CINCINNATI — The first win of the season for a Pirates starting pitcher will have to wait. So will any good vibes emanating from the banks of the Ohio River, which vanished along with a couple baseballs off the bat of old friend Colin Moran, who smacked two home runs and collected six RBIs against his former team.
Pittsburgh’s 7-3 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park included a couple different storylines, none of them good. The first, obviously, was Moran’s monster day. Much like another ex-Pirate, Andrew McCutchen, who had three hits, a homer and three RBIs during a 3-2 Brewers victory on April 28 at PNC Park, Moran let his old club have it.
With the Reds trailing by one in the sixth, Moran belted a Heath Hembree fastball into the right-center field stands for a go-ahead grand slam that changed the entire complexion of the game. He gave Cincinnati some insurance in the eight by taking Chase De Jong deep to center, connecting on another heater that was poorly placed.
