Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds Pick & Prediction APRIL 13th 2025
Preview and Prediction
The Cincinnati Reds will be sending their top pitcher to the mound in hopes of completing a series sweep against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
After Saturday's 5-2 victory, the Reds have won four of their last five games while the Pirates have lost three of their last four.
Hunter Greene (1-1, 1.31 ERA) will be making his fourth start of the season and is coming off an impressive performance in his last outing. Against the San Francisco Giants on Monday, Greene allowed only four hits and struck out seven batters over 8 2/3 scoreless innings, coming close to his first career complete game shutout.
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This was Greene's longest scoreless start and the longest by a Reds pitcher since Tyler Mahle's nine-inning shutout in 2022 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Greene also became just the eighth pitcher since 1900 to record 500 strikeouts and 175 or fewer walks in his first 75 career appearances.
Reds manager Terry Francona praised Greene's performance, saying, "If I had let my emotions take over, I would have left Hunter in the game. He deserved to finish it, but with two outs and the game on the line, it was the right decision to bring in Tony Santillan to close it out."
Greene's scoreless streak now stands at 11 2/3 innings since allowing a run in his first start of the season against the Texas Rangers on April 2.
In his career, Greene has yet to earn a win against the Pirates, with a record of 0-4 and a 3.00 ERA in seven starts against them.
The Pirates will be starting right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski (1-1, 5.19 ERA) in response. Mlodzinski has made two starts this season, with his last outing resulting in a win against the St. Louis Cardinals where he allowed only one run and struck out six batters in five innings.
In his career, Mlodzinski has a record of 0-0 with one save and a 1.42 ERA in five relief appearances against the Reds. His lone save came in a memorable game on September 23, 2023, where the Pirates came back from a 9-0 deficit to win 13-12, marking the largest comeback in the team's history.
The Pirates have been struggling offensively, with Saturday's loss being their fourth consecutive game with six or fewer hits. They currently have the lowest batting average (.190) and slugging percentage (.297) in the league.
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Manager Derek Shelton acknowledged the team's offensive struggles, stating, "We need to continue building offensively, but right now we're not doing that. We have a lot of guys who need to have more consistent at-bats."
The Pirates are also dealing with injuries, with Nick Gonzales (left ankle fracture) on the injured list since the second game of the season and Oneil Cruz missing his third straight game due to a finger injury. Catcher Joey Bart also missed Saturday's game with back stiffness after leaving Friday's game in the second inning.
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds Recap APR 13TH 2025
Hunter Greene threw seven shutout innings and retired the final 17 batters he faced, while Santiago Espinal went 2-for-4 and broke a scoreless tie to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-0 win and a three-game sweep of the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
Following up his near-complete game shutout on Monday night in San Francisco, Greene (2-1) ran his scoreless innings streak to 19 innings since allowing the lone run of the game and taking the 1-0 loss on April 2 against Texas. Greene struck out eight and walked one while allowing just two hits Sunday, lowering his ERA to 0.98 in four starts this season.
Greene finally earned a win over the Pirates. Entering the game, Greene had been 0-4 with a 3.00 ERA in seven career starts against the Pirates and Cincinnati had never won a Greene start against Pittsburgh.
Greene was able to work his way out of jams in the first two innings. Bryan Reynolds doubled with one out in the first before Oneil Cruz worked a walk. Endy Rodriguez flew out to right and Alexander Canario lined out softly to Elly De La Cruz to end the threat.
An inning later, Isiah Kiner-Falefa tripled with one out when Jake Fraley dove headfirst for a sinking liner in right. The ball got past Fraley and Kiner-Falefa wound up on third. Tsung-Che Cheng struck out and Henry Davis was robbed of an RBI when Espinal made a leaping grab of a line drive to end the second.
Greene retired the side in order in his final five innings before Ian Gibaut took over in the eighth.
Espinal broke the 0-0 tie in the third when he served a soft line drive to right-center to score Austin Wynns and TJ Friedl with the first two runs off Pittsburgh starter Carmen Mlodzinski (1-2). The right-hander was charged with four runs and five hits over 4 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking two.
The Reds added on in the fifth with an RBI double from Friedl and a run-scoring single by De La Cruz.
Cincinnati completed its first series sweep of Pittsburgh since Aug. 5-8, 2021, when they swept a four-game set. The Reds have won five of six to move back to .500 on the season while the Pirates have dropped four of five.