Whatever changes are made by the Cincinnati Reds ahead of the trade deadline, several of the club’s best, young assets for the future led the way in the series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Red roughed up the Pirates in a 10-2 victory Sunday, Aug. 2 at Great American Ball Park, and won three games in the four-game series.
It’s possible that by the 6 p.m. deadline Monday night, the Reds will have dealt from the 2026 roster via trade. The hope will be some of the return on those trades can supplement another run at contention in the next baseball season, be it in 2027 or later.
Key pieces are already in place for Cincinnati. Several of them are young in their MLB careers, and they’re already delivering for the club.
National League All-Star and Rookie of the Year frontrunner Sal Stewart homered in the first inning to put Cincinnati up 2-0. The homer was his 24th of 2026, which tied him for 11th in MLB in home runs. His 85 RBIs were tied for the MLB lead.
Fellow NL All-Star Chase Burns slogged through rain into the fourth inning and had his outing interrupted for 25 minutes for weather-related issues, which ended up being somewhat controversial. After the unofficial rain delay, Burns returned to the mound. He ended up lasting six innings to improve to 13-1 on the year. His ERA dropped from 2.40 to 2.35 as Burns allowed just two hits, two walks and a hit batter.
Elly De La Cruz’s named was tied to reports of failed attempts to trade for him, but any discussion of the Reds’ future in the coming season undoubtedly includes him, and his two-run single in the third inning put the Reds up, 7-0.
The only run to score against Burns came during a stressful fourth inning in which rain was pooling on the infield and weather appeared to impact the game for a second consecutive day at Great American Ball Park. Pittsburgh’s run came prior to members of the grounds crew being called out to try to sop up the rain water and tidy the infield, which forced the 25-minute stoppage.
Pirates manager Don Kelly appeared to be ejected for arguing about the playing conditions during the stoppage. When play resumed, Burns finished off the fourth inning.
It was a long series for Kelly’s Pirates, who didn’t help themselves much in Cincinnati, and left 2.5 games out of the third NL wild card spot.
For the Reds, it was their fourth series victory in five tries since the All-Star Break, and second series win against an NL Central foe in a week after winning a road series in St. Louis on July 26. While the club’s record improved to 10-6 since returning from the break, Cincinnati was still expected to make moves ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline.
As of post-game on Aug. 2, about 24 hours remained ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline at 6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds top Pirates behind some of their best young stars
Reporting by Pat Brennan, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Pat Brennan, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
