Kovacevic: Reynolds' revival beyond pivotal to these Pirates' future

So, Bryan Reynolds, how was the doubleheader split?

"Long."

Yeah, no kidding. These Pirates' longest day of what's already been a long 2023 in a lot of ways saw Game 1 on this Sunday at PNC Park get going at 1:35 p.m., then Game 2 get stretched out to a season-long three hours, 39 minutes because of 10 innings, a bunch of arguments, a bunch more balls than strikes, and it all wound up at 9:45 p.m. with a whole lot of blah.

Game 1: Pirates 4, Reds 2
Game 2: Reds 6, Pirates 5

"Very long," Reynolds would amend himself when I'd broach the subject a second time. "Especially when that second game runs 3 1/2 hours."

And when it's 80-plus degrees throughout. And when the team's 53-65, a single step removed from last place. And when these events carry nowhere near the feel of what was happening around here back in April. 

So someone explain this to me, please:

Vital context: Ninth inning. The score's 5-5. Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati's wunderkind, skies the ball toward the shallow left field corner. And given who hit it and where it was hit, it the thing legit looked like it could clear the fence. Or at least secure the kid a couple of bases.

Nope. Because this franchise's best player is, once again, the best player.

Because leading into that catch, arguably the most spectacular of the summer at this place, all Reynolds had contributed was this:

Almost got that second one wet. Annihilated 'em both, actually, with measurements of 428 feet and 105.3 mph, then 405 feet and 106 mph. Big hits and, to boot, in big situations.

I asked Derek Shelton afterward about Reynolds' evening and, after a shake of the head, he'd reply, "Yeah, I mean, the catch he made on De La Cruz ... jeez. Like, we wouldn't be able to see that from where we're standing because we're blocked." Which was the manager's way of emphasizing that it's no picnic for an outfielder to voluntarily vanish back there, as Reynolds did with great gusto. I couldn't see it live, either. Neither could half the crowd of 21,545, as evidenced by no real reaction from that side until the replay went up on the big board.

"And then the two homers," Shelton proceeded. "And he made another sliding catch, too, I think in the first or second."

It was in the first, with the sun in his eyes:

"That's just a great game for Bryan and, you know, was able to put us up, 5-3, and we just couldn't hold on."

Nope. Because this franchise's best player still needs help all around him, most prominently in the form of the maturation/instruction of this roster's recently promoted prospects.

I don't want to get distracted here, but it's hard. The outcomes of these games are close to meaningless, and I almost feel the same about seeing Henry Davis' nightly run of misreads or mishandles in right field. And Endy Rodriguez getting picked off first base when he had a runner on second. And Liover Peguero having outfielders take turns barking at him for infringing on their turf, with Jack Suwinski being the barker in this one. But in the same breath, I could cite a slew of pluses related to all these youngsters, including Peguero yet again making the hitting of a home run appear way too routine:

Seriously, it's like he hardly swings.

I also don't want to get distracted by the day-to-day irrelevance, like the outright idiocy of home plate umpire Nic Lentz trying to throw out (presumably) the Pirates' entire coaching staff, only to be roundly ripped by Shelton, Don Kelly and, in concert, the crowd around them. I've got it covered elsewhere.

It's fun debate/discussion fodder but, again, it's a distraction.

The franchise's best player being the best player, particularly after those parties put pen to paper on a record-smashing $106 million extension ... that's the meat on the plate. Because if, for whatever reason, Reynolds' career were to go kablooey, to say nothing of Ke'Bryan Hayes and his $70 million extension that came first ... I'm not sure how much of all the rest of this matters.

Put it this way: What happens if Paul Skenes shows up sooner rather than later, as I'm expecting he will, and Davis, Rodriguez, Peguero and all the others grow up in due course ... if Reynolds and/or Hayes are just ... you know, just guys?

I won't be swayed by a wonderful week for the latter, but I'll be damned if anyone anywhere should accept Reynolds as being that. He's just too talented, too team-oriented, too driven to be the one to let this broader process down. I believe that now, even as I've believed it for years, even as I backed the extension, even as I watched him work through some of his longer slumps.

I believe this is Pittsburgh's best baseball player since peak Andrew McCutchen, and I wouldn't throw that around recklessly.

Oh, and one more thing I believe: He needs to act like it.

It can't be a coincidence that, ever since his rookie arrival, when he felt the hot breath of Neal Huntington's front office down the back of his neck with each at-bat, eager to send him back to the minors to maintain his Super-2 arbitration status, he's been at his own peak when he's pushing the hardest to show someone something. Or maybe the more compelling example came in the opening week of this season, when the contract fuss was carrying the headlines, and all he did was go Joe DiMaggio on everyone.

Peak Reynolds, to me, is this: He's on a 16-game on-base streak in which he's batting .353 -- 24 for 68 -- with seven home runs, two doubles and 10 RBIs, though it began ramping up back in mid-July, even earlier with the effectiveness of the swing. That's what he does. He builds, builds and goes boom. Because, as I see it, what's building in the background with him is a sense that he can't be another blurry face in this setting.

Peak Reynolds, to me, is this:

That was the second home run. Different angle. And a very different Reynolds, albeit one that's being seen more often.

Not that he'd ever talk about any of that:

"Eh, I don't know," he'd reply when I asked what's different now. "It's just kinda the ebbs and flows of baseball. You know how my swing works. Whatever it is, let's just keep it going in New York."

Uh-huh. Take it to Citi Field. And approach the entire three-game series against the Mets with that same swagger, that same grasp of what really ought to be glaringly obvious by now: He has to be a boss around here.

That's the truly long game.

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THE INJURIES

• 10-day injured list: 2B Ji Hwan Bae (ankle)

• 15-day injured list: RHP Carmen Mlodzinski (elbow), RHP Dauri Moreta (lower back)

• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), INF Tucupita Marcano (knee), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Alfonso Rivas, 1B
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Jack Suwinski, CF
5. Henry Davis, RF
6. Endy Rodriguez, C
7. Liover Peguero, 2B
8. Jared Triolo, 3B
9. Alika Williams, SS

And for David Bell's Reds:

1. TJ Friedl, CF
2. Matt McLain, 2B
3. Elly De La Cruz, SS
4. Spencer Steer, 3B
5. Joey Votto, DH
6. Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 1B
7. Henry Ramos, RF
8. Will Benson, LF
9. Luke Maile, C

THE SCHEDULE

A six-game east-wester through New York and Minneapolis opens Monday night against the Mets, 7:10 p.m., at Citi Field. Quinn Priester (2-1, 8.75) will face New York's Carlos Carrasco (3-6, 6.42).

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