PITTSBURGH — Tyler Mahle’s second impression was even better than his first.

The rookie right-hander threw six scoreless innings Saturday in his second big-league start, but the Reds bullpen allowed five runs in a 5-0 Pirates victory at PNC Park.

Last Sunday Mahle allowed three runs in five innings in a loss to the same Pirates, admitting afterward that nerves may have gotten the best of him in his debut.

By the time he stared down former MVP Andrew McCutchen with the bases loaded in a tie game, those nerves were gone. The fact that McCutchen was at the plate wasn’t lost on Mahle, it just didn’t faze him.

“Definitely, but I faced him six times now, I think,” said Mahle, who is scheduled to make his first start against a team other than the Pirates on Thursday against the Mets in New York. “So I'm not saying I figured him out or anything. I know what I have to do and if I make quality pitches and the odds are definitely in my favor.”

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Mahle had loaded the bases on a single to the pitcher, a hit batter and an infield single

“It's not like they were hitting me around,” he said. “I just had to keep doing what I was doing.”

Mahle threw three straight fastballs to McCutchen, who swung through the first one, fouled off the second and hit a soft fly ball to left fielder Adam Duvall to end the inning.

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“Those are the situations that you don't want to pull him too quick and not allow him to work his way out of his own jams, especially in a game like that that's 0-0,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “This is why he's here. He's here in September to get some experience that will benefit him moving forward, especially moving into next year. Getting him a chance to get up over 100 pitches, pitch out of his own issues there in the fifth and go back out for a nice sixth inning was really nice to see.”

Mahle, who turns 23 later this month, started the season in Double-A Pensacola, going 7-3 with a 1.59 ERA before earning a call-up to Triple-A Louisville, where he went 3-4 with a 2.73 ERA.

“I like the way he gets after it, he works fast, he pitches on both sides of the plate,” Price said. “The slider was better today, I thought, than in his first start. He didn't make a lot of mistakes, but when he did have runners on base, he was quick to the plate and he was efficient. I'm very impressed with the young guy.”

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Mahle admitted the nerves were back in the first couple of innings. He threw 21 pitches in the first and 20 in the second, allowing just singles in both innings. He finished with 105 pitches, 65 for strikes.

“I threw a lot of pitches in the first two innings, so I think the nerves were there and I was able to calm down and kind of be myself and pound the zone,” he said.

Two of the five hits he surrendered were infield singles, and none of the five were for extra bases.

The only problem was that Pirates starter Jameson Taillon was better, holding the Reds to three hits over six scoreless innings.