CINCINNATI -- After playing seven hours of baseball on Saturday, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was asked what pleased him the most about sweeping a doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds. His answer was all encompassing.

"Nothing pleased me the most, a bunch of things pleased me," Hurdle said. "Offense showed up both games. Big efforts by the pitchers. Team effort all over the place for 18 innings."

Sean Rodriguez homered in the fourth inning and Andrew McCutchen had a two-run single during a four-run second inning, lifting the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-3 victory and a doubleheader sweep on Saturday afternoon at Great American Ball Park.

The Pirates won the first game of the day-night doubleheader 10-4, to make up a May 10 rainout. It was their first doubleheader sweep in Cincinnati since 1990.

Pittsburgh has won four straight and five of six to keep their fading postseason hopes alive.

Right-hander Juan Nicasio (10-6) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win.

"I told him to go to Sandals in the Bahamas and meet us next Tuesday in Milwaukee," said Hurdle. "Very aggressive outing for Nicasio. We were strapped tonight."

Tony Watson earned his 14th save.

Pittsburgh drew 19 walks in the two games, and eight of those runners scored.

"It's not up to standards," said Reds manager Bryan Price. "We've given up a lot of runs in this series and most of them in large part because we're not throwing the ball over the plate consistently. Walks have started rallies and continued rallies. It slows the tempo of the game. It wasn't a highlight day by any means."

Reds starter Brandon Finnegan (9-11) lasted only 2 1/3 innings, matching his shortest start of the season.

Cincinnati loaded the bases trailing by three runs with one out in the seventh. But, Felipe Rivero struck out two straight batters to end the inning. Rivero struck out three over 1 2/3 innings.

Finnegan made his 30th start of the season on Saturday night, which initially was going to be his limit this season. But, Price later said Finnegan might remain in the rotation beyond Saturday's start.

A fielding error by right fielder Scott Schebler helped spark a four-run second inning, thus elevating Finnegan's pitch count.

Catcher Eric Fryer started the scoring for Pittsburgh with a sacrifice fly. Jordy Mercer's sinking liner was booted by Schebler, allowing the second run to score, ahead of a two-run single by McCutchen that made it 4-0.

The Pirates sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning, pushing Finnegan's pitch count to 52 through two innings.

"They hit seven singles," said Finnegan. "The only thing I couldn't do was walk the pitcher. They happened to get seven singles. Those balls were soft enough to fall in. There's nothing I can do about it."

Things got worse for Finnegan in the third when he walked Pirates starting pitcher Trevor Williams with the bases loaded to force home a run. Williams was credited with his first career RBI.

Rodriguez's 16th home run of the season and second of the day made the score 6-0 in the fourth.

"He continues to remind himself to stay short to the ball," Hurdle said. "It's not about hitting homers. He's gotten in those lanes in the past. That doesn't end well for anybody. His at-bats have been good and timely."

Williams, making his first career start, retired the first nine batters he faced, but he didn't retire a batter in the fifth when Schebler and Ramon Cabrera hit back-to-back home runs to make the score 6-2.

He allowed three runs on five hits over four-plus innings.

"We scored runs all game for me," Williams said. "I needed shutdown innings. That didn't happen. Clint pulled me at the right time. I was running out of gas."

NOTES: Pirates LF Starling Marte missed his 12th straight game with lower back spasms. Marte was expected to play in one of the games in Saturday's doubleheader but suffered a setback on Friday, according to manager Clint Hurdle. ... An error by Pirates SS Sean Rodriguez in the second inning of the first game in the doubleheader was changed to a hit for Reds C Tucker Barnhart. ... Rodriguez's home run in the third inning of the first game was the 237th allowed by Reds pitchers, a club record for a season. It is two shy of a National League record and four short of the major league mark.