters with his four-seam fastball while also keeping them off balanced with his slider. Perhaps the greatest sign of his dominance was how his outing concluded, retiring the final 17 batters he faced.
"He was landing the upper-quadrant today with the fastball,” shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa said. “He was dotting everything up in the zone and was able to throw the offspeed off of that pitch. This is the most I've ever seen him throw the fastball. … He's pounding the fastball up in the zone and it's hard to hit 100 at the top."
Early on, the Pirates had a few chances to take Greene out of his rhythm. Bryan Reynolds doubled to right-center in the top of the first inning, which was followed by a walk from Oneil Cruz. The duo both moved up 90-feet later in the frame, giving Alexander Canario a pair of runners in scoring position with two outs. However, Greene escaped the jam by getting Canario to line out to short.
Kiner-Falefa created another scoring opportunity in the top of the second, when a missed diving effort from Jake Fraley turned into a one-out triple. But similar to what occurred in the frame prior, the Pirates were unable to bring the run home. Kiner-Falefa was the Pirates’ final base runner of the contest, as Greene and the Reds bullpen retired the side in order for the remaining seven innings.
“Yeah, that's definitely the challenge,” manager Derek Shelton said. “This guy's got one of the lowest ERAs since August 1 of last year. He was locked in, and once he got locked in, he got really locked in. Execution of all three pitches was really good. We talked pregame, you can't let opportunities get away. We had some opportunities early and we let them get away and then he got settled in. I think we saw how good he is.”
Second time through
For the second time in three starts this season, Mlodzinski, a proven big-league reliever, lost momentum when he faced batters for a second and third time. Hard contact began in the third inning, when he was tagged for the first two runs he surrendered in the outing. After a 1-2-3 fourth frame, the Reds ended his day with two more runs in the top of the fifth, a rally that started when he walked the first batter he faced.
“It looked like that second or third time through, the velocity dipped down a little bit,” Shelton said. “The command dipped down a little bit. We have to stay away from walks, especially at the bottom of the order.”
“Any time you can be more efficient and not walk guys, it’s going to help your outing,” Mlodzinski said. “The second time through and the third time through is something I’m still working with. It’s figuring out where do my mechanics start to go when I get later in the game and I do start to have some fatigue and, ultimately, how do I get outs? What are these guys trying to do against me the second and third time through and where can I start to attack in order to be more efficient and get the outs that I need later in the game?”
While it is still early in Mlodzinski’s transition into a starter, the first few showings indicate that he would be far more effective if he were still in the bullpen. In 27 first-time plate appearances for the opposition (the first nine batters he faced in each of his three starts), Mlodzinski has surrendered just five hits and three walks, while striking out five.
Only one of those 27 batters scored, and that run was produced later in the frame, during a second-time matchup. Meanwhile, Mlodzinski’s numbers take a notable dip the second time through, surrendering six runs on 10 hits and two walks in 27 plate appearances. He has only faced seven batters for a third time this season, and two of them have scored as well.
‘Not good baseball’
Sixteen games into the season, the Pirates have the unquestionable worst offense in the league, ranking last of 30 MLB teams in batting average (.184), slugging percentage (.290) and OPS (.563). Only the Boston Red Sox (165) and Colorado Rockies (155) have struck out more than the Pirates (151). The Pirates are also tied with the White Sox for the third-least runs scored (50) and tied with the Rangers for the third-worst on base percentage (.273).
“We can't let opportunities be squandered,” Shelton said. “We have to capitalize on opportunities when we do have them. The other thing is, we can't look around and say 'Hey, these guys aren't in our lineup.' The guys that are here need to execute, need to get the job done.”
But while offense is the most obvious issue, it is far from the only thing Shelton’s club has consistently struggled with. The other major concern can be found in the field, where the Pirates continue to give runs away.
The latest example of this came in the bottom of the fifth inning Sunday, when with runners on the corners and no outs, Friedl bounced a ball to first baseman Endy Rodriguez. The Pirates defensive positioning — corners in — was correct for this situation. But despite being in the right place, Rodriguez made the wrong decision.
Rather than throwing the ball home, Rodriguez twisted and threw the ball to second base, hoping to turn a double play. Friedl, who was able to out-run Kiner-Falefa’s throw, then came around to score two at-bats later on a single from Elly De La Cruz. Shelton said it was the wrong decision.
“The ball should have gone to the plate,” Shelton said. “It should have gone to the plate there. With the depth we're at, with where we're at, that ball has to be thrown to the plate.”
Mistakes such as these have become a common theme for the Pirates, and are something the players are not pretending to hide from.
"I just think a lot of guys are doing new things for the first time, out of position,” Kiner-Falefa said. “But it's what we've got. We've got to figure out a way to win games and to gain experience on the fly. It's not good baseball we're playing.
“We've got to find a way to win games. Anything it takes."
First Published: April 13, 2025, 9:43 p.m.
Updated: April 14, 2025, 1:47 p.m.
