Rookie Iglesias beats Pirates as Cole's bid for 15th win fails

(The Sports Xchange) - Rookie right-hander Raisel Iglesias pitched six solid innings while shortstop Eugenio Suarez drove in three runs to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday. Pittsburgh starter Gerrit Cole (14-5), one of the National League's best pitchers during the past two seasons, remained winless in six career starts against Cincinnati after allowing three runs (two earned) and seven hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out eight but needed 98 pitches to get through five innings. Iglesias, allowed two runs and four hits in 6-2/3 innings and retired nine straight after shortstop Kang Jung-Ho's fourth inning homer. After Travis Ishikawa's pinch-RBI single cut the Reds' lead to 3-2, Burke Badenhop replaced Iglesias and struck out pinch-hitter Francisco Cervelli to end the seventh inning. Cincinnati added an insurance run on Suarez's sacrifice fly in the eighth against right-hander Joe Blanton, who was making his Pirates debut after being acquired from the Kansas City Royals on Thursday. Blanton pitched two innings and allowed a run and two hits with two strikeouts. Cole has been dominant this season but has struggled against the Reds, going 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in three starts. Cincinnati got to him in the second when left fielder Marlon Byrd led off with a triple past Andrew McCutchen in center and then scored on Suarez's sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. The Pirates tied the score 1-1 in the fourth when Kang crushed a 2-2 pitch from Iglesias into the left-field bleachers for his eighth home run of the season. The Reds regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth on Suarez's RBI double before Bruce's two-out double drove home second baseman Brandon Phillips in the fifth to put Cincinnati 3-1 up. (Editing by Greg Stutchbury)