HISTORY! Pirates Come Back From 9-0 to Beat Reds 13-12

If you turned the Pittsburgh Pirates (and Cincinnati Reds game off after the Reds took a 9-0 lead, boy did you miss out. The Pirates pulled off a historic comeback, and beat the Reds 13-12.

Alfonso Rivas, Jared Triolo, Bryan Reynolds, and Ji-Hwan Bae fueled this Pirates comeback, and now Pittsburgh has a chance to sweep their final series against the Reds on Sunday.

Recap:

Starter Bailey Falter struggled in his 14th start of the year. In two innings pitched, Falter surrendered eight runs on nine hits, one walk, and one strikeout.

Most of the damage for Falter came in the second inning, where the Reds sent ten men to the plate. During the second inning, the Reds scored five runs.

Before their five-run explosion, the Reds drew first blood in the first inning with a two-run homer from Christian Encarnacion-Strand and a solo homer from Tyler Stephenson.

After the first and second innings, the Pirates found themselves down 8-0. In addition, the Reds added another run in the third inning after Spencer Steer smashed an RBI double.

The Pirates registered their first hit of the game in the fourth inning, thanks to Jared Triolo. Later in the fourth, the Pirates finally scored off an RBI single from Alfonso Rivas.

The score was 9-1 in favor of Cincinnati.

The Pirates made things interesting in the sixth inning. Ji-Hwan Bae and Joshua Palacios hit a pair of RBI singles, and Bryan Reynolds crushed a three-run homer.

After sending eight men to the plate in the sixth, the Pirates cut the Reds lead 9-6.

In the seventh inning, the Pirates pulled off the improbable by tying the game after being down 9-0. With the bases loaded and no one out, Rivas belted a three-run double.

The Pirates made it a brand new ballgame with a score of 9-9.

The Pirates decided to make it a trifecta in the eighth inning by scoring in their third-straight inning. A Jack Suwinski RBI single knocked in Bryan Reynolds and the Pirates cam full circle by taking a 10-9 lead.

Later on in the eighth, Rivas picked up his fifth RBI, and Bae drove in another two runs with a double. The Pirates led 13-9.

The Reds chopped the Pirates lead down in the bottom of the eighth after Nick Martini grounded into a force out. Elly De La Cruz scored during the play making it 13-10.

Encarnacion-Strand continued the eighth with an RBI single, making it a 13-11 game. The Reds nearly came all the way back in the ninth, but fell one run short and lost 13-12.

Key Moment:

It’s hard to nail down a specific moment or inning, so let’s just give the sixth, seventh, and eighth inning the nod for the moment(s) of the game.

Star of the Game:

Alfonso Rivas, it’s not hard to give a guy with five RBIs in one game the nod.

Noteworthy:

• Since the modern era, the Pirates have never came back from a 9+ run deficit. Saturday’s game marked an historic comeback.
• The Pirates scored 13 unanswered runs.
• During the 2023 season, MLB teams were 0-205 when trailing by 9+ runs. The Pirates just made it 1-205 after Saturday’s performance.
• The Pirates improved their record to 9-64 when trailing after six innings.
• In addition, Carmen Mlodzinski earned his first career save.

Up Next: 

The Pittsburgh Pirates (74-81) will end their series with the Cincinnati Reds (79-76) on Sunday with a chance to sweep the series. No starter has been announced for the Pirates, but they will face LHP Brandon Williams (4-5, 4.56 ERA).