PITTSBURGH (Interstat) — Noelvi Marte delivered a pinch-hit, two-run home run in the eighth inning Friday night, lifting the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

The Reds, who entered the game with a 37-42 record and had lost five of their previous six games, avoided a third straight defeat. The Pirates fell to 41-41.

Cincinnati struck first with a four-run second inning against Pirates starter Paul Skenes. Nathaniel Lowe doubled to right to lead off the frame, and Eugenio Suárez singled to put runners at the corners. Spencer Steer singled to center, scoring Lowe, and Tyler Stephenson followed with a sharp single to right that brought home Suárez. After Matt McLain walked to load the bases, Blake Dunn lifted a sacrifice fly to right for the third run. Elly De La Cruz added a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Stephenson and extending the lead to 4-0.

Pittsburgh had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Konnor Griffin’s fifth home run of the season, a solo shot to left center off Reds starter Andrew Abbott. The Pirates chipped away against Abbott in the middle innings. In the fifth, Henry Davis reached on a throwing error by third baseman Eugenio Suárez and advanced to second. Griffin flied out to center, moving Davis to third, and Brandon Lowe’s sacrifice fly brought him home, cutting the deficit to 4-2.

The Pirates tied the game in the sixth. Marcell Ozuna led off with his seventh homer of the year, a drive to center field. Esmerlyn Valdez followed with his third home run, a solo shot to left, making it 4-4. Abbott left after 5 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits with six strikeouts.

The game remained deadlocked until the top of the eighth. With one out, Sal Stewart singled to left off reliever Mason Montgomery. Marte, batting for the pitcher, crushed a 1-0 pitch to left center for a two-run homer, his fourth of the season, giving Cincinnati a 6-4 lead.

Brock Burke, who pitched a scoreless seventh, earned the victory with one inning of work, no hits and two strikeouts, improving his record to 3-2. Tejay Antone contributed a scoreless sixth inning for the Reds. Caleb Ferguson pitched a perfect ninth for his first save of the season, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Montgomery took the loss, falling to 2-3, after surrendering the two runs in the eighth.

Skenes pitched five innings, allowing four runs on six hits with seven strikeouts. Dennis Santana worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief for Pittsburgh.

The Reds outhit the Pirates 8-9, but stranded five runners. Pittsburgh left four on base. The game lasted 2 hours, 58 minutes in front of an announced crowd of 25,186.

Cincinnati’s offense was sparked by the top of the order. Stephenson collected two hits and an RBI. Lowe doubled and scored a run. Stewart scored twice.

For Pittsburgh, Griffin and Valdez each had two hits and a home run. Ozuna also homered and singled, driving in one run.

The Reds had lost their previous two contests at home to the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5 on Wednesday and 2-0 on Tuesday, after splitting a series at the New York Yankees. The Pirates entered Friday having won two of three against the Seattle Mariners, including an 11-1 rout Thursday.

The two teams will meet again Saturday in the second game of the three-game series. Cincinnati then travels to Milwaukee for a four-game set starting Monday, while Pittsburgh heads to Philadelphia for a four-game series beginning Monday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Pittsburgh 5, Cincinnati 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Pirates a 54.90 percent probability to win. Pittsburgh was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of 10 went under the over-under line of 7.5.