Bailey Falter stays hot with 7 strong innings as Pirates top Reds 1-0 to end 4-game skid

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Bailey Falter gave up four hits and had five strikeouts through seven innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates ended a four-game losing streak with a 1-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.

Falter (3-3) has surrendered one run in 23 2/3 innings over his past four starts, including none in 16 2/3 in his past three.

David Bednar pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Bryan Reynolds lined an RBI single into right to put the Pirates ahead in the sixth. Oneil Cruz walked and stole second for the second time in his first three plate appearances.

Nick Martinez (2-5), who faced two batters over the minimum through the first five innings, limited the damage in the sixth by getting Joey Bart to ground into a double play to end his night with one run allowed on four hits and two walks.

Falter nearly found immediate trouble when TJ Friedl led off the first with a triple off the Clemente Wall in right. Friedl was stranded when Falter forced Santiago Espinal to ground out, struck out Elly De La Cruz and forced Austin Hays to pop up to first.

Espinal later started the fourth with a double to left. Falter responded again, retiring the next three batters capped with a strikeout of Spencer Steer.

Reynolds’ sixth-inning single made sure Cruz’s second steal didn’t go to waste after he walked, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch just to be stranded in the first.

The Reds had scored 26 runs on a five-game winning streak, averaging 5.2 per game. The Pirates failed to score more than four runs for a 25th straight game.

Reds RHP Brady Singer (5-2, 5.01 ERA) will take the mound in the series finale Wednesday opposite Pirates LHP Andrew Heaney (2-3, 3.02).

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Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Martinez delivers during the fist inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Bryan Reynolds singles off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Martinez, driving in a run, during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Oneil Cruz scores from second on a single by Bryan Reynolds off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Martinez during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bailey Falter delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)