Votto celebrates birthday with 4-hit game

PITTSBURGH — Reds manager Bryan Price was the pitching coach for the Mariners in 2004 when Ichiro Suzuki batted .429 after the All-Star break. That was the last time in Major League Baseball a player hit .400 in the second half of a season.

Joey Votto could soon change that. During an 8-7 Reds win over the Pirates on Saturday — also his 33rd birthday — Votto was 4-for-5 with a home run to give him a .427 average in the second half.

“It’s special when you see this type of productivity over this period of time,” Price said. “I don’t want to take it for granted. I think it’s easy to do that when you’re around it every day. The numbers don’t lie. He’s having an unbelievable second half.”

Achieving a rare second-half feat wasn’t seemingly a priority for the first baseman.

“I’m trying to do as well as I can. It’s not something I’m thinking about at all. It’s pretty unlikely. We’ll see,” Votto said.

With 21 games left in the Reds’ season, it’s certainly possible a slump could bring Votto below .400 for the half. But all his numbers have been trending upward since June 1.

Votto is batting .318 overall, his highest average of the season, with a .436 on-base …

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