PITTSBURGH -- Ivan Nova used aggression to quash any nervousness about making his first start with the Pittsburgh Pirates.Nova pitched seven innings in front of his new home fans, Homer Bailey struggled in his second start since having Tommy John surgery and the Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 on Saturday night.Nova (8-6) was acquired from the New York Yankees on Monday for two players to be named and gave up three runs and six hits with five strikeouts and no walks. He had spent his entire seven-year career with New York.I did what I wanted to do -- be a little bit aggressive in the strike zone, Nova said. I got a lot of strikes and got quick outs.Nova pitched more than six innings just three times in 15 starts with the Yankees this season.This guys pitched for a lot of years, in New York City, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. So, hes done some things. Hes just trying to find more consistency and get the opportunity. He wants to pitch with an edge and he was able to show that.Starling Marte welcomed reliever Josh Smith with a two-run single in the fourth to give the Pirates a 5-2 lead. Marte and Josh Harrison each had two hits for Pittsburgh, which entered three games out of the second NL wild card.Tony Watson pitched a perfect ninth for his second save in three chances since All-Star closer Mark Melancon was traded to the Washington Nationals. Watson blew the save Friday night but the Pirates rallied for a 3-2 win.It was good to get back out there again after what happened last night, Watson said. Its even better that we won both games.The Reds Brandon Phillips hit two solo home runs off Nova for the 13th multihomer game of his 15-year career. The second baseman raised his season total to eight but had last homered May 7 and ended a career-long streak of 286 at-bats without connecting.Phillips is 9 for 15 with six RBI and six runs in his last four games.Reds shortstop Zack Cozart extended his hitting streak to 14 games.Phillips second home run cut the Reds deficit to 5-3 in the seventh. He also homered in the second when Tucker Barnhart had an RBI single to put Cincinnati ahead 2-1.The Pirates scored twice against Bailey (1-1) in the third to move in front 3-2. John Jaso was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded with two outs and Francisco Cervelli followed with an RBI single.Bailey allowed five runs and eight hits in three-plus innings. He struck out four and walked one. He was coming off a promising season debut, limiting San Diego to two runs and five hits over 5 2/3 innings in a 3-2 win on July 31.There wasnt acute pain but I just didnt feel very good, Bailey said. I couldnt finish my pitches. I knew before the game it might be a problem but I was hoping to throw enough pitches to get us through until we could get the lead to the bullpen.I know this is part of recovery process but it doesnt feel good when you cost your team the game. The bullpen pitched great but the starter didnt.The Pirates won their second game in a row following a 1-5 stretch while the Reds lost back-to-back games for the first time since dropping three in a row from July 8-10. The loss also ended Cincinnatis streak of six consecutive series victories since the break.TRAINERS ROOMPirates: 3B David Freese (left elbow discomfort) was removed from the game in the seventh inning. ... RF Gregory Polanco (left shoulder discomfort) did not start for a third straight game.PITCHING SHUFFLEThe Pirates purchased RHP Curtis Partchs contract from Triple-A Indianapolis to take the bullpen spot of RHP Arquimedes Caminero, who was traded to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named.Meanwhile, LHP Jeff Locke is moving to the bullpen. Manager Clint Hurdle said there is no room for Locke in the rotation following the trade for Nova and the activation of RHP Ryan Vogelsong on Thursday from the disabled list.UP NEXTReds: RHP Dan Straily (6-6, 3.80 ERA) will start Sunday in the finale of the three-game series and try to extend his streak of six straight quality starts.Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-6, 2.73) is 0-5 with a 5.30 ERA in seven career starts against Cincinnati. Travis Hamonic Gear . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. Oliver Kylington Gear . With the short-handed Warriors needing help from someone -- anyone -- to stop a three-game skid, ONeal returned from right knee and groin injuries that had sidelined him for four games and put up season highs with 18 points and eight rebounds. It was just enough to help lift Golden State to a 102-101 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. http://www.calgaryflamesgear.com/jaromir-jagr-gear/ . Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before. Dalton Prout Gear . Gather a group of friends, or find a league to join online, draft your team, set your lineup and compete in a number of different formats. Rasmus Andersson Gear . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record. Arguably no other sports practitioners and followers spend as much time as Test crickets do on going back to the past and looking at similar in-match scenarios to try to foretell what is going to happen in a completely different match in a completely different time and played with a completely different set of personnel. Perhaps it is because of the time available overnight. Few other sports rely on the changing nature of a surface during the course of a match. Maybe motor sports because of rain, but that is not natural deterioration.It is perhaps this mix of uncertainty and leisure that sends us back to old scorecards, and cricketers are not immune to it. All through the opening days play, especially when flat deliveries began to go more than a metre upon pitching, we kept thinking of the last Mumbai Test between these two sides. Just to recap, India got the turner they wanted in 2012-13, won the toss, batted first, were bowled out for 327, conceded 413 and couldnt recover from the deficit against the spin duo of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar.India ended the first day then at 266 for 6. England have managed 288 for 5. R Ashwin, who played a big part in bringing it down to a similar scoreline, couldnt help comparisons. In normal circumstances, 288 on the board on a pitch that became remarkably more difficult over the course of one day should worry India, but the way Ashwin compared the two matches should ease the nerves of Indian fans.When asked what score India would be comfortable responding to looking at the state of the pitch, Ashwin said: When we played England [here] last, the morning, the first day was a bit damp. It spun a little. It was absolutely flat on days two and day three. Im seeing very similar traits here.We got out of jail and got to about 330-340 the last time we played them here. If we can hold them somewhere [there]... if we had got one more wicket tonight, we might have been on course to do that. Probably come out tomorrow morning, and try and snap a couple of quick wickets and see how quickly we can stall their innings.Therein lies the difference. Then, India came back from 60 for 3 and 119 for 5 on a damp pitch. Here, England rollicked along to 230 for 2 before giving India an opening which Ashwin used to bring them back with three quick wickets. That should be a sign of a pitch becoming more difficult to bat on with time, as opposed to getting better on days two and three. But to put this comeback down to just the pitch would be unfair on some classical offspin bowling from Ashwin.England had had a near-perfect first session of 117 for 1 when Ashwin began to pull things back in the second. In a mid-afternoon spell of 12-1-21-1, he cut down debutant Keaton Jennings, he claimed Joe Root yet again, and kept Moeen Ali and Jennings honest. This spell was as much about drift and dip as it was about turn off the surface. After having scored 65 runns in the first session, Jennings spent the next 40 minutes sweating for five runs, which took him 29 balls.dddddddddddd Jennings then got away with reverse-swept and a cover-driven boundaries in successive deliveries, but Root could not.I must say I worked that dismissal in my head because he has got out a lot of times in the slips, Ashwin said of the outside edge he drew from Root. In the last three Test matches we have played, he nicked one in Vizag… I thought he did, but that was overturned. But he has got a tendency to nick spinners to the slip cordon. I saw him nick Dane Piedt in South Africa. He has done it quite a few times, to Nathan Lyon as well. I was just imagining on the first day that this is one of those wickets out of the four Tests we had where edges actually carry to slips. So I was just mentally working it over and it happened.The real rewards, though, came in the final session when England probably played one shot too many. The approach - reverse-sweeping Ravindra Jadeja, stepping out to spinners and not worrying about hitting in the air - seemed like a direct result of coach Trevor Bayliss comments that England had perhaps played themselves into a shell in their last three innings after they had been forced to do so trying to save the Visakhapatnam Test. There can be a case made either way as to whether it worked or not, but Moeens top-edged sweep did give Ashwin an opening.Ashwin didnt mind it because he knew he deserved more for his toil in the afternoon. I thought the rewards in that spell came for what I did in the afternoon session, Ashwin said. I thought I bowled a really good spell then to Jennings, and was that Moeen Ali? Yeah. Got Root out in that spell, but I thought that was one of the better spells of the day, and I got the rewards for that as soon as I came back in the third spell.Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler then showed the message from the coach was more wholesome. He didnt ask for mindless attack. Throughout the series, England have been throwing away parity in the last half hour of sessions and days. But here, the two batted watchfully for 13.4 overs even if brought them just 39 runs. They did what the situation demanded on a pitch they reckoned got difficult to bat on.Ashwin, though, expects otherwise. I think this is a very similar pitch in terms of what it had on the first day, he said. I dont know what it was, but I am just guessing it could have been just the moisture that made the ball spin a little bit in the afternoon session, and towards the end, I think it was the seam position. The more top spinners you bowled, it started spinning more. I am just expecting the wicket to play well from tomorrow onwards.The rest of the team and Indias fans will be hoping for Ashwins expectations to come true. Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jersyes Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '