Reds 4, Pirates 0: Johnny Cueto struck out a career-high 12 in outdueling Francisco Liriano as Cincinnati took the rubber match of a three-game set from visiting Pittsburgh.

Joey Votto homered and Billy Hamilton scored on a wild pitch for the Reds, who have won back-to-back games for the first time this season. Cueto (1-2) did not walk a batter and scattered three hits while throwing 71 of his 107 pitches for strikes for his third career shutout.

Liriano (0-3) tried to keep pace and ended up allowing three runs on six hits and three walks while striking out seven over seven frames for the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen delivered the lone extra-base hit for Pittsburgh with a one-out double in the fourth but was stranded on second.

Hamilton led off the bottom of the first with a walk before stealing second, moving to third on a wild pitch and scoring on another wild pitch as Liriano struggled to harness his command in the early going. Liriano settled in after that until Cueto singled to center with one out in the seventh and Hamilton grounded into a fielder’s choice in front of Votto, who belted an 0-1 fastball out to right-center.

The Reds tacked on a run in the eighth on Brayan Pena’s double to right that plated Chris Heisey. Cueto came back out for the ninth and struck out the first two in a 1-2-3 frame to pick up his first shutout since 2011.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Votto’s home run was the first Liriano allowed to a left-handed batter since July 2012. … Pirates LH Jose Tabata left the game with an apparent neck injury in the fifth inning after slamming into the wall while making a running catch. … Cueto’s complete game was just the second in baseball this season (San Diego’s Andrew Cashner).