Freel Suffers Contusion During Reds’ Win

CINCINNATI – Center fielder Ryan Freel was taken off the field on a stretcher after colliding with a teammate and tests came back normal Monday during the Cincinnati Reds’ 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Kyle Lohse threw a six-hit shutout, which snapped the team’s six-game skid as well as Lohse’s personal six-game losing streak.

Freel left the game in the third inning after running into right fielder Norris Hopper while catching Humberto Cota’s fly ball on the warning track in right-center field. Freel was spun around and landed near the base of the wall. The game was delayed 13 minutes while Reds trainers and doctor looked at him before he was strapped onto a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance to be taken to a local hospital.

The Reds announced in the fourth inning that Freel, who’s known for his all-out play, had feeling in all of his extremities and was coherent. CT scans were normal and he was diagnosed with a contusion to the head and neck. He will be re-evaluated Tuesday.

David Ross hit a two-run homer in the fifth and Edwin Encarnacion added two RBIs for Cincinnati.

Lohse (2-6) got past the fifth inning for the first time in his last four starts while shutting down a team that had scored 33 runs while winning the first three games of the series. He struck out two and didn’t walk a batter to avoid becoming the first Reds pitcher since Fred Norman in 1977 to lose seven consecutive starts.

The win was Lohse’s first in eight starts since the Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0, on April 15 at Wrigley Field in Cincinnati’s only shutout win of the season. Pittsburgh was shut out for the fourth time.

It was Lohse’s fourth career shutout.

The game was scoreless until Alex Gonzalez was hit by a pitch to lead off the fifth inning and, one out later, Ross launched his sixth homer of the season into the left field seats to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.

The Reds added a run in the sixth when Adam Dunn doubled, moved to third on Ian Snell’s wild pitch and scored on Encarnacion’s bloop to short right-center field over a drawn-in Pirates infield.

Pittsburgh right-hander Ian Snell (4-4) has lost his last two starts after getting wins in three of his previous decisions. Snell allowed five hits and three runs with two walks and six strikeouts in seven innings.

Notes: The Reds optioned RHP Kirk Saarloos to Triple-A Louisville and recalled LHP Bobby Livingstone before Monday’s game. … RF Ken Griffey Jr. did not start Monday after starting each of Cincinnati’s last 26 games. Griffey entered the game in the top of the third inning to replace Freel. … Umpire Bob Davidson missed his second consecutive game due to illness. He was replaced at second base by Adam Dowdy. … The Pirates announced that they had signed RHP David Copley, their 43rd round draft pick in last year’s draft.