PITTSBURGH — For all of the pitchers to allow a lopsided inning for the Pirates, left-hander Manny Banuelos wasn’t a likely suspect.
Banuelos made his Pirates debut back on June 7 after Pittsburgh acquired him for cash considerations from the New York Yankees. Banuelos actually debuted against the Yankees and got beaten up, allowing five earned runs in just ⅓ of an inning.
Since then, in his next 14 appearances, Banuelos allowed only one earned run. His solid pitching was as close to a sure thing as the Pirates had in their bullpen.
So in a 9-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, manager Derek Shelton probably felt comfortable going to Banuelos in the sixth inning. From the jump, though, it was clear Banuelos didn’t have his usual strong stuff.
Banuelos walked the first two batters he faced, then Reds catcher Michael Papierski, the No. 9 hitter, bunted the runners over. Designated hitter Jake Fraley, who has been on fire against the Pirates, smoked a ball off the top of the Clemente Wall in right with so much velocity that he only ended up with a long, deep, two-run single.
The next batter, Jonathan India, tripled home Fraley, then India scored on a single to left. That made for a devastating, four-run inning that sunk the Pirates.
At the time Banuelos departed, the Pirates were down by five runs. They chipped away at that lead in the sixth, with utility man Tucupita Marcano ripping a two-run double to right and catcher Jason Delay singling him home for a three-run inning.
That still left the Pirates in a deficit, though, and another reliable reliever didn’t help things. Right-hander Colin Holderman came into the game with a 1.67 ERA 27 innings this season.
Holderman pitched a 1-2-3 inning, then was asked to come back out for the eighth. He gave up two walks and an RBI single before making way for the newly-recalled Cam Vieaux, who gave up another single to charge a pair of runs to Holderman.
That essentially erased any hopes of a Pirates comeback.
There is no real definition for a blow-up inning. It might be overly critical to characterize Holderman’s efforts as a true blow-up. But they certainly were uncharacteristic, considering their resumes this season.
They also came on the back of a semi-rocky start from right-hander Zach Thompson. He allowed a lead-off homer to Fraley in the first, who went 2-for-2 with a homer, a double, three walks, four runs scored and three RBIs in the game. Thompson then settled in for the second, but a two-run, third-inning blast from Mike Moustakas wrested the lead away from the Pirates.
Thompson lasted two more frames without allowing a run in what may be his final start for a while. With Mitch Keller returning, Roansy Contreras now in the majors and Tyler Beede seemingly a part of the rotation now, Shelton implied earlier in the week that Thompson could return to a hybrid type role out of the bullpen.
If that’s the case, he left the Pirates in a decent spot Sunday. If the bullpen had locked down the rest of the game, the offense did enough to put a solid number of runs on the board. Of all people, Banuelos and Holderman couldn’t hold things down, though.
As a result, the Pirates lost their second in a row and their eighth in the last 10 games.
