Pirates Even Series With Win Over Reds; 4 Homers in Big Night for Offense, Chandler Wild But Unhittable
A trio of Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and the offense belted four home runs — two from Oneil Cruz — in an 8-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on Tuesday night.
Scoring Plays
Top 2nd, 5-0 PIT: Nick Yorke got the Pirates (2-3) on the board with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly off Brandon Williamson thanks to some heads-up baserunning from Nick Gonzales. Two batters later, Ryan O’Hearn blasted a three-run home run to center to extend the lead to 4-0. Bryan Reynolds than went back-to-back with O’Hearn for his first homer of the season.
Bottom 3rd, 5-1 PIT: A miscommunication between Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz on a ball hit by Ke’Bryan Hayes to left-center field allowed Noelvi Marte to score from second. Reynolds was charged with an error.
Top 4th, 6-1 PIT: Oneil Cruz belted a 444-foot solo home run off Williamson (0-1), his first of the season. Cruz only hit one home run off a left-handed pitcher all of last year.
Bottom 8th, 6-3 PIT: Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart hit back-to-back solo home runs off Hunter Barco to cut the Pirates’ lead in half.
Top 9th, 8-3 PIT: Oneil Cruz got the runs right back with his second home run of the game, a 403-foot two-run shot off Pierce Johnson.
Key Moments
With the Pirates ahead by five runs, Bubba Chandler walked the bases loaded with one out in the fifth and was lifted in favor of Yohan Ramírez (1-0). The right-hander struck out Matt McLain for the second out then struck out Elly De La Cruz on a 3-2 curveball in the dirt for out No. 3.
Things got dicey again in the eighth inning when the Reds (3-2) brought the tying run to the plate with no outs after hitting back-to-back homers earlier in the inning. But Dennis Santana retired Noelvi Marte and got Nathaniel Lowe to pop into an inning-ending double play.
Player of the Game
Oneil Cruz recorded the third multi-homer game of his career and finished with three hits for the first time in a game since a four-hit performance on Aug. 27, 2024 against the Chicago Cubs.
Stat to Know
Ryan O’Hearn and Bryan Reynolds gave the Pirates their first back-to-back home runs of the season. The Pirates had three instances of back-to-back home runs last year. Reynolds’ home run was his 139th with the Pirates, which tied him with Jason Bay for ninth-most in franchise history.
Notable Performances
- Bubba Chandler: 4.1 innings, no hits, one run (unearned), six walks, six strikeouts, 81 pitches/43 strikes
- Oneil Cruz: 3 for 4, two home runs, three RBI, three runs
- Ryan O’Hearn: 1 for 3, one home run, three RBI, one run, one walk
- Bryan Reynolds: 1 for 4, one home run, one RBI, one run
- Nick Gonzales: 2 for 4, two runs
Noteworthy
- Jose Trevino broke up the Pirates’ combined no-hit bid with a one-out single in the seventh off Hunter Barco.
- Ryan O’Hearn extended his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest active streak in MLB.
- Bubba Chandler’s six walks were more than he had in 31.1 innings with the Pirates last season. He only walked four batters after making his debut on Aug. 22 against the Colorado Rockies.
- Pirates manager Don Kelly was ejected in the bottom of the eighth inning after arguing with home plate umpire Jordan Baker about a checked swing call.
Up Next
RHP Paul Skenes (0-1, 67.50 ERA) and the Pirates will go for their first series win of the season on Wednesday afternoon. LHP Andrew Abbott (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will be on the mound for the Reds. First pitch: 12:40 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh/93.7 The Fan.
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Let us hope that Skenes returns to his norm tomorrow. The Pirates will be at .500 if he does.