PITTSBURGH — Bryan Reynolds has adopted a poor first half of the season with a stable second half, and his post-All-Star break surge continued on Friday evening.
Reynolds’ two-run triple with two outs within the eighth inning rallied the Pirates to a 3-2 victory over the Reds on Friday evening at PNC Park.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa drew a one-out stroll from Tony Santillan to start out the Pirates’ profitable rally. After a Spencer Horwitz strikeout, Tommy Pham singled to place runners on the corners.
Reynolds then pulled his third triple of 2025 previous diving first baseman Santiago Espinal and down the right-field line, scoring Kiner-Falefa and Pham to show a 2-1 deficit right into a 3-2 lead.
“Simply stayed truthful sufficient,” Reynolds mentioned.
The Pirates (51-66) have received the primary two video games of the four-game sequence, and are 4-1 vs. the Reds at residence this 12 months.
Reynolds doubled within the fourth after which scored on an Oneil Cruz two-bagger to drag the Pirates right into a 1-1 tie. Tyler Stephenson put the Reds forward with a double within the sixth.
The back-to-back doubles accounted for the one run the Pirates scored in six innings in opposition to Reds rookie phenom Chase Burns.
“He has a very good arm, and the slider down was actually good,” Reynolds mentioned. “To simply be capable of scratch one out in opposition to him at the moment was good, a very good piece of hitting by Cruz.”
Reynolds is hitting .316 (24-for-76) with eight doubles and 10 RBIs in 19 video games for the reason that break. Within the first half, Reynolds’ batting common was simply .225 with 10 residence runs in 91 video games.
Total, Reynolds is slashing .241/.299/.390 (.689 OPS) with 11 homers and 56 RBIs in 110 video games. That could be a down 12 months by his requirements, as he has had a mixed OPS of .824 from 2021-24, making the All-Star workforce in ‘21 and ‘24.
“He’s placing in a ton of labor,” Pirates supervisor Don Kelly mentioned in explaining Reynolds’ second-half surge. “Simply the way in which that he will get after it, the early work he had the opposite day was electrical — simply the barrel, the fluidity, the whip was again. It’s exhausting if you’re going by means of that and also you’re grinding and making an attempt to determine issues out. This sport is tough.”
That observe file of success has helped the 30-year-old keep assured when he has struggled.
“Within the lengthy view, it provides you confidence,” Reynolds mentioned. “You possibly can take a look at stuff within the quick view, nevertheless it positively provides some confidence there even when issues aren’t going nice.”
Mitch Keller allowed two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings with three walks and three strikeouts.
“Any time that Bryan’s going by means of one thing or no matter or if he is struggling on the plate, everybody is aware of he is only one swing away from being the perfect hitter in baseball,” Keller mentioned. “All of us have the boldness in him to do this.
“He had a extremely good evening tonight. Very completely satisfied for him. Received little doubt in my thoughts that it is gonna proceed the remainder of the 12 months and for a lot of extra years to return.”
Kyle Nicolas (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the win. Dennis Santana retired the Reds so as within the ninth for his seventh save of the season.
