Bryan Reynolds’ Two Home Runs Lift Pirates over Red Sox 7-6

Bryan Reynolds homered twice to rally the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Red Sox 7-6 on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Fenway Park in Boston.

After the Red Sox scored five runs on three homers in the bottom of the first inning off starter Johan Oviedo, Reynolds hit a solo home run in the second inning to draw the Pirates within 5-4. His second homer, another solo shot, came in the fourth inning and extended the Pirates’ lead to 7-5.

That gave Reynolds three home runs in the last two games as he went 3 for 5 with three runs scored.

Jason Delay’s solo homer two batters earlier broke a 5-5 tie.

Reynolds had his fourth career multi-homer game, including his second in a row against the Red Sox. He also performed the feat last Aug. 18.

Reynolds became the eighth player in history with consecutive multi-homer games against the Red Sox.

It was Delay’s second career home run in 59 games. The other came last July 22 against the Miami Marlins at PNC Park.

The Pirates evened their record at 2-2 after losing back-to-back games to the Reds in Cincinnati.

The Pirates scored three runs off Kutter Crawford in the top of the first inning. Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in the first run with a single and Canaan Smith-Njigba followed with a two-run double.

However, the Red Sox (2-2) countered with five runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-3 lead. Rafael Devers hit a one-out solo home run before rookie Masataka Yoshida’s two-run shot tied the score. Rookie Triston Casas’ two-run homer put the Red Sox ahead.

It was the first career home run for Yoshida, who was signed to a five-year, $90-million contract as a free agent in the offseason after starring in his native Japan.

Reynolds’ first homer in the second inning drew the Pirates within a run then Jack Suwinski tied it with an RBI single in the third. The fourth-inning homers from Reynolds and Delay put the Pirates ahead.

Adam Duvall’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth off Duane Underwood Jr. drew the Red Sox within 7-6. However, Underwood, Colin Holderman and David Bednar finished with one scoreless inning each to help the Pirates hold on.

Bednar got his second save in as many chances, working around a one-out infield single by Raimel Tapia.

Oviedo lasted 4.2 innings in his first start of the season. He was charged with five runs (four earned) on six hits while striking out four and walking four.

The Red Sox’s Alex Verdugo had three hits and Duvall went 2 for 3 to lift his batting average to .588 in the early going of the season.

Monday began a stretch of nine straight games for the Pirates against American League teams. They host the Chicago White Sox for three games from Friday-Sunday and the Houston Astros for a three-game series next Monday-Wednesday.

The middle game of the three-game series is set for 7:05 p.m. Tuesday with Roansy Contreras (5-5. 3.79 in 2022) pitching for the Pirates against Nick Pivetta (10-12, 4.56 in 2022).