Nick Lodolo outduels Bailey Falter, Santiago Espinal homer leads Reds past Pirates

If the Pittsburgh Pirates thought beating the Cincinnati Reds was going to be as easy as 5-4-3, they were wrong.

The Pirates turned three double plays in the first three innings, all starting with grounders to third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes throwing to Nick Gonzales at second base and relayed to Connor Joe at first.

But Nick Lodolo outdueled Bailey Falter in a matchup of efficient left-handers, and Santiago Espinal’s two-run home run in the fifth provided the difference as the Reds beat the Pirates, 2-1, on Tuesday night before 16,880 at PNC Park. The two teams — both 35-38 — moved back into a third-place tie in NL Central standings.

“Bailey was able to get the ball on the ground and make them put it in play. They happened to come right to me. Pretty big double plays to keep the game scoreless,” said Hayes, who hit his first homer at PNC Park this season. “Lodolo was throwing really well, and Bailey also threw really well. It was a good matchup. We weren’t able to get to them.”

Falter (3-5) bounced back after a pair of rough starts — he allowed a combined eight earned runs in as many innings — with a quality start. He was efficient in navigating seven innings on 80 pitches, including a five-pitch seventh, and gave up seven hits and two walks.

“It felt good to go out there and provide for the team, especially after my last two starts,” Falter said. “Those guys have been working for me for a really long time, so it felt good to go out there and get the job done.”

Reds starter Lodolo (8-2) allowed a run on four hits and had eight strikeouts without a walk in seven innings.

Solid defense got Falter out of trouble in each of the first three innings, turning double plays after he issued walks in the first and second. Jake Fraley singled to start the third but was thrown out by catcher Jason Delay while attempting to steal second. Luke Maile singled, but Stuart Fairchild grounded into another double play.

“It’s awesome, especially coming from a fly-ball pitcher, so I kind of shocked myself out there,” Falter said. “I don’t really see those too often. Just don’t walk guys, you know? But it was cool.”

The Pirates threatened to score in the bottom of the third, when Andrew McCutchen hit a two-out single to center and Bryan Reynolds roped a double down the left-field line to extend his hitting streak to an MLB-leading 16 games. But Lodolo struck out Connor Joe to escape the jam.

Falter kept the Reds scoreless until the fifth, when Jonathan India doubled off the center-field wall and Espinal followed by driving a 1-0 fastball 376 feet to the left-field corner for his fourth home run and a 2-0 lead.

Falter credited catcher Jason Delay for calling a “fantastic” game, saying he trusted his pitch calling.

“We’d like to have one pitch back to India,” Falter said, “but, other than that, thought we did really well controlling the zone.”

The Pirates nearly answered with a solo shot to the left field corner but Spencer Steer leapt above the wall to snag Michael A. Taylor’s fly ball and rob him of a homer.

“I thought we took some pretty good swings,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We drove some balls. They just ran them down.”

Lodolo surrendered his lone run when Hayes hit a 382-foot shot to left that sailed over Steer’s outstretched arm for his third homer to cut it to 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh.

The Pirates had a rally thwarted by a big Reds defensive play in the eighth. McCutchen drew a full-count walk and rounded second base when Reynolds hit a line drive to the warning track in center that was snared by Fairchild, who turned an inning-ending 8-6-3 double play.

“I think he made an aggressive read thinking that he wasn’t going to get there,” Shelton said of McCutchen, “and he just got too aggressive on that ball.”

Alexis Diaz retired the Pirates in order for his 16th save, capping off one terrific pitching duel and setting the stage for another. Pirates ace Mitch Keller is scheduled to face Hunter Greene in the series finale Wednesday afternoon.

“They have good pitching,” Shelton said. “I think that’s the one thing they’ve done a really good job. They have good, young starting pitching with big arms and you just got to continue to grind. I think we knew coming into this series it was going to be a good pitching matchup.”