CINCINNATI — A Bryse Wilson start defined by home runs certainly qualifies as a plausible premise, especially at Great American Ball Park. But the twist Monday against the Reds was that Wilson got to watch a couple balls sail over the fence and smile, instead of growing frustrated.
To back another solid effort from Wilson, Bryan Reynolds, Rodolfo Castro and Diego Castillo all went deep, quite literally powering a 6-3 victory for the Pirates over the Reds in a matchup of eliminated-from-contention teams.
Despite giving up another home run — certainly a theme for the right-hander this season — Wilson delivered a solid performance, giving the Pirates 5 2/3 innings of three-run ball, walking two and striking out four to pick up his third win of the season.
The win followed a 2-7 start to September for manager Derek Shelton’s Pirates (52-88), a group that was held to three or fewer runs in two-thirds of those games. Facing a tough left-hander in Mike Minor — who had gone 3-0 with a 3.91 ERA over his last four starts — the Pirates made some loud contact and jumped out to a 6-2 lead after a five-run fifth.
That frame started with singles from Kevin Newman and Reynolds before Castro pummeled a 1-1 changeup Minor left up. It was a moon shot, too, the 363-foot homer shooting sky high and landing a couple rows deep over the short porch in left.
The first of three Reds errors created an extra out in the inning, and Castillo — recalled before the game and making his first MLB appearance since July 30 — announced his presence with authority by hammering a line-drive shot, Castillo going down to get a 2-1 slider Minor thought he buried down and in.
While those two might’ve been considered cheapies, the ball Reynolds hit in the first inning most certainly was not. This one came on a first-pitch heater Reynolds — like Castro — caught high. It sped out at 103.9 mph, traveled 407 feet and gave Reynolds 22 homers on the season.
Furthermore, it was the eighth for Reynolds at Great American Ball Park, the most of anywhere the Pirates outfielder has played.
Cincinnati did ding Wilson with a home run of its own, as right fielder Aristides Aquino connected on an elevated four-seamer in the bottom of the fourth inning. The two-run bomb was the 18th in 18 starts (22 games) Wilson has allowed this season.
Among pitchers who have worked at least 70 innings, Wilson began the game with the ninth-highest mark of home runs per nine innings in MLB (1.73). Although he’s been able to tamp down his walks due to a better mix of fastballs, Wilson has been burned plenty by leaving breaking stuff over the heart of the plate when he’s ahead in the count, those mistakes leading to home runs.
This night did not end like that, the result of Wilson doing a better job of commanding his breaking stuff and using four pitches to mostly avoid hard contact — not easy to do on a night where his four-seamer and sinker were both down about 2 mph.
After the Pirates exploded for five runs in the fifth — tied for the most they’ve scored in an inning this season — the Reds got one back in the bottom half, taking advantage of a couple Wilson walks. With the bases loaded, second baseman Alejo Lopez bounced a ball up the middle. Kevin Newman nearly made a sensational play but lost the ball when trying to transfer it to his glove hand.
Fortunately for the Pirates, the damage was minimal, as Robert Stephenson got Reds center fielder Nick Senzel to line out to center. It started an underrated storyline in this one, where Stephenson — a first-round draft pick for Cincinnati in 2011 — looked fantastic against his former team. Of the 10 sliders Stephenson threw, the Reds swung and missed at six of them. Two more resulted in called strikes.
Along with Stephenson, Pittsburgh got several terrific defensive plays from left fielder Greg Allen, who made a diving grab to rob Aquino in the second inning. It wasn’t quite as good, but Allen was still flying when he slid to make a similar play on designated hitter Jake Fraley two innings later.
Wil Crowe finished it off with a six-out save.
Around the horn
With his pinch-hit single in the seventh inning, Cal Mitchell has hits in seven of eight games since his latest recall. The rookie outfielder is batting .435 (10 for 23) during that time. … Ke’Bryan Hayes stole a pair of bases and now has 17 steals on the season. … Wilson now has a 4.77 ERA in 12 games (11 starts) since his last recall on July 2.
