Reds 4, Pirates 1: Johnny Cueto came up two outs short of his second straight shutout against Pittsburgh and visiting Cincinnati took the second of a four-game series.

Cueto (2-2) allowed three hits on 117 pitches while running his scoreless streak to 21 innings before Andrew McCutchen homered with one out in the ninth. Billy Hamilton had two hits, a stolen base and a run scored in the leadoff spot while Jay Bruce and Brayan Pena each contributed two hits and an RBI for the Reds, who lost the series opener 6-5 on Monday night.

Cueto even helped himself in his second complete game in a row with an RBI single in the ninth off reliever Stolmy Pimentel. Pirates starter Edinson Volquez (1-1) threw seven innings against his former team, allowing two runs and five hits.

Volquez surrendered a two-out single to Hamilton in the third, but he was stranded after stealing second base, and the Reds didn’t put another runner in scoring position until Bruce and Todd Frazier led off the seventh with back-to-back singles. Ryan Ludwick flied to right, moving Bruce to third, and Pena and Zack Cozart followed with consecutive RBI doubles to give the Reds a 2-0 lead.

Cueto gave up a two-out single to McCutchen in the first, pitched around a leadoff walk and one-out single in the second, but then retired 13 straight before a two-out walk to McCutchen in the sixth. Tony Watson relieved Volquez in the eighth and surrendered an RBI single to Bruce for a 3-0 lead.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Pirates OF Travis Snider was suspended for two games Tuesday and C Russell Martin for one after they were involved in a bench-clearing brawl with Milwaukee on Sunday, though both players are appealing the suspensions and were in the lineup for the series opener. … Cueto surpassed 1,000 innings pitched in his career. … Bruce went 1-for-3 off Volquez to improve to 5-for-10 in his career off the right-hander.