Bullpen comes through in Pirates' shutout win over Reds

Despite one late hiccup, this was more like how manager Clint Hurdle drew it up for the late innings when the Pittsburgh Pirates exited spring training.

Three relievers combined for four scoreless innings Thursday night in the Pirates’ 2-0 victory against the Cincinnati Reds, the performance coming after the bullpen blew multi-run leads in consecutive losses against St. Louis.

It was anything but easy, however. Closer Felipe Vazquez had the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at the plate with one out in the ninth before getting a pair of strikeouts to end the game.

Nick Kingham (1-0) replaced starter Jordan Lyles (five shutout innings) for the sixth and worked two innings. Richard Rodriguez held a one-run lead in the eighth, and Vazquez overcame his high-wire act for his first save.

The Pirates were 69-3 last season when leading after seven innings. They’ve lost twice in the first week of the season in such situations, the bullpen failing to protect 4-0 and 3-1 advantages.

“I have trouble using the term ‘bounce back’ this early,” Hurdle said. “People look at things different ways. We just need to go play baseball. … Let’s get some continuity, let’s get some rhythm, let’s get some reps.

“I really believe, and I’m confident that things will clean themselves up because of the skill level the guys got.”

Vazquez had 37 saves last year when he made the National League All-Star team. But he didn’t have clean outings in his first two appearances and yielded the tying run in the ninth inning Monday in the home opener.

“The season started just a few days ago. It’s not like it’s the middle of the season,” Vazquez said. “You try to forget as quick as you can and go back at it.”

It looked like more of the same when the Reds put runners on second and third with one out. But Vazquez struck out pinch hitters Curt Casali and Kyle Farmer to end it.

“I just had to get back to executing my pitches,” Vazquez said.

Kingham replaced Lyles in the sixth and gave up two hits in two innings. Rodriguez, who had a 27.00 ERA and retired just three of nine batters in his first two appearances, overcame a two-out walk in the eighth.

Rodriguez was called upon to protect a 1-0 lead because setup man Keone Kela was unavailable.

“My mentality was, ‘Let’s just go,’ ” Rodriguez said through a translator. “The truth is, this is the beginning of the season, we’re just getting started. I’m not putting any excuse, but what happened in the past, happened in the past. I flushed it. I was ready to bounce back.”

Kevin Newman had a run-scoring groundout in the seventh inning to snap a scoreless tie, and the Pirates tacked on a run in the eighth on Josh Bell’s RBI single. On a day when another outfielder — Corey Dickerson — landed on the injured list, the Pirates reconfigured outfield combined for six hits — three from Melky Cabrera, two from Starling Marte and a clutch hit-and-run single from J.B. Shuck.

Lyles made his Pirates debut and checked the Reds on three hits over five innings. He struck out two and walked three (one intentionally). With his pitch limit at 80, Lyles was pulled by Hurdle to start the sixth.

“Five innings, I’m not thrilled about that,” Lyles said. “Clint was up front and said he wanted me to get off to a good start. I respect that.”

The fifth starter closed spring training by throwing 92 pitches in a minor league game, so Lyles was built up sufficiently to remain in the game longer.

“We have no intentions of you being a five-inning guy,” Hurdle said he told Lyles. “Tonight, it’s just the way it worked with the pitches that were thrown. … He wanted to push it a little bit, and I said we’re good for tonight.”

The Reds presented just one challenge for Lyles, and it came in the fourth when they put runners on first and second with one out. The Pirates had the shift on for Tucker Barnhart.

In his first at-bat, Barnhart doubled. This time, he tapped a changeup to third, and Jung Ho Kang started a 5-6-3 double play that got Lyles out of the jam.

“It’s a big play,” Hurdle said. “It could be one of the pivotal plays in the game.”

Reds starter Tyler Mahle didn’t resemble the pitcher who entered with a career 0-3 record and 5.91 ERA in four starts against the Pirates. Mahle worked six scoreless innings and allowed five hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

The Pirates pieced together a run in the seventh against reliever David Hernandez. Cabrera hit a one-out single to center for his third hit and exited for pinch runner Pablo Reyes. With Reyes running on the pitch, Shuck hit a grounder to the spot vacated by Jose Peraza. The second baseman deflected the ball, but Reyes continued to third.

Newman hit a weak grounder to the right side, and the Reds could only get the out at first while Reyes crossed the plate for a 1-0 lead.

Singles by Marte, Cervelli and Bell with one out in the eighth pushed across the second run for the Pirates.

It was another departure from the previous two losses when the Pirates couldn’t build on leads.

“It’s never not important to get add-on runs,” Hurdle said. “You don’t realize how valuable they are until you don’t get them. You get that extra one there, and you see how the next inning played out.”

It started to play out like another nightmarish outcome for the Pirates. Then, Vazquez regrouped to help avoid a third consecutive loss for the bullpen.

“That’s the way we used to be last year,” Vazquez said. “Everybody’s trying to pick up where we left off last year. I think we’re in a good way now.”