PITTSBURGH — In theory, Saturday’s game against Cleveland was supposed to be a momentum builder for the Pirates.
They’d broken their 10-game losing streak Friday, beating Cleveland, 11-10, in their best offensive game of the season. Through six innings on Saturday, that momentum seemed to have been lost. The Pirates had tallied just three hits and two walks, scoring no runs over the first six frames. Cleveland hadn’t gone gangbusters, scoring just two runs through those six innings, but it still seemed bleak.
Things didn’t look too promising heading into the bottom of the seventh, either, with the 6-7-8 hitters, Ben Gamel, Kevin Newman and Michael Perez due up.
No matter. The Pirates got some help from Cleveland’s bullpen, but they kicked the door of opportunity wide open with two monster home runs en route to an eventual 6-3 win.
Cleveland reliever Bryan Shaw walked Gamel on four pitches, then issued another free pass to Newman. Perez then stepped in and launched a towering fly ball over the right field wall for a three-run, go-ahead homer. Pinch-hitting Ka’ai Tom drew another walk before Shaw was pulled in favor of James Karinchak.
He did not fair much better. Second baseman Adam Frazier walked, too. Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes struck out swinging, but then center fielder Bryan Reynolds put the icing on the cake. Reynolds smashed an 0-1 fastball way out to right, over the stands and into the Allegheny River on a hop. Suddenly that momentum the Pirates have been trying to build was snatched right back, as they won their second game in a row after that terrible 10-game skid.
Reynolds’ home run was pretty much par for the course for what he’s been doing this season. It was his 12th of the year, and the three runs scored gave him 36 RBIs on the season. Both marks lead the team. It also adds to what has been a scorching hot June for him. Reynolds is now slashing .345/.424/.655 since the calendar flipped to June, and five of his 12 homers have come during the month.
At this point, though, Reynolds has become one of the better hitters in baseball. He entered Saturday’s game with the fourth-most offensive wins above replacement (oWAR) and the ninth-best on-base percentage in all of baseball. For as good as Frazier, Hayes and Moran have been when they’re in the lineup, Reynolds has been a cut above everyone else in the lineup, and almost everyone in MLB, this season.
On the surface, Perez’s home run was the surprising one. The backup catcher was hitting .145 heading into the game. This homer was his fifth of the season, though, tying him with starting catcher Jacob Stallings for the third-most long balls on the Pirates, only short of Reynolds and right fielder Gregory Polanco.
Perez has also done it in substantially fewer at-bats, hitting his five dingers in 78 at-bats, less than one-third of the at-bats Reynolds (240) has had.
Saturday’s game also served as another solid step in the right direction for right-handed starter Wil Crowe, though it may not have been the flashiest outing. He lasted just 4 2/3 innings, giving up just two hits. The kicker is that both hits were home runs, which has been Crowe’s bugaboo this season.
Luckily for him, the offense found its footing in the seventh in a big way. That was plenty enough to carry the day.
