Fresh from snapping their five-game losing streak, the Pittsburgh Pirates will look for back-to-back wins when they host the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday afternoon.

The Pirates hit four home runs in Friday’s 9-1 rout of the Reds, including two by catcher Henry Davis, who scored three times and drove in three runs.

Bryan Reynolds, who was 2-for-4 for a second straight game, continues to tear up Cincinnati pitching, homering Friday night to give him three home runs this season against the Reds, and 19 for his career against them.

Reynolds extended his on-base streak to five straight plate appearances with the home run in the first inning and triple in the third before striking out in the fourth.

Saturday’s pitching matchup will feature Cincinnati’s Rhett Lowder (3-1, 3.18 ERA) and Pittsburgh’s Carmen Mlodzinski (1-2, 4.13) in a battle of right-handers.

Following a lost 2025 season plagued by oblique and elbow injuries, Lowder, 24, has emerged as a crucial anchor in the Cincinnati rotation through his first six starts.

Lowder’s performance is a major boost for a Reds team navigating early-season injuries to Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and most recently this week Brandon Williamson.

Lowder is coming off an effective outing against Detroit last Sunday when he allowed two runs and six hits in five innings and left with a 3-2 lead against the Detroit Tigers. But the bullpen failed and the Reds lost 8-3.

“I’m just trying to keep getting better and be the best pitcher I can be,” Lowder said. “I’m getting stronger each week, and it’s just fun to be on a routine and just focus on getting guys out.”

Against Detroit, Lowder struck out a season-high seven batters, with his only two runs allowed coming in the first inning with two outs. He retired 10 of his last 11 batters. In one career appearance against the Pirates, Lowder pitched five shutout innings and allowed five hits in September 2024.

The Reds have been exceptional away from home this season, with 10 wins in their first 14 road games, a feat achieved just four times by the club since 1900.

TJ Friedl, 8-for-23 in his last six games, was the lone Cincinnati star of Friday’s loss in Pittsburgh, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run.

The Pirates’ woes have often stemmed from starting behind, as they are 15-6 when scoring first, but only 2-10 when opponents score first.

“Every team is going to have skids,” Pirates ace Paul Skenes said. “Just got to get back to who we are, just our game, not try to do too much. Just got to be us.”

Through six appearances (five starts), Mlodzinski has 30 strikeouts over 28 1/3 innings. His season began with promise, as he posted a stellar 1.77 ERA in his first four starts. This stretch was highlighted by a six-inning, scoreless performance against the Washington Nationals on April 15 and 5 1/3 shutout frames against the Chicago Cubs on April 10.

However, late April has been a different story, as he has allowed nine earned runs over just eight combined innings against the Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers.

“I’m just trying to be better this year than last year, learn from some great guys in our rotation, and play a part in all of us trying to one-up each other,” Mlodzinski said.

Mlodzinski is 0-2 with an ERA of 3.45 in eight career appearances vs. Cincinnati.

-Field Level Media

Milwaukee’s William Contreras will aim to extend his torrid hitting stretch when the Brewers visit the Washington Nationals for the second game of a three-game series on Saturday afternoon.

Contreras had four hits and drove in three runs in the Brewers’ 6-1 win on Friday. That performance came after he collected four hits and four RBIs on Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 13-1 romp.

Contreras became the first player in Brewers history to have four hits in back-to-back games since Casey McGehee in 2010, and just the seventh all-time.

Over his past four games, Contreras is 10-for-17 with a home run, nine RBIs and six runs and has raised his batting average to .310.

Stopping Contreras will fall to Washington’s top starter thus far, Foster Griffin (3-0, 2.67 ERA), who will oppose Kyle Harrison (2-1, 2.28) in a matchup of left-handers.

The 30-year-old Griffin has allowed one earned run or less in three of his five starts. Last time out, he tossed seven shutout innings Sunday in a no-decision against the Chicago White Sox. He gave up two hits while striking out eight and walking two in a game Milwaukee won 2-1 in 10 innings.

“I really had a good sweeper today, really good changeup to the righties, and my cutter to both sides,” Griffin said after the game. “I feel like I was able to cut it away, cut it in, and then I could go soft away with pretty good command on my changeup to keep them off balance.”

Griffin defeated the Brewers on April 11, tossing 5 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing one hit in the 3-1 game.

Harrison has allowed two runs or less in each of his five starts. In his most recent outing, he threw six scoreless innings of one-hit baseball to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-0 last Sunday. Harrison struck out a career-high 12 batters and walked one. He retired the final seven hitters he faced, five via strikeout.

“That was a great day, but I can’t take that with me into the next one,” Harrison said. “You have to re-start.”

Harrison is 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA in four career starts vs. Washington.

Milwaukee starter Jacob Misiorowski was working on a gem Friday before leaving with a right hamstring cramp. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and struck out eight, walked two and retired the last 12 batters he faced, the final four by strikeout.

“He pitched great for 5 1/3, and then he cramped,” manager Pat Murphy said. “We’ll see where it is tomorrow. We’re very hopeful.”

Tyler Black had two doubles for Milwaukee, which has won four of its past five games.

Daylen Lile broke up Misiorowski’s no-hit bid with a double in the seventh inning. He finished 1-for-3 with a walk.

“We’ve faced some really good arms,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “I think we’ve faced some number ones, and I think we’ve had some success against them. This just felt different. None of the guys we faced before were 102 [miles per hour] multiple times and sitting 101.”

The Nationals are only 3-11 at home this season, and the Brewers are 7-6 on the road.

–Field Level Media

There were encouraging signs from the Boston Red Sox’s offense on Friday night, and the team will look to build on that performance when it hosts the Houston Astros on Saturday afternoon.

Jarren Duran’s three-run home run was the big blow in Boston’s 3-1 victory Friday. The home run, Duran’s second of the season, erased a 1-0 deficit in the third inning.

Duran entered the game hitting .170. His home run came after Carlos Narvaez drew a walk in an 11-pitch at-bat and Caleb Durbin singled.

“Whenever a guy has an at-bat like that, you kind of wear down the pitcher, see some more pitches,” Duran said. “You always have to tip your cap to (Narvaez). That guy is a stud, and every time he goes to the plate he has a great approach.

“I just got a pitch I could handle,” Duran continued. “I was just trying to get the job done, just tie the game by getting an RBI from third base … just do my job, and I happened to run into a homer right there.”

Boston also received three hits — a double and two singles — from Roman Anthony, who began the game in a 4-for-31 slump. It was Anthony’s first multi-hit game since April 15, and his first three-hit performance since Opening Day. He entered the weekend hitting .209.

“He looked good today,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “He stayed off pitches out of the zone. I saw him chase a little bit in the last couple of games, which I’m not used to seeing with him. I think it was a big step in the right direction for quality.”

Despite the positive signs from Duran and Anthony, Friday’s game was the 18th time Boston has scored three runs or less in a game this season. The Red Sox are 4-14 in those games.

Right-hander Spencer Arrighetti (3-0, 2.00 ERA) will take the mound for Houston on Saturday. He’s 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in two career starts against Boston.

Left-hander Connelly Early (2-1, 2.84 ERA) is Boston’s probable starter. He will face Houston for the first time.

The Astros were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 in Friday night’s loss. Houston scored on a solo home run by Carlos Correa, who had three of his team’s 11 hits.

“Today is one of those days where we pitched really well, then we don’t hit,” Correa said. “Sometimes we hit and we don’t pitch well. We’ve just got to find the perfect balance where we’re all in sync and just doing everything at the right time.”

Houston left at least one runner on base in seven of the nine innings.

“We were one swing away,” Houston manager Joe Espada added. “But we pitched really well. Mike (Burrows), Bennett Sousa and Bryan King gave us a shot. That’s all you can ask for. Mike settled down after that one inning (when Duran homered). Really pitched through some tough stretches there and gave us an opportunity, but just one swing away and sometimes that happens.”

–Field Level Media