Pirates first baseman Pedro Alvarez went 2 for 4 with a solo home run in his team's 3-2 loss to the Reds Thursday.
Alvarez was 1 for 6 with a double in his first two games before putting together a nice offensive showing Thursday. His home run came in the sixth inning and put his team up 2-0, but the Pirates let the lead slip away in the bottom half of the inning. Alvarez has two 30-homer seasons on his resume but hit just .231/.312/.405 with 18 home runs in 398 at-bats last season.