Rays Walk-Off Pirates For Second Straight Game; Defeat Pirates 6-5

For the second straight game, the Rays defeated the Pirates on a walk-off after Isaac Paredas delivered a ninth inning single off Pirates closer David Bednar. The Rays won 6-5, taking the first two games of the series.

After recording the first two outs of the inning, Bednar issued a pair of free passes and gave up an infield single. He was ahead of Paredas 0-2, but Paredas shot one to right field allowing a pair of runs to score.

The Pirates were seemingly in good position to win the game. Jack Suwinski entered play leading all Major League rookies in homeruns with 11. Trailing by a run, Suwisnki stepped to the plate with a pair of runners on base. After jumping ahead in the count 2-0, the rookie hit a mammoth homer to right, putting the Bucs up 5-3.

JACK SUWINSKI HIT THIS BASEBALL 443 FT!!! pic.twitter.com/Aj0DtVMvXi

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 25, 2022

The Rays jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when Vidal Bruján dropped a single that landed in front of Bryan Reynolds, plating a pair of runs for Tampa Bay.

The Pirates found the scoreboard in the third inning when Diego Castillo hit a solo shot, his second straight games with a homer. He’s also homered in three of his last four games and five of his last 11 contests.

How 'bout Diego?! pic.twitter.com/95qLBBIxaR

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 25, 2022

Reynolds entered play hitting just .119 with runners in scoring position, but drove in Michael Perez from second base with two outs in the third.

Tampa Bay reclaimed the lead in the fifth inning after Josh Lowe and Randy Arozarena recorded back-to-back doubles, putting them ahead 3-2.

JT Brubaker worked six strong innings, limiting the Rays to three runs on nine hits. He struck out six, didn’t walk a batter and threw 67 of his 94 pitches for strikes.

The Rays cut the Pirates lead to just one after Paredes hit a solo shot to left in the eighth inning, but David Bednar picked up his first save in 10 days to preserve the win after escaping a bases loaded jam.

The Pirates will try and salvage the series Sunday afternoon. The pitching matchup will be a battle of impressive youngsters as Roansy Contreras (2-1, 2.89 ERA) will face off with Rays lefty Shane McClanahan (7-3, 1.81 ERA).

Takeaways 

• Captain Jack: Suwinski’s three-run blast was one of the more impressive homerun swings from a Pirates player in recent memory. The tape measure shot off of lefty Jalen Beeks was a sight to behold, and more importantly it put the Pirates ahead. The long ball gives Suwisnki an even dozen as he continues to lead all Major League rookies in homers so far this season. If that wasn’t enough, he made a terrific catch over the fence in foul ground in left field in the bottom of the sixth.
• Length From JT: The pitching line may not be his best, but for the fourth straight game, Brubaker worked into the sixth inning of his start on Saturday afternoon. That’s something he had only done twice all season prior to his current stretch. Over these four starts, Brubaker has yielded only eight earned runs in 24.1 innings of work, good for an ERA of 2.96. Over that span, he’s lowered his season ERA from 4.70 to 4.14.
• Not Quite Right: In his second consecutive attempt, Bednar blew a save for the Pirates. Almost perfect for most of the season, the right-hander didn’t look quite right in his outing on Saturday. He really struggled with fastball command, leaving a bunch of pitches out of the zone on his arm side. It’s rare to see him issue a pair of walks in one outing, and even more rare to see someone record a hit off him when he’s ahead 0-2 in the count.