CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Kris Negron waited a long time for his first major league home run. Air Force 1 Alte Premium . When it came, he was in a hurry to celebrate with his teammates. Negron hit a three-run homer, All-Star Todd Frazier added a two-run shot and the Cincinnati Reds rolled into the break with a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. Called up from Triple-A Louisville on Thursday for his first appearance in the majors since playing four games in 2012, Negron hit an opposite-field homer to right off Francisco Liriano in the second inning. The RBIs were the first of his career, and the hit was his second. "Negron is a tempo guy," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "You could tell it was a surreal moment for him because he was flying around the bases. It was a lifetime achievement. Negron has been in professional baseball for nine years. He was promoted from the minors when second baseman Brandon Phillips was put on the disabled list with torn ligaments in his left thumb. "I was so amped up that I was around the bases as quickly as I could be," Negron said. "I love playing this game. You have your ups and downs but you have to keep playing. Im not thinking about how long Im going to be here. Im just blessed with the opportunity and Im going to keep playing whenever my number is called." The game was delayed by rain for 56 minutes with Pittsburgh batting in the top of the fifth. Frazier lined a drive just inside the right-field foul pole on the first pitch from Vance Worley in the sixth to help the Pirates finish 2-5 on their road trip. "They got two good swings," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "We came in and looked at Fraziers home run. That was a good piece of hitting. We had something going after the rain delay. We were one pitch away from popping it. We werent able to get that big swing." The Reds went 8-3 on their 11-game homestand against Milwaukee, the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh to finish the first half 10-0-1 in series against those Central Division-opponents. They are 0-3 in series against St. Louis. Johnny Cueto, another Reds All-Star, overcame Neil Walkers home run and the rain delay to last six innings. Cueto (10-6) allowed five hits and three runs with two walks and seven strikeouts. He also hit a batter. "It was muggy and he was on base a couple times," Price said. "He took advantage of the rain delay. He got out of the heat." Cueto rushed off to Minnesota for the All-Star game. Jumbo Diaz pitched the seventh, and Jonathan Broxton worked the eighth before Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the ninth for his 21st save. Diaz is another player added to the roster after a lengthy stint of 10 years in the minor leagues. He was invited to spring training for the first time in his career this spring and dropped 70 pounds to give him his first shot at the big leagues. "Hes throwing the ball over," said Price of his 274-pound reliever. "A lot of guys will try to miss the bat, but he comes right at the hitter with a 94 mile an hour fastball and a good slider." Chapmans fanning of leadoff batter Pedro Alvarez extended his record strikeout streak to 41 straight appearances. Lirianos start was his first since June 10 against the Chicago Cubs, when he strained his left oblique strain. He tied his season high by issuing six walks for the second time in three starts. Liriano (1-7) lasted four innings, allowing three hits and three runs with four strikeouts and a wild pitch. He left the bases loaded in two of his four innings. "I was a little excited going out to pitch," Liriano said. "I tried to do too much." Devin Mesoraco drove in Jay Bruce from first base with a double off the left-centre field wall in the fifth. NOTES: Reds IF Ramon Santiago was available but his left shoulder was sore after his attempt at a diving backhand stop of Travis Sniders grounder on Saturday. ... Reds RHP Alfredo Simon was added to the NL All-Star team. Air Force 1 Alte Gore-Tex . So far, so good: Gonzalez has allowed one run through 12 innings this season. His second start came Tuesday night, when he gave up only three singles over six innings to lead the Nationals to a 5-0 victory over the Miami Marlins. Air Force 1 Alte Flax . The Laval Rouge et Or defensive back/kick-returner gained the invitation following his showing Sunday at an NFL regional combine in Baltimore. WINNIPEG -- Tyler Seguin was relieved he and Dallas Stars teammate Jamie Benn finally had something good in common on Saturday afternoon. The pair ended pointless droughts when they each scored two goals in a 6-4 victory over the Winnipeg Jets that halted a two-game losing skid for the Stars (15-11-5). "I feel like I got my monkey off my back with him getting a couple," said Seguin, who also had a pair of assists. "Its nice to see. Sometimes things just arent going in, but he made some great shots tonight and stepped out at the right time." Seguin and Benn had been held pointless in their two previous games -- losses to Nashville and Chicago -- but Benn hadnt scored a goal since Nov. 14. Benn pretended to throw a monkey off his back after he finally scored his eighth goal of the season at 13:46 of the second period to give the Stars a 3-2 lead. Sergei Gonchar was a big help, tallying a career-high four assists. Rookie Valeri Nichushkin scored a goal. Centre Colton Sceviour netted his first NHL goal in his first game this season for the Stars, who only have four wins in their last 10 games. Kari Lehtonen, playing his 200th game for the Stars and 404th career NHL game, stopped 34 of the 38 shots he faced. Blake Wheeler had a pair of goals, Matt Halischuk also scored and Olli Jokinen added a goal and assist for Winnipeg (14-15-5), which is now winless in its last six home games. Their last victory at MTS Centre was Nov. 15 in a 3-2 shootout against Philadelphia. Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec was replaced by Al Montoya to start the third period. Pavelec stopped 19 of the 24 shots he faced. Montoya made seven saves on eight shots. Going into the game, Winnipeg, Dallas and Nashville were tied with 33 points at the bottom of the Central Division. However, Winnipeg has played three more games than Dallas and one more than the Predators, who host San Jose Saturday night. Winnipeg is now 3-11-3 against division opponents, while Dallass mark is 3-6-3. The Stars led 2-1 after the first period and 5-3 after the second on late power-play goals by Benn and Seguin one minute and three seconds apart. The goals were scored while Jets winger Anthony Peluso was off for a boarding major and a game misconduct. Peluso had hit defenceman Alex Goligoski into the boards. Goligoski left the ice with a towel against his right eye,, but returned to the game. Air Force 1 Alte Liberty. Dallas coach Lindy Ruff was far from impressed with the hit. "I thought the Peluso hit was a joke," Ruff said. "For a guy that plays that amount of time and runs a guy like Goligoski from behind. What does he play, three, four minutes a game? And hes going to run Goligoski from behind? Go run one of our bigger guys. "It was gutsy (of Goligoski) to come back. I mean, (he) cut him open. These are the hits we want to get rid of. I mean, lets get serious." Jets coach Claude Noel didnt have much to say about Pelusos hit. "Anytime you take a five-minute major, its never a good situation," Noel said. "It put us in a tough situation, especially (when) they scored two goals in there." He also pointed to two bad lines changes his team made that led to Seguin and Nichushkin being able to go in alone and score on Pavelec. Basically, his team didnt play "intelligent," Noel said. Wheelers goals tied the game 2-2 and 3-3, but his frustration spilled out after the loss. "What I say doesnt matter. Its what you do out on the ice," Wheeler said. "You can blow smoke as much as you want in the media. Weve been blowing smoke for three years, everyone, myself. "Everyone thats stood in front of the microphone the last three years, theyve said the same (stuff). What do you want me to say? Thats about it. I dont know what else to say." But he did elaborate when asked where the game turned. "In the first period, we were terrible and thats inexcusable," Wheeler said. And even though they fought back and were down 5-3 heading into the third, the Jets gave up two-on-ones and breakaways, he noted. "Its embarrassing," Wheeler said. "Its just no respect for each other. (Montoya) goes in there, hes cold, and thats what we do? "Its like, you just cant believe it." Jokinen finished the scoring at 18:19 when he got a stick on a rebound in traffic in front of the net. Notes: Wheeler now has six goals in his past six games a Winnipeg forward Evander Kane missed his sixth straight game with an undisclosed lower-body injury, although he practised with the team for the first time on Friday a Winnipeg heads out for a two-game road trip against Columbus on Monday and Buffalo on Tuesday a Dallas ends its three-game road trip against Colorado on Monday. ' ' '
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