The Cincinnati Reds avoided a Pittsburgh Pirates sweep with a 7-3 victory Sunday afternoon at PNC Park. The Reds roughed up starting pitcher Gerrit Cole for four earned runs over 5-2/3rds innings. Jared Hughes allowed another three run in 1/3rd of an inning of relief. The Pirates also had two errors in the game. The loss followed two solid efforts by starting pitchers Jameson Taillon and Ivan Nova that led to victories in the first two games of the series.
The Bucs are off today and host San Diego for three games beginning tomorrow. Rookie Chad Kuhl will start Tuesday’s game.
The Pirates traded reliever Arquimedes Caminero Saturday to Seattle for a player to be named.
In other baseball news: Miami Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki had a triple Sunday for his 3,000th major league hit. He becomes the first Japanese player to reach the mark.
The New York Yankees and Alex Rodriguez held a press conference Sunday announcing the slugger’s last game with the Yankees will be this week. The 41-year old Rodriguez has struggled this season and is still owed another $27 million on a 10-year contract. Although it was not a “retirement” announcement, Rodriguez was offered a minor league hitting instructors job with the team. He is four home runs shy of 700 for his career. He missed all of 2014 due to a performance enhancing drug suspension.
The Butler BlueSox swept the Champion City Kings in a season-ending doubleheader Saturday. The won the games by scores of 9-6 and 3-2 to finish the second half 15-15 overall and two games behind Kokomo. The finished with an overall record of 29-31.
The Prospect League playoffs began Sunday with Eastern Division first-half winner West Virginia defeating Kokomo 3-1. In the West, Quincy defeated Springfield 9-4. The teams play again today.
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