Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CINCINNATI — Oneil Cruz homered shortly after a pitch clock violation and later hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, helping the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on opening day. The game was played in 3 hours, 2 minutes under new rules this season designed to speed things up. There were a combined 15 walks and 26 strikeouts, and one pitch clock violation for each team. Spencer Steer homered for Cincinnati. Rob Zastryzny got the win. Buck Farmer took the loss. David Bednar fanned two in the ninth for the save.
