[jg2977]

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
CINCINNATI REDS AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES
October 6, 1922 — PNC Park
On a cool October afternoon in Pittsburgh, with the Allegheny and Monongahela converging just beyond the ballpark’s sightlines, the Cincinnati Reds put together the kind of crisp, confident performance that turns a Wild Card series into a coronation. By nightfall, it was Cincinnati 8, Pittsburgh 2, and the Reds — not the Pirates — who would move on to face the mighty New York Mets.
The contest began with a hint of drama. Pittsburgh scratched across a run in the opening frame, the crowd of nearly 50,000 stirring with belief. But the Reds’ answer was swift and emphatic. In the second inning, Ruben Soto, the second baseman whose bat has been as timely as it has been powerful, watched a fastball ride in, and with a short, violent swing, turned it into a souvenir. The two-run shot tilted the game, and the series, toward Cincinnati. Soto would later add another long ball in the fifth — his second of the postseason — cementing his role as the series MVP.
Around him, a supporting cast flourished. J. Dunham doubled twice and drove in two. R. Saucedo launched a towering home run of his own and finished with a pair of hits and two RBI. A. Liotta chipped in three total bases, and eight different Reds reached safely on the afternoon. Eleven hits, eight runs, and a lineup that showed patience as well as power — six walks in total — gave the impression of a team playing with clarity of purpose.
On the mound, Johnny Landaverde was equal to the moment. Six and two-thirds innings, just three hits allowed, and though he issued six walks, he bent without breaking, striking out three and limiting Pittsburgh to scattered opportunities. When the Pirates briefly stirred in the sixth — a double from Oscar Macias, an RBI from D. Verni — Landaverde steadied himself, and the threat subsided. B. McCarthy closed it out with 2.1 innings of spotless relief.
For the Pirates, there was frustration in missed chances. Only four hits, sixteen men left on base, and the errors of I. Pruneda and J. Gillard proved costly. This was a team that all season long had leaned on timely hitting and an underrated rotation, but in October, against a Reds club that refused to yield, it was not enough.
And so, the Cincinnati Reds — resilient, opportunistic, and led by Soto’s bat and Landaverde’s arm — claim the series, two games to none. Next, they head to New York, where the 122-win Mets, historically dominant, lie in wait. The challenge will be steep. But for one night in Pittsburgh, the Reds could celebrate, their October still alive.
Final: Cincinnati 8, Pittsburgh 2.
A clean sweep, a decisive statement, and the promise of more baseball still to come.