By Hal McCoy
That wasn’t Paul Skenes, not as advertised.
That wasn’t Hunter Greene, not as advertised.
What was billed and expected to be a marquee pitching match-up between Skenes and Greene was anything but.
And the score says it all, Cincinnati Reds 8, Pittsburgh Pirates 7 Friday night in Great American Ball Park.
The star, who is the star most nights, was Reds first baseman Sal Stewart with a four RBI night in a game that flipped back-and-forth like a thick book.
Not only were the starting pitchers off, but both bullpens were far off the mark.
When Greene left after six innings, the Reds led, 5-4.
But Cincinnati relief pitchers Caleb Ferguson and Pierce Johnson gave up three runs in the eighth to push the Pirates in front, 7-5.
Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly sent rookie Wilber Dotel out to pitch the bottom of the eighth and the Reds stormed back to score three for the 8-7 margin.
And the go-ahead and winning run scored on a weird play and once again the Reds’ Nathaniel Lowe was involved.
On Thursday, his fielder’s choice chopped infield grounder that should have been an inning-ending double play was botched and bungled by the Pirates and Elly De La Cruz crossed home plate with the walk-off winning run.
On Friday, with the score tied, 7-7, the Reds had the bases loaded with two outs.
And it was Lowe again.
He hit a ground ball to third baseman Nick Gonzales. An easy throw to first base gets the third out.
But he took two deliberate hop steps and decided to throw to second to late-arriving second baseman Brandon Lowe. He missed the throw for an error as Stewart scored the go-ahead and winning run.
Noelvi Marte, who had three hits, fell behind 0-and-2, worked the count full and on Dotel’s 10th pitch he led the eighth with a single to left.
Matt McLain, 1 for 20, poked a single to left, sending Marte to third. Elly De La Cruz struck out.
Stewart, who hit a two-run home run in the fourth that gave the Reds a 5-4 lead, picked on Dotel’s first pitch and lined a hard single to right field, scoring both Marte and McLain to tie it, 7-7.
The Pirates elected to walk Tyler Stephenson intentionally to fill the bases. That was so they could bring in left-hander Mason Montgomery to face the left-handed Lowe.
And the game-deciding error happened, enabling the Reds to score their second straight one-run win over the Pirates and win their seventh game in their last 10.
Skenes, last season’s National League Cy Young winner, was 5-0 with a 1.38 earned run average for his career against the Reds.
But something is amiss with him this year. He is 9-9 with a 3.90 earned run average and the Pirates have lost 14 of his 23 starts..
The Reds racked him for five runs and seven hits, forcing him to throw 100 mostly uncompetitive pitches in four innings.
Skenes had never given up a home run to the Reds in his career, but JJ Bleday picked on a first pitch and homered in the third inning.
And Stewart followed De La Cruz’s one-out triple in the fourth with a first-pitch 409-foot home run.
Stewart owns 84 RBI, the most in MLB history for a rookie at the end of July.
Stewart is suddenly very cryptic and a man of few words during post-game interviews with the media.
“There’s a lot of camaraderie in our clubhouse, we know what we can do and we’re going to keep going out there and playing hard,” he said.
Before Stewart cracked his two-run single in the eighth, the Pirates had a long, long meeting on the mound with pitcher Dotel, which drew hoots and hollers from the Reds dugout.
Then Stewart stepped in and crushed the first pitch.
“I was looking for a good pitch to hit,” he said. “That’s pretty much it.”
When asked about his 84 RBI, most for a rookie at this point of the season, Stewart wrinkled his face and said, “Uh. . .I mean, it’s great, but I just want to win.”
The Pirates took a 2-0 lead in the first when the Reds played sandlot baseball.
With one out and a runner on first, Bryan Reynolds hit a possible double play grounder to McLain at second. But he bobbled the ball, recovering in time for the force at second, but Reynolds was safe at first.
Greene walked Esmeralyn Valdez on a full count. Ryan O’Neill hit a ground ball to Stewart at first, but Greene was late getting over to cover first and O’Neill was safe to load the bases.
Nick Gonzales extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a two-run single and the Pirates led, 2-0.
The Reds retrieved those two runs in the bottom of the first against Skenes with two outs and nobody on.
Bleday walked, Tyler Stephenson doubled him home and Lowe singled home Stephenson.
And the see-saw, up-and-down, back-and-forth game was on.
Greene gave up four runs and seven hits during his 91-pitch, six-inning performance.
The numbers weren’t great, but Greene competed and was not distressed over his night.
“I had to battle through the night trying to make pitches to keep my team in the game,” he said. “It was a roller coaster ride from the first pitch to the last pitch.
“I felt I was making good pitches and, yeah, they had some hard hit balls, but for the most part I felt I was making really good pitches,” he added. “They had three or four hits that were something like 60 miles an hour. Nothing I could do about that. I can’t control that. . .just weak hits.”
With the trade deadline looming Monday, Greene’s name keeps surfacing as trade bait.
He was asked his thoughts about Friday possibly being his last start for the Reds and he said, “I have nothing to say about that. I have no control over it.
“I’m not on the business side,” he added. “I can’t do anything about it. Obviously, I’ve grown and have a strong connection with the city and with my teammates here and the staff over the years.
“But I’m not going to wrack my brain over something I can’t control to put energy and stress into it,” he continued. “That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Nor does trading Greene make any sense.