Pirates 3, Reds 1: Gaby Sanchez homered and Travis Snider delivered a go-ahead RBI double in the eighth inning as visiting Pittsburgh claimed the opener of a three-game series against Cincinnati.

Jared Hughes (7-5) recorded the final two outs in the seventh and Mark Melancon worked a perfect ninth for his 33rd save for the Pirates, who remained one game behind first-place St. Louis in the National League Central. Snider had two hits, including a double in the eighth off Pedro Villarreal (0-2) that scored Josh Harrison from first base.

The Pirates broke a scoreless tie in the fifth as Sanchez deposited Mike Leake’s first pitch of the inning over the center-field fence for his seventh home run and first since Aug. 14. Leake bounced back from a shaky outing against St. Louis and yielded one run on three hits while striking out eight over seven innings.

Cincinnati pulled even in the bottom of the fifth as Leake belted a two-out double and scored on Kris Negron’s single to center. Pittsburgh answered with two runs in the eighth as Harrison singled and scored when Snider doubled past right fielder Jay Bruce and Andrew McCutchen followed with a run-scoring double to left-center field.

Vance Worley scattered nine hits and allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings for the Pirates, who moved 1 1/2 games ahead of San Francisco for the top wild-card spot. Negron went 3-for-4 while Brandon Phillips, Chris Heisey and Tucker Barnhart had two hits apiece for Cincinnati.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Harrison went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games for Pittsburgh, which has won 13 of its last 16 games. … Leake lowered his ERA to 2.75 in his last eight starts against the Pirates. … Pittsburgh 1B Ike Davis missed the game due to flu-like symptoms and is listed as day-to-day.