Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto is 10-2 with a 3.32 ERA in 21 starts this season and is coming in with a personal four-game winning streak since June 23.\u00a0 The right-hander is a solid 5-1 with a 2.79 ERA in 11 road starts.\u00a0 He made five July starts, posting a perfect 2-0 record and 2.01 ERA, surrendering two home runs in 31.1 innings.\u00a0 Wednesday will mark just his fifth daytime start, going 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA, allowing opponents to hit for a combined .301 average.\u00a0 In 11 career starts versus the Pirates, Cueto is a fantastic 8-2 with a 3.00 ERA, including an 8-2 home victory on May 27.\u00a0 He tossed six shutout innings and gave up three hits while striking out nine in that contest.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Pittsburgh hadn\u2019t scored more than six runs since a 15-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on July 21 until last night\u2019s victory.\u00a0 The Pirates had also gone 22 straight meetings with the Reds before last scoring six-plus runs in a game.\u00a0 \u201cThe guys really came out and swung the bats and scored,\u201d manager John Russell said.\u00a0 \u201cWe tried to let them back in it a little, but we finished it off.\u201d\u00a0 Outfielder Andrew McCutchen may miss the series finale, after leaving Tuesday\u2019s game with a bruised neck.\u00a0 The team is 23-26 at home this season (+300) and 102-109 over the last three years (+420).\u00a0 Pittsburgh is also 11-19 in day games (-420) and the total stands at 16-13 O\/U in those contests.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Pirates starting pitcher Jeff Karstens is 2-6 with a 4.42 ERA in 20 appearances (14 starts) this season, with the club dropping four straight games with him on the mound.\u00a0 Over that span, he has allowed 11 runs (nine earned) and 22 hits in 23 innings of work.\u00a0 The right-hander is an even 2-2 with a 4.61 ERA in nine home outings (six starts), managing to strike out 25 batters and issue just nine walks in 41 frames.\u00a0 Karstens will be toeing the rubber for just his fourth daytime outing, going 0-1 with a 6.50 ERA, while opposing batters are hitting for a .347 average (.280 night).\u00a0 In six lifetime appearances (three starts) against the Reds, he is 0-3 with a 6.45 ERA, surrendering five home runs in 22.1 frames.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Bettors will want to check the lineups and find out if Votto gets the start, as the Reds are 42-32 against right-handed starters this season (+930).\u00a0 The Pirates are on the other side of the spectrum when facing righties, producing a dismal 21-51 mark (-2,080).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first-place Reds are in position to win another series as they play the final game of a three-game set at PNC Park. Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates Cincinnati fell 7-6 in the second game of this three-game set against the Pirates in Pittsburgh, but the club has still won five of its last eight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[2429,78,2428,2402,977,428,1519],"class_list":["post-6076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-andrew-mccutchen","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-jeff-karstens","tag-joey-votto","tag-johnny-cueto","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-pnc-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6077,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076\/revisions\/6077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/johnny-cueto-reds-8644-150x150.jpg\")
Cincinnati fell 7-6 in the second game of this three-game set against the Pirates in Pittsburgh, but the club has still won five of its last eight games.\u00a0 It\u2019s also important to note that the Reds are 9-1-1 in their previous 11 series, including 4-0-1 in their first five series of the second half.\u00a0 The team hasn\u2019t made the playoffs since 1995 and haven\u2019t finished above .500 since 2000, currently features the NL\u2019s top lineup and best defense.\u00a0 \u201cThis is why I came here, for this point and purpose,\u201d manager Dusty Baker said.\u00a0 All-Star first baseman Joey Votto didn\u2019t start for a second straight game on Tuesday with a sprained wrist.\u00a0 Cincinnati is a dominating 30-17 against division opponents this season and the total is 21-22 O\/U in those games.\u00a0 In 36 day games, the Reds have compiled an even 18-18 mark and the total is 10-21 O\/U.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n