Bryan Reynolds continued his hot streak at the plate albeit in a 5-4 loss to the Cardinals Saturday night at PNC Park.
His 2-for-4 night pushed his average to .231 up 29 points in the last five games dating back to May 2, in Chicago where his average bottomed out at .202. Since then, he's 7-for-15 for a .467 average.
Saturday night's performance demonstrated his power and his ability to turn in good at bats regardless of the outcome. While not every plate appearance has resulted in a positive outcome, they continue to get better.
“Really encouraging. I think we started talking about it four or five days ago when he had a couple walks and started to move back into better counts," Pirates manager Derek Shelton said following the game.
Reynold's doubled in the third inning after going ahead 2-0 in the count and then proceeded to do this in the fifth inning on a 3-2 offering from Matthew Liberatore who was making his MLB debut:
Off the bat, the ball was recorded at only 94 mph, but with the howling wind, it got to the wall in a hurry and from there it was almost like the ball had a mind of it's own, rolling nearly to the notch in left center field.
“Once it hit – from that spot in our dugout it’s a blind spot – that was when the possible rain was coming and it was howling, so as soon as he hit it I thought it was going to just blow out," Shelton said. "I don’t know how that happened because it stayed along the fence and went a long way. As soon as I saw Corey (Dickerson) chasing it, you knew it was going to be an inside-the-park homer because you knew Bryan was going to go hard.”
It was the first inside-the-park home run at PNC Park since May 4, 2013 when Pedro Alvarez hit one and it could not have come at a better time. The homer scored Ke'Bryan Hayes who'd reached on a single to left and pushed the Pirates to within one run of the Cardinals.
The Pirates need Reynolds to return to form and it looks like he's more than on the right track after a sluggish start to the 2022 season.
"It’s very encouraging. I think all along we’ve thought that Bryan Reynolds was going to hit and he just started off the year slow. It’s really encouraging to see his at bats,” Shelton said.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• It was a sloppy second inning that doomed the Pirates against the Cardinals Saturday night. Starting pitcher Jose Quintana walked Juan Yepez to start the inning while Dylan Carson followed that up with a single up the middle three pitches later. That would set up Yadier Molina for this ground ball to Hayes:
One of the game's premier fielders, Hayes was unable to haul that one in and the results loomed large. Yepez scored on the play and Carson would score on Edmundo Sosa's ground ball just out of the reach of Hayes.
Quintana was able to get both Corey Dickerson and Tommy Edman out before yielding a two-out double from Paul Goldschmidt that would score both Molina and Sosa.
That little mistake ended up costing the Pirates dearly and Quintana another chance at throwing a gem. Those are the types of things a team going through growing pains can't afford to have.
• It was far from the best night for Quintana who threw only three and two-third innings before exiting the game for Duane Underwood, Jr. The second inning wound up being his kryptonite as he had to work through the Hayes error and getting hit around a bit.
Of course, it wasn't as though Quintana was getting hit hard, in fact, much of the contact on those hits was soft and the balls fell where there were no Pirates.
"They put the ball in play all the time. And my stuff was good today, I think got a couple soft contact, through the holes, that's all," Quintana s I think the leadoff walk, I was in trouble, especially when we face teams like that. So, I think a lot of weak contact and I paid for it."
Quintana settled again in the third sitting the side down in order, but with an ever increasing pitch count, he was pulled after giving up three hits in a row and allowing a fifth run.
"I didn’t think Q was overly sharp but I thought the last two innings he actually pitched probably the best two innings that he had," Shelton said. "It’s just he gave up hits on soft contact.”
The runs Quintana allowed were the first since his outing in Detroit on May 4th when he allowed two earned over five innings. This time out, he gave up five runs only two of which were earned.
• The bullpen has been hit or miss quite literally this season, but against the Cardinals Saturday night, it was the bullpen's time to shine.
It got started with Underwood throwing one and one-third innings allowing a hit, walk and notching a strikeout. It was Wil Crowe's turn in the sixth and seventh and he shut the door on the Cardinals with four of his six outs coming via strikeout.
Dillon Peters took over for the eight and subsequently sent them down in order beginning with two strikeouts and finishing it up with a Sosa flyout. Peters got Dickerson to groundout in the ninth before allowing a hit and being removed for David Bednar.
Bednar allowed a one-out single to Paul Goldschmidt before striking out Nolan Arenado and getting Albert Pujols to ground out.
All told, the bullpen went five and one-third innings of shutout baseball spreading out three hits while striking out eight and walking only one. It's the type of performance needed when things don't go well with starters early and they more than held up their end of the bargain Saturday night.
• Prior to Saturday's game, Ben Gamel took groundballs and fielded throws at first base. It's unknown when or if that will happen during a game, but it would give Gamel a little less stress on his body than he'd get in the outfield where he's been prone to fly around.
Moving Gamel to first base also would give the Pirates some depth at the position with Tsutsugo struggling. They have also deployed Daniel Vogelbach and Michael Chavis there as well this season.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: OF Jake Marisnick (thumb), SS Kevin Newman (groin)
• 60-day injured list: OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery), Roberto Pérez (hamstring, out for season)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Michael Chavis, 1B
4. Ben Gamel, LF
5. Diego Castillo, 2B
6. Yoshi Tsutsugo, DH
7. Rodolfo Castro, SS
8. Michael Perez, C
9. Jack Suwinski, RF
And for Marmol's Cardinals:
1. Tommy Edman, SS
2. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
3. Nolan Arenado, 3B
4. Albert Pujols, DH
5. Juan Yepez, LF
6. Dylan Carlson, RF
7. Yadier Molina,C
8. Edmundo Sosa, SS
9. Harrison Bader, CF
THE SCHEDULE
Sunday is a brunch at the ballpark day with TBD taking on Steven Matz (3-3, 6.03) with first pitch scheduled for 11:35 a.m. The game can be found on YouTube, but Alex Stumpf will be back to have you covered from the ballpark after a brief stint in the minors Saturday.
THE CONTENT
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