WASHINGTON — Here’s guessing Bryan Reynolds won’t soon forget his first-ever three-homer game, an incredible performance by the Pirates center fielder on Wednesday afternoon that showed much the old Reynolds has returned and whatever it was that was here for the first two months of the season has exited stage left.
It was a memorable performance for Reynolds, who came to bat in the ninth inning with a chance to go 4 for 4 on dingers, though he struck out. It mattered little after the Pirates pulled off an 8-7 victory to salvage one game in this series and on this road trip.
Equally as incredible as Reynolds’ explosion might’ve been what happened in the fifth inning, when manager Derek Shelton’s situational awareness yielded a run. It was an odd play you’ll surely see on MLB Network a bunch, if you haven’t already.
Two on, one out, liner hit to first. Former Pirate Josh Bell threw to third for the double play. Jack Suwinski sprinted home. Because the Nationals did not appeal Suwinski scoring — a move required to prevent the run even though there were three outs — Shelton correctly pointed out the run should count.
It mattered, too, as the Pirates and their depleted bullpen white-knuckled their way to the finish line. Ahead 8-6 after Reynolds’ third homer and with David Bednar (back), Wil Crowe (44 pitches Tuesday) and Cam Vieaux (previously removed from the game) not available, Shelton turned to Chase De Jong, Tyler Beede and Yerry De Los Santos.
That group combined to allowed just two runs over the final five innings after Mitch Keller started, struggled and was charged with five runs (four earned) in four innings.
The third of Reynolds’ homers was obviously the most important, his seventh-inning, three-run blast turning a one-run deficit into a two-run lead at 8-6. Facing Nationals reliever Kyle Finnegan, Reynolds got a 97-mph sinker up in the zone and took it the other way, the ball bouncing into the Pirates bullpen beyond the right-center-field fence.
After starting the day with a .768 OPS, Reynolds’ three-homer game bumped that number up to .808, its improvement due to a hugely productive June for the Pirates outfielder.
Reynolds’ three-homer day, predictably, had all kinds of history attached to it. It was the first time Reynolds has hit three home runs in a game during his career and the second for the Pirates this season after Jack Suwinski did it June 19 against the Giants.
It’s the 10th time it has happened across MLB this season, and the Pirates are the only team to have done it twice. Reynolds also became just the sixth Pirates player (seventh time) to homer off three different pitchers in the same game.
The six RBIs represent a career-high for Reynolds. No Pirate has had that many RBIs since Ben Gamel also had six on July 5, 2021, against the Braves, while the last with more was Andrew McCutchen (8 on Sept. 26, 2017).
The crazy fifth-inning play gave the Pirates a 4-3 lead. With runners on second and third and one out, Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a soft liner to Bell at first base. Bell caught it and threw across the diamond to third baseman Ehire Adrianza, which is when the fun started.
Suwinski, who had singled and was on third base, ran home and scored. Hoy Park was standing on third base. Instead of stepping on third, which would have forced out Suwinski for the third of the inning, Adrianza tagged Park.
It was still three outs, but MLB rule 509(c)(4) requires a team to appeal before leaving the field to prevent the run from scoring. The Nationals did not, and Shelton came flying out of the dugout to make sure the run counted.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, that lead was short-lived. Keller opened the inning by allowing a walk and a single. After Vieaux came on in relief, catcher Keibert Ruiz tomahawked a high fastball into left-center to score one. Left fielder Yadiel Hernandez drove in another run when he hammered a Vieaux slider off the wall in right.
Washington grew its lead to 6-4 after Vieaux left in favor of De Jong, with second baseman Cesar Hernandez looping a high curveball into left field and another strange moment ensuing. This time it was Ruiz sliding in safely before Michael Perez either tagged out left fielder Yadiel Hernandez or the latter was ruled out of the baseline. The whole sequence looked like something out of a movie.
Reynolds cut into the Nationals lead in the sixth inning, making it a 6-5 game with his second homer, crushing a 95-mph fastball at the top of the zone off Carl Edwards Jr. and sending it 420 feet out to right-center field.
The Pirates took a 2-0 lead on Reynolds’ homer in the first, a place where he has found success this season. His five first-inning homers are tied for third in the National League. Reynolds got a 2-1 fastball from Nationals starter Paolo Espino and drove it over the fence in left-center field.
Washington answered with a couple of run-scoring singles in the bottom half of the inning. Designated hitter Nelson Cruz belted a sinker through a shifted infield. Ruiz took a curveball at the bottom of the zone out to center field.
Keller continued to endure a bunch of traffic early on, and the Nationals took a 3-2 lead on a run-scoring double from Juan Soto, Washington’s right fielder and MVP candidate lashing a hanging slider from Keller into the right-field corner.
Daniel Vogelbach brought the Pirates back to a 3-3 tie with his 10th home run of the season, waiting on a hanging curveball and sending it to the seating area in right-center frequented by Oneil Cruz and Diego Castillo during this series.
