It’s official: playoff baseball is coming back to Pittsburgh.
On the strength of six home runs, the Pirates defeated the Reds 8-3 this afternoon at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. With the victory, the Pirates clinched home field for the Wild Card game on Tuesday against the Reds. It will be the first home playoff game for the Pirates since Game 5 of the 1992 NLCS and the first playoff game in the history of PNC Park. Now that’s going to be fun.
As for today’s power explosion, Neil Walker hit two home runs while Andrew McCutchen, Marlon Byrd, Pedro Alvarez, and Andrew Lambo also went deep. Bronson Arroyo gave up five of them, setting a new career-high.
The Pirates have already chosen Francisco Liriano to start Tuesday’s Wild Card play-in game, but the Reds have yet to make an official announcement on a starter. Mat Latos is the likely favorite for the assignment.
