Pirates at Reds
The Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates finished April with identical 11-13 records, tying the division rivals for last place in the National League Central. One team will try to gain an advantage over the other when the Pirates continue a seven-game road trip by visiting the Reds for the opener of a four-game series on Monday.
Pittsburgh was struggling to score runs prior to last week, when they piled up 22 during a three-game winning streak before falling off the pace in a 10-3 setback on Sunday. One player who stayed hot was first baseman Josh Bell, who belted a two-run homer on Sunday and is 6-for-14 with two homers, three RBIs and five runs scored in the last four contests. Trying to retire Bell and the rest of the Pirates lineup on Monday will be rookie left-hander Amir Garrett, who is coming off his worst major-league appearance, while Pittsburgh counters with ace Gerrit Cole. Cincinnati snapped a four-game slide and avoided a second straight sweep with a 5-4 win at St. Louis on Sunday, which also ended a string of seven consecutive games in which the staff allowed at least five runs.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, ROOT Pittsburgh, FSN Ohio (Cincinnati)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates RH Gerrit Cole (1-3, 3.60 ERA) vs. Reds LH Amir Garrett (2-2, 5.09)
Cole is having some trouble getting support from the Pittsburgh offense and suffered a loss against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday despite allowing just one unearned run and two hits while striking out eight without a walk in seven innings. That made two straight losses for the former No. 1 overall pick, who came out on the wrong end of a 2-1 final at St. Louis on April 19. Cole has been surprisingly bad against the Reds in his career and enters Monday's start 0-6 with a 5.44 ERA in eight starts against the division rivals.
Garrett dominated in his first three major-league starts but finally faced some adversity at Milwaukee last Monday, when he was ripped for 10 runs - nine earned - on eight hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings. The former basketball player from St. John's struck out one in that loss after punching out 12 over seven innings against Baltimore on April 19. Garrett earned a win over Pittsburgh on April 12, when he allowed two runs and struck out five in 6 2/3 frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. Reds LF Adam Duvall went 4-for-5 with three doubles on Sunday after going 4-for-35 over his previous eight games.
2. Pittsburgh C Francisco Cervelli (foot) sat out Sunday and will be re-evaluated prior to Monday's contest.
3. Cincinnati SS Zack Cozart went 1-for-12 in his last three games to drop his batting average from .407 to .352.