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PITTSBURGH -- For the second straight game, the Pittsburgh Pirates made the most of one productive inning. Neil Walker hit a three-run homer in the first and Pittsburgh made it hold up behind starter Vance Worley, beating the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 on Saturday for its fourth straight victory. Walkers 18th home run put the Pirates ahead 3-0 against Alfredo Simon four batters into the game. Pittsburghs winning streak matches its longest of the season. In the thick of the NL playoff race, the Pirates have won the first two games of the three-game series despite scoring in only two innings. They had a two-run rally in the eighth Friday for a 2-1 victory. "Its a testament to our pitching," Walker said. "We only scored three runs today and Vance and the bullpen made it stand up. Thats what won it for us." Worley (6-4) allowed two runs -- one earned -- and three hits in 6 1-3 innings to snap a career-worst, three-start skid. Mark Melancon pitched a perfect ninth for his 26th save after Justin Wilson and Tony Watson combined for 1 2-3 scoreless innings. "Its just a lot of fun to be pitching in this situation," Worley said. "Every game is important. You have to be excited about that." Despite retiring 12 batters in a row between the third and sixth, Simon (13-9) fell to 1-6 since pitching in his first All-Star game last month. Todd Frazier homered for the Reds, who lost their seventh road game in a row. Simon allowed four hits and three walks in seven innings while striking out seven. "This was pretty much the story of his second half," Cincinnati manager Bryan Price said. "He has some trouble getting out of the gate and then hes fine. The bottom line, though, is we have to score more than two runs. Its tough to win when you dont score runs consistently, and its been a problem all season." The game featured only seven hits, four by Pittsburgh. The Pirates are a major league-best 24-9 at home since June 19. Cincinnati cut it to 3-2 in the seventh, scoring a run when first baseman Ike Davis dropped Zack Cozarts two-out popup for an error. TRAINERS ROOM Reds: No injury updates. Pirates: 3B Pedro Alvarez (sprained left foot) missed his third straight game, and RF Travis Snider (strained right hamstring) sat out for the second day in a row. ... RHP Charlie Morton (right hip inflammation/sports hernia) wont be able to get stretched out enough to rejoin the starting rotation by the time he is eligible to be activated from the disabled next Friday, but said he would be willing to pitch in relief. UP NEXT Reds: RHP Johnny Cueto (15-8, 2.26 ERA) will look to snap his two-start losing streak in which he has allowed six runs over 11 1-3 innings for a 4.76 ERA. He faces LHP Francisco Liriano in a rematch of last years NL wild-card game. Cueto is 16-4 with a 2.26 ERA in 25 career starts against Pittsburgh. Pirates: Liriano (3-10, 3.98) is 0-3 with a 4.03 ERA in his last five starts, but he pitched six scoreless innings Monday against St. Louis. Though he won the wild-card game last season, Liriano is 0-5 with a 4.25 ERA against the Reds in seven regular-season starts. MORE BENCH HELP The Pirates recalled a player from Triple-A Indianapolis for the second straight day, bringing up INF Brent Morel to help off the bench with Alvarez and Snider unavailable. 1B-OF John Lambo was recalled on Friday night. LHP Jeff Locke was optioned to Indianapolis in a procedural move. He will remain with the Pirates and be recalled Monday when major league rosters expand. Locke is scheduled to start Tuesday night at St. Louis. BAD YEAR FOR BRUCE Reds RF Jay Bruce called this season "the most embarrassing year of my life." He went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, dropping his batting average to .217. Bruce is 4 for 32 with 15 strikeouts in his last nine games. He is 2 for 12 in his career against Worley. Soccer Jerseys . Solomon Elimimian did not make the trip with the team after suffering what appeared to be a right leg injury in the teams regular season finale against the Calgary Stampeders. Cheap Jerseys . Virtanen opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first period, then gave Canada a two-goal lead with a power-play goal 1:03 into the second. Sweden cut the lead in half when Daniel Muzito Bagenda scored a power-play goal at 10:57 of the second. https://www.cheapjerseysjustwholesale.com/ ." The game can be seen live on TSN starting with Monday Night Countdown at 6:30 p.m et/3:30 p.m. pt. The Patriots, who had a bye in Week 10, will look to continue the offensive success they had a week earlier when New England scored 55 points and racked up 610 yards of total offense in a 55-31 drubbing of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Nike Jerseys . The 19-year-old Swiss centre back will initially have to impress in Uniteds reserve side to earn a spot in the first team. Veseli says "Manchester United has a long history of younger players coming through and hopefully I can follow and do the same. Stitched Jerseys . Setting United on its way to a 2-0 victory, Rooney sent the ball high from inside the halfway line over goalkeeper Adrian after just seven minutes. "Its just instinct, Ive turned and had a quick look and seen the goalkeeper off his line," Rooney said.ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - John Elways philosophy is to address immediate needs in free agency, even though some of his own veterans may prove too pricey to keep around. Eric Decker and Knowshon Moreno both said theyd love to stay in Denver, but they might find more lucrative offers elsewhere when free agency begins in a month. Unlike the Seattle Seahawks, who throttled the Broncos in the Super Bowl, Denver has a high-priced quarterback who takes up a good chunk of the salary cap, limiting what the team can spend elsewhere. Mannings salary cap charge for 2014 is $17.5 million, same as last season, which was more than Seattles entire starting defence and about 25 times as much as Russell Wilsons $681,000 cap number. "Yeah, but Ill tell you right now its worth it for us to have Peyton Manning," Elway said. "Thats just part of when you get a quality quarterback like that that we have in Peyton Manning. You know thats going to be a big chunk of your salary cap, but we got to figure out ways to find the right players." At the right prices. Elway said he has no problem continuing to build a team around Manning even though nobody knows how long No. 18 will be in the Broncos huddle beyond next season. "Well, were going to keep building like Peyton is going to be here," Elway said. "And you know, when Peyton decides to hang em up, we have expectations hopefully to make that transition." Manning confirmed during Super Bowl week that he intends to play next season, pending clearance from his doctor at his annual checkup next month to see if his surgically repaired neck is sound, which seems like a formality given the way he played last season when he won his fifth MVP award. Manning and the Broncos are out to do something that no team has done since the Buffalo Bills in 1993 — make it back to the Super Bowl the year after losing it. Elway, the teams executive vice-president, had been busy on a blueprint long before the Super Bowl blowout. He knows he could lose Decker, Moreno and guard Zanee Beadles on offence and he has to rebuild a defence that was obliterated by an injury epidemic.dddddddddddd The Broncos have 18 unrestricted and three restricted free agents, but Elway has to be prudent because big deals are looming next year for Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas and maybe Von Miller. Hes hit the jackpot in free agency two years in a row, first with Manning in 2012 and then with Wes Welker, Louis Vasquez, Shaun Phillips, Terrance Knighton and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie last year. Elway expects to be busy again this year. He has about $25 million in projected cap space right now but could free up more by asking Champ Bailey and Jacob Tamme to restructure their contracts and by releasing Chris Kuper and Joel Dreessen. Elway said using free agency to address immediate needs gives the Broncos freedom in the draft. "We dont have to sit there and reach for some guy because of a need. So, if we can get rid of really the absolute needs that we need to do in free agency, then that opens it up, we can fire free at the draft, take the best players," he said. If Moreno leaves, the Broncos have Montee Ball ready to step in as the featured back. He came on strong down the stretch, finishing the season with 120 carries for 561 yards and four touchdowns. Nearly a third of his carries moved the sticks, ranking third in the league and tops among rookies. His pass protection also vastly improved. "We have high expectations out of Montee," Elway said. "Well see how things flush out with Knowshon." Decker, who has 32 TD catches over the last three years, would be missed. But Manning has plenty of other targets and teammate Bubba Caldwell, another unrestricted free agent, could prove a cheaper alternative. "This is an organization any player wants to come to," Decker said. "They treat you first class, its a winning organization. Theyve built a culture thats phenomenal. I would love to play here and unfortunately it isnt something thats always in my control." ' ' '