{"id":645963,"date":"2026-05-03T22:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/645963\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T22:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:49:13","slug":"cruz-delivers-go-ahead-hit-in-the-8th-as-pirates-top-reds-1-0-to-complete-a-3-game-sweep-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/645963\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruz delivers go-ahead hit in the 8th as Pirates top Reds 1-0 to complete a 3-game sweep \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 Oneil Cruz hit a tie-breaking single in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a sweep of Cincinnati with a 1-0 win on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Pirates rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin doubled off the centerfield wall against Reds reliever Tony Santillan (1-1) with two outs in the eighth. Pinch hitter Jake Mangum worked a full count walk and Cruz followed by lacing a single to center. Griffin beat TJ Friedl\u2019s throw home with ease as Pittsburgh responded to getting swept at home by St. Louis by taking three straight from the Reds.<\/p>\n

Gregory Soto (3-0) got the last four outs after taking over following a brilliant performance by starter Braxton Ashcraft.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Pittsburgh
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPittsburgh Pirates’ Oneil Cruz fouls a pitch from Cincinnati Reds’ Chase Burns off his foot in the sixth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, May 3, 2026. (AP Photo\/Tom E. Puskar)<\/p>\n

A day after seven pitchers combined to issue 11 walks \u2014 including an MLB-record tying seven straight at one point \u2014 Cincinnati rookie Chase Burns was far more efficient while matching Ashcraft pitch for pitch<\/p>\n

Ashcraft bounced back from a rocky performance in a loss to St. Louis with the best start of his young career. The 26-year-old allowed four hits over 7 2\/3 innings with a pair of walks and six strikeouts. He also benefited from a couple of excellent defensive plays behind him.<\/p>\n

Second baseman Brandon Lowe \u2014 all 5-foot-9 of him \u2014 climbed the ladder to rob JJ Bleday of a hit to end the sixth, a snag that came with Friedl on second base representing the go-ahead run. Third baseman Nick Gonzales threw out Cincinnati\u2019s Spencer Steer at the plate to help Pittsburgh get out of a two-on, one-out threat in the eighth.<\/p>\n

Burns, a 23-year-old rookie, was perhaps even better. The hard-throwing right-hander, whose fastball easily tops 100 mph, allowed a leadoff infield single to Cruz, then retired 16 straight before Joey Bart\u2019s single with one out in the sixth. Burns allowed three hits in seven-plus innings, with a walk and seven strikeouts, to lower his ERA to 2.20.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Reds: Head to Chicago on Monday for a four-game series against the Cubs.<\/p>\n

Pirates: Start a six-game trip on Tuesday in Arizona.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH (AP) \u2014 Oneil Cruz hit a tie-breaking single in the bottom of the eighth inning and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-645963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}