Pirates 6, Reds 1
Charlie Morton pitched his second career complete game and Jose Tabata had four hits as the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates snapped a four-game slide with a 6-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday.
Neil Walker and Garrett Jones homered and Lyle Overbay drove in a run and scored twice for the Pirates, who had totaled one run in their previous two games.
Morton (2-0), who struggled mightily when he started the 2010 season with an 0-5 mark and a 12.57 ERA, has been a different pitcher so far in 2011. The 27-year-old righthander yielded just five hits and walked two while striking out three on Friday to lower his ERA to 1.64 after three starts.
A solo home run by Jay Bruce with two outs in the ninth ended Morton’s shutout bid.
Pittsburgh got to Bronson Arroyo (2-1) in the second inning when Jones sent a solo blast out to deep right and added another in the third on Chris Snyder’s RBI single.
The Pirates broke it open in the fourth, ending Arroyo’s night with a three-run rally. Overbay got it started when his single pushed Tabata across and Walker followed with a two-run shot - his third.