Gray fans 10, Winker homers twice as Reds beat Pirates 8-1

CINCINNATI (AP) — Jesse Winker had his first career two homer game and Sonny Gray continued his torrid strikeout pace as the Cincinnati Reds broke open a close contest with five runs in the last two innings for an 8-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.

Nick Castellanos added a three-run homer off Chris Stratton to cap Cincinnati’s four-run seventh.

Relying primarily on his fastball, Gray (4-1) struck out 10, raising his season total to 45, a franchise record for a pitcher’s first five appearances. Luis Castillo set the previous mark of 41 in 2019.

“I came in after the first inning and had a little conversation with Trevor (Bauer)," Gray said. “I said, ‘Man, I feel like I threw come good curveballs, and they just spit on them.’ They didn't swing at spin. They didn't swing at curveballs. They didn't swing at sliders. It was clear what they were doing, so i decided to attack the zone with heaters.”

Gray bounced back from a subpar performance in his previous start, allowed five hits and one run – Bryan Reynolds’ first homer and run batted in of the season – with one walk in 6 2-3 innings. That's after being roughed up for six hits and four runs in 5 1-3 innings in a 9-3 loss at Milwaukee.

“I actually thought we had pretty good at bats off him," Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. "We ran his pitch count up, but he was able to get through the seventh, which was big for them because of where they are at with their bullpen.

"I was pleased with our approach because we ran him into counts and hit the balls hard right at people a couple times. We saw Sonny Gray pretty close to his best tonight.”

Winker gave the Reds a 1-0 lead with an opposite-field homer starting off the second inning. His fourth home run of 2020 bounced about two...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Gray-fans-10-Winker-homers-twice-as-Reds-beat-15485753.php