Reds drop 14 on Bucs: 'Everyone contributed'

Tyler Naquin’s seventh-inning hit had enough distance to clear the fence. The question was whether or not it would stay fair. For those in attendance who wanted an answer, all they had to do was listen.

The ball banged off the foul pole, and Naquin had a three-run home run. The sound of leather colliding with metal reverberated throughout PNC Park, further silencing the home crowd. Naquin’s homer was the emphatic dagger in the Reds’ 14-1 win over the Pirates on Monday, a dominant showing that could signal the offense’s awakening.

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“Just a good team offensive night where everyone contributed,” said Reds manager David Bell. “That’s always good to be a part of.”

It was about as complete of a team performance as there could be. Every player in the Reds’ starting lineup, including pitcher Tyler Mahle, had a hit. Naquin, Nick Senzel, Jesse Winker, Mike Moustakas, Tucker Barnhart and Kyle Farmer had multihit nights. Eugenio Suárez snapped an 0-for-15 cold spell with an opposite-field home run.

Even Mahle had a memorable night at the plate, complementing his hit with a walk and an RBI fielder’s choice, the first of his career. Regardless of who the Reds sent to the plate, they got production.

The Reds’ offense was surprisingly dormant to begin the game. Besides Suárez’s solo shot in the second inning, Pirates starter Mitch Keller made quick work of Cincinnati, only needing 35 pitches to get through three innings. Then, the floodgates opened up.

Cincinnati tacked on six runs and sent 11 batters to the plate in the decisive fourth inning, chasing Keller from the game. In that frame, eight of the Reds’ nine starters reached base. The last batter Keller faced was Mahle, who drew a walk.

That run support made for a much more relaxed night on the mound for Mahle, who settled in with the big cushion. He wasn’t crisp -- his four walks tied the most he has allowed in a game this season -- but he worked out of multiple jams, limiting the Pirates to one run across 5 1/3 innings.

“Just was struggling to kind of find his slider right out of the gate, but was able to find it later on in the outing,” Barnhart said. “I told him, ‘Man, you would have been able to get through the sixth inning if you wouldn’t have ran the bases [four] times.’”

“He’s had a lot of growth over the last year,” Bell added. “He just keeps getting better.”

The skipper hopes that his offense continues to grow and get better as well. As impressive as Monday’s fireworks were, they contrasted what has been an otherwise cold stretch. Excluding their slugfest against the Cubs on May 2, the Reds entered play having only scored eight runs in five games so far this month.

When the Reds are clicking, they’re a terror for any opposing team. And while Cincinnati isn’t going to average 14 runs or have every member of its starting lineup reach base regularly, the hope is that Monday’s performance is a sign of things to come.

“To be able to kind of add on and put good at-bats together says a lot about our team, about the group of guys that we have,” Barnhart said. “Obviously, very good results tonight. Just got to come back tomorrow ready to go.”