Ten homers in only six innings.
Three sets of back-to-back homers, tying a record. The most combined
homers in a major league game since 2006.
And the Pirates and Reds still have a long way to go.
Neil
Walker and Gaby Sanchez hit back-to-back homers twice, and the Pirates
and Reds hit 10 in all before rain forced a suspension after six innings
with the score tied 7-all Monday night.
"I
saw a lot of crazy stuff in Coors Field over the years," said Pirates
manager Clint Hurdle, who managed in Colorado for eight years. "I spent a
lot of years there, saw a lot of homers, saw a lot of weather.
"This was as good as any of that, jammed into one evening."
The shocking slugfest will
resume on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the top of the seventh inning.
Conditions are expected to be drier but much colder.
Not that the weather seems to matter much when these two rivals get together.
"I've
never seen anything like that," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "The way
we got started, one team going in front of the other with home runs.
I've seen a lot of home runs hit, but not in those conditions. You
wouldn't imagine they would carry that far."
Pittsburgh
hit six solo shots and Cincinnati had four homers, most of them into a
heavy rain. Already, it's the most homers in a major league game since
2006 and the most combined homers for a game in Great American Ball
Park's 12-year history.
Pittsburgh had three sets of back-to-back homers, only the third time that's happened in major league history.
The game was suspended
following a 1-hour, 38-minute delay, the second time in less than a year
that a game was suspended in Cincinnati. The Reds and Phillies were
scoreless last April 16 in the middle of the ninth inning when play was
halted because of rain, and Cincinnati won 1-0 in the bottom of the
ninth the following day.
The
Ohio River rivals were known more for trading hit-by-pitches last
season. The Pirates and Reds plunked each other 28 times — most in the
majors — while nailing down the two NL wild-card spots.
Their
first matchup of 2014 was more swing-away than get-out-of-the-way. Ten
of the 17 combined hits so far have cleared the wall. All but one of the
14 runs has come on a homer.
"It wouldn't be a Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game without some drama," Walker said.
Pittsburgh
went back-to-back three times. Walker and Sanchez did it in the second
inning off Homer Bailey and again in the sixth off J.J. Hoover. Starling
Marte and Travis Snider teamed up in the fifth off Bailey.
It was only the third time
in major league history that a team had three sets of back-to-back
homers in a game, according to STATS. The others: Cincinnati against the
Braves in 1956, and Boston against the Yankees in 1977.
"I
certainly wouldn't think that I would find my way attached to a home
run record," Walker said. "The game's not even over yet, so I don't know
how to express what's going on. But that's pretty cool."
Both
teams had a chance to take a lead with the rain coming down heavier and
the field getting muddier. The starters and bullpens failed to hold on.
Wandy
Rodriguez gave up Joey Votto's two-out homer in the bottom of the fifth
inning, putting Cincinnati up 6-5. The umpires inspected the infield,
called for dry dirt and decided to continue.
Walker
and Sanchez connected again off Hoover for a 7-6 lead in the sixth. It
was only the second time that two Pirates went back-to-back twice in a
game, according to STATS. Toby Atwell and Jerry Lynch also did it
against the Reds on April 27, 1954.
Devin Mesoraco's solo shot
off Bryan Morris tied it at 7 in the bottom of the sixth. It was the
first time since June 18, 2006, that two major league teams combined for
10 homers in a game — the Tigers hit eight and the Cubs three at
Wrigley Field that day.
Something
about Great American turns the Pirates into power hitters. They also
hit six homers in Cincinnati last Sept. 28 during an 8-3 win that
clinched home-field advantage for the NL wild-card game. Then they beat
the Reds at PNC Park in the one-game playoff.
Pittsburgh has 14 homers in its last three games at Great American, four of them by Walker.
NOTES:
Several hundred dogs were in the stands with their owners as part of an
annual pet promotion. ... Hurdle said C Chris Stewart felt good after
catching consecutive games in the minors as part of a rehab stint.
Stewart had surgery on his right knee March 19. ... Reds closer Aroldis
Chapman threw 25 pitches in the bullpen before the game, the first time
he's thrown off a mound since he was hit in the face by a line drive on
March 19. The Reds hope to have him back next month.
___
Follow Joe Kay on Twitter: http://twitter.com/apjoekay
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