BOSTON — The breadth of a baseball season, 162 games in all, allows for these beauties, the back-and-forth, nothing-ever-seems-right affairs. On Monday in Boston, two popups were dropped, a single off first base scored a run, and the Pirates and Red Sox combined for six home runs.
And that only covered four innings of a wild, wacky Pirates win, a 7-6 victory against the Red Sox at Fenway Park that served as the club’s first win here since June 18, 2005 and one it surely hopes will provide some early-season momentum.
Where to start with the crazy stuff?
A good place might be the damage done by Vanderbilt buddies Bryan Reynolds and Jason Delay. They roomed together at the SEC school. They were in each other’s weddings as well.
For Reynolds, a two-homer outburst — his first since Aug. 18, 2022 against Boston and the fourth of his career — is at least somewhat expected. For Delay, a defense-first backup catcher, yeah, it’s not.
Yet with the Pirates trailing by a run in the fourth inning, Delay launched a 1-0 fastball on the inner-half over the Green Monster for what was just the second home run of his career — but also a gigantic shot, giving the Pirates a 6-5 edge.
Later in the inning, Reynolds got the Pirates what would turn out to be a much-needed insurance run by turning on a 3-1 cutter up in the zone for his third of the season.
That came in handy when Rob Zastryzny and Duane Underwood Jr. combined to allow a run in the sixth, but the back end of the bullpen got it done the rest of the way.
That meant Underwood Jr. with a 1-2-3 seventh, Colin Holderman getting some help in the field in the eighth and David Bednar picking up another save in the ninth. Given what transpired in the eight innings before, it certainly had to feel like one of the more unlikely ones of Bednar’s career.
ON THE MOUND
Monday was far from perfect for Oviedo, who allowed three home runs in a five-batter span in the first inning. But give him credit for finding a way — clearly without his best stuff — to nearly get through five innings.
With two outs in the fifth, Dauri Moreta relieved Oviedo and recorded a key strikeout of catcher Connor Wong, the emotion evident as Moreta stalked off the field.
With the Pirates ahead, 3-0, after the first, Oviedo made a huge mistake to third baseman Rafael Devers by throwing him a 1-0 fastball waist high. Devers crushed it, a no-doubter to center.
After Reynolds failed to squeeze a fly ball from designated hitter Justin Turner, left fielder Masataka Yoshida drove a high-and-outside heater over the Monster for his first MLB home run and a 3-3 tie.
The third homer Oviedo allowed was to first baseman Triston Casas. It was more on the Devers end of the mistake scale: 2-2 slider that caught a bunch of plate. With an uppercut swing that produced a ridiculous 44-degree launch angle, Cases sent the moon shot over the fence in right.
Oviedo (94 pitches, 54 strikes) wasn’t around the zone quite as much as he was during spring training. Oddly, he also threw his slider about 3 mph harder than he did during Grapefruit League play. Boston crushed his mistakes, but again, nice job by Oviedo to keep his team competitive.
AT THE PLATE
Weird first inning for both teams. Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in the Pirates’ first run with a single off first base two batters after Ji-Man Choi hit a pop fly Devers absolutely should have caught.
Canaan Smith-Njigba, starting for the first time since opening day, had a terrific swing on his two-run double, giving the Pirates a 3-0 lead. He got a cutter up-and-away and rode it out to left, off the Green Monster.
Aside from the Vandy Boys, Monday was a really solid game for Jack Suwinski, who walked in the first (after falling in a 1-2 hole) and stung a ball for a run-scoring single in the third. An 0-1 heater atop the zone, Suwinski’s 107.7 mph into right cut Boston’s lead at the time to 5-4.
In the outfield, Suwinski made an outstanding diving grab to rob shortstop Kike Hernandez in the fourth inning, getting a loud “[Heck] yeah!” scream from Oviedo in the process.
UP NEXT
Roansy Contreras will make his first start of the season and second against the Red Sox on Tuesday. Neat anecdote about his only other start against Boston: Contreras lost to Rich Hill on Aug. 17, 2022 after allowing four runs in six innings.
