PITTSBURGH — Coming off the boost of a series win against the Dodgers, the Pirates couldn’t continue the momentum against the Reds. And it came at the hands of a familiar face.
Pittsburgh was held scoreless by Reds starter Connor Overton over 6 1/3 innings, and the Bucs could never find a way to dig out of the hole they were in, falling, 4-0, on Thursday night at PNC Park.
Overton, who elected free agency in November after the Pirates outrighted him to Triple-A, came back to haunt his old club. The Bucs had their chances against the right-hander. In the first inning, they put runners on second and third with two outs, but Yoshi Tsutsugo grounded out.
They were set to be in the same second-and-third situation with one out in the second inning, but Michael Perez was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. Rodolfo Castro, who was recalled on Thursday morning, struck out looking.
After that, there was barely anything doing against Overton outside of a Ke’Bryan Hayes walk in the third inning and Ben Gamel’s single in the sixth, when he was caught leaning too far off first base and picked off.
“I don’t see much that’s different [from last year],” Bucs manager Derek Shelton said. “He throws strikes. He mixes and matches. He uses his offspeed stuff effectively. He uses it in the zone, and I mean essentially what he does when he’s effective is keep you off the barrel, and he did that tonight.”
Overton, who also led the Reds to a victory over the Pirates…
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