Luis Ortiz excels in 1st start of season as Pirates take series against Reds

CINCINNATI — It had been 272 days since Luis Ortiz last took the mound as an MLB starter.

In his return to the rotation Wednesday afternoon at Great American Ball Park, the right-hander more than looked the part. Ortiz tossed six innings of one-run ball in the Pirates’ 6-1 win against the Reds, propelling the visitors to a series victory.

Ortiz, who hadn’t started since Sept. 28, 2023, tied a career high with seven strikeouts, four of them courtesy of his four-seam fastball. He even struck out Reds phenom Elly De La Cruz with his heater, rearing back for a 96-mph fastball in the sixth inning on his 84th pitch.

The lone inning in which the Reds wreaked any kind of havoc was the third, when Stuart Fairchild flared a leadoff single to right and came around on a two-out double by Jonathan India that was out of Jack Suwinski’s reach in center.

Otherwise, Cincinnati struggled to generate baserunners against Ortiz. For the first time in his MLB career as a starter, Ortiz didn’t issue any free passes and only had three three-ball counts across the 21 batters he faced.

Ortiz’s efficiency, a problem at times during his first two cameos as a big leaguer, has hardly been a concern this season. Used primarily as a long reliever, Ortiz has been consistently solid for the Pirates, aside from his most recent outing in which the Rays tagged him for a season-high six runs.

He has proven to be a necessary commodity with injuries to starting options like Martin Perez, Marco Gonzales and Quinn Priester. Ortiz more than held his own as a piggy-back option on bullpen days and warranted his first start of the season based on his results.

While the 25-year-old may revert back to primarily a bullpen role with Perez’s return from the injured list imminent, Ortiz demonstrated what he’s capable of without an opener on Wednesday.

On the mound

After Ortiz departed, manager Derek Shelton turned to Kyle Nicolas, who had only pitched once since June 16. The right-hander issued a leadoff walk but retired the next six Reds hitters he faced in order to cover the seventh and eighth innings to lower his ERA in June to 3.00.

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