Cincinnati, OH – Garrett Jones and Jordy Mercer hit solo homers as the Pittsburgh Pirates ended the regular season with a 4-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.
The Pirates will host the Reds in Tuesday's wild-card game. Pittsburgh, which will be playing in the postseason for the first time since 1992, will send Francisco Liriano to the mound on Tuesday. The Reds will counter with Johnny Cueto.
Josh Harrison and John Buck added an RBI apiece for the Pirates (94-68), who won all three games in this series to finish the year with an 11-8 mark against Cincinnati.
Pittsburgh starter Brandon Cumpton (2-1) gave up two hits over five scoreless innings.
"He's pitched very well throughout our system, all the way up," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said of Cumpton. "He's a pitch-to-contact guy, and he went after them."
Corky Miller knocked in two runs for the Reds (90-72), who lost five in a row to end the regular season. Greg Reynolds (1-3) allowed three runs on seven hits over five innings.
"You've got to block it out," Reds manager Dusty Baker said of the rough finish. "It's a situation where it's a new season. What you did previously, it doesn't matter. What you didn't do previously doesn't matter. Now you start the season all over."
The Pirates jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Jose Tabata hit an infield single, moved to second on a Pedro Alvarez walk and raced home on Buck's single to center.
Mercer got the Pirates' second inside-the-park homer of the season when right fielder Jay Bruce dove and missed Mercer's sinking liner in the second inning.
Pittsburgh tacked on another run in the fourth. Mercer tripled to right-center field and scored on Harrison's single up the middle.
Jones' homer in the eighth made it a 4-0 contest.
Cincinnati finally got on the board in the bottom half of the frame. Pinch- hitter Derrick Robinson singled and Cesar Izturis hit a ground-rule double to right. Miller followed with a two-run double down the left-field line.
Kyle Farnsworth tossed a scoreless ninth for his second save.
Game Notes
Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips was held out of the lineup with a bruised left shin ... Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto became the first Reds player to appear in 162 games since Aaron Boone in 2002 ... The Pirates went 44-37 on the road this year, while the Reds went 49-31 at home.
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