In a staggering departure from the norm, the Pittsburgh Pirates actually got significant contributions from their offense in the form of eight runs against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. Unfortunately, it didn't end up mattering.
After dropping the first two games of the four-game series against the Pirates, Cincinnati followed up Saturday's 2-1 win by tagging the Pittsburgh bullpen for 10 runs in a 14-8 victory in Sunday's series finale.
The Pirates went deep into their bullpen in all four games of the series; and by Sunday, it showed. Pittsburgh was without bulk relievers Braxton Ashcraft and Carmen Mlodzinski, who had combined to pitch 6 1/3 innings in Saturday's loss, and the Reds tagged right-handed relievers Yohan Ramirez, Dauri Moreta and Cam Sanders for three, two and five runs, respectively.