Tyler Naquin leads Reds to win over Pirates

CINCINNATI — Nick Castellanos didn’t have to do it all for the Reds on Tuesday against the Pirates. Tyler Naquin had it all under control.

Naquin slugged long home runs in his first two at-bats and drove in a career-high seven RBIs as the Reds roughed up Pittsburgh, 14-1, for their fourth win in the first five games of the season. Cincinnati leads the Major Leagues with 46 runs, the National League with 10 homers and is second in the NL with a .316 team batting average.

That’s the most runs scored for the franchise in its first five games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it eclipsed the previous mark of 44 by the 1976 World Series-winning team and the 1895 Reds.

In his first two at-bats, Naquin crushed a pair of baseballs for a combined 867 feet.

Leading off in the bottom of the first inning against righty Trevor Cahill and in a 2-1 count, Naquin hit a booming homer to right field that TV cameras could not track. Statcast projected the drive traveled 454 feet and had a 113.5 mph exit velocity. It was the first career leadoff homer for Naquin.

Witnesses told Bally Sports Ohio’s Jim Day that the ball bounced once inside the Budweiser Bowtie Bar and left Great American Ball Park. It bounced a second time over Mehring Way, and it was retrieved by a stroller-pushing father walking with his kids.

Batting with two outs in the second inning against Cahill, Naquin lifted a 2-2 pitch to center field for a three-run homer and a 5-0 lead. It was not quite as otherworldly as the previous long ball, but the drive traveled 413 feet with a 106.3 mph exit velocity.