PITTSBURGH _ Bryan Reynolds has been the poster boy for some of the Pirates' problems. And no, not his attitude. Reynolds is quiet and soft-spoken, but he's hardly a bad teammate or a divisive personality.
However, after a terrific rookie season in which Reynolds finished seventh in the National League batting race at .314, he was undoubtedly frustrated, his offensive success a season ago feeling miles away.
Reynolds waited until the Pirates' fifth game of the season for his first hit, their 18th game for his first home run. Entering Friday's contest, Reynolds was hitting .174 and had just two hits in his previous 23 at-bats (.087).
Perhaps what Reynolds and the Pirates did to the Brewers in a 7-2 victory at PNC Park will help the young outfielder look a little more like the player he appeared to be last year, one that Pittsburgh badly needs to be a building block for the future.
Reynolds had three hits against Milwaukee, including a home run and a triple, and drove in four runs, as the Pirates produced one of their most complete efforts of the season. He also made a terrific diving grab in left field.
The script the Pirates (5-17) followed felt rare _ hitting, pitching and defense.
They got an early lead with a Reynolds home run and five consecutive hits two innings later, scoring three. Their starting pitcher (Chad Kuhl) fared well. And their bullpen allowed just one run over four innings of work.
While snapping a four-game losing streak and winning for just the second time in their past nine games, the Pirates even played solid defense and got a bunt base hit from, of all people, Colin Moran (3 hits).
It was a feel-good night for the Pirates ... until what happened in the ninth inning, when closer Keone Kela left five pitches into his outing with an undisclosed issue.
Manager Derek Shelton was expected to provide more information postgame.
Kuhl came into this one with a very good history against the Brewers. He was 3.0 with a 1.72 ERA in seven career games (six starts), while the Pirates were 6-0 when the right-hander pitched.
On Friday, Kuhl gave the Pirates five innings of one-run ball. While he had struck out 13 over nine innings in his previous two starts, Kuhl was much more of a contact pitcher Friday, striking out one.
Brewers center fielder Ben Gamel opened the scoring with a solo home run off Kuhl, when he turned on a low-and-inside slider and hit it 425 feet out to right-center field for a 1-0 Milwaukee lead in the second inning.
The Pirates answered in the bottom half, as Reynolds jumped on an elevated sinker from Brewers starter Adrian Houser. It marked just the second home run for Pittsburgh in the past five games _ both by Reynolds.
It remained a tie game until the fourth inning, when the Pirates strung together five consecutive hits and scored three runs, taking a 4-1 lead.
Reynolds drove in the first run on a ball that ticked off Houser's mitt. Then Gregory Polanco, whose second-inning lineout carried an exit velocity of 106.4 mph, hit another high fastball into center field. Cole Tucker's infield single scored the third run.
Before the five-hit outburst, the Pirates had 47 consecutive innings _ dating back to a seven-run second inning last Thursday in Cincinnati _ without producing more than two hits in a single frame.
In addition to the offense and strong start from Kuhl, the Pirates also made a couple of impressive defensive plays. Reynolds had the first, when he robbed Brewers left fielder Christian Yelich with a diving grab to lead off the fourth inning. In the fifth, Erik Gonzalez ranged to his right at third base and made a terrific backhanded stop.
The Pirates also got some excellent relief work in the middle innings. Sam Howard started the sixth inning and got two outs before allowing a single and a walk. In came Geoff Hartlieb, who issued another walk to load the bases.
But Hartlieb got right fielder Brock Holt to ground out to second base, then delivered a 1-2-3 seventh inning, striking out Brewers second baseman Keston Hiura swinging on a slider to end it.
The Brewers tacked on a solo home run in the eight. Facing Yelich, who was hitless in his previous 17 at-bats here this season, Richard Rodriguez served up a solo homer on a 2-2 pitch, drawing the Brewers to within two at 4-2.
But that's when the Pirates offense went back to work. Bell led off the eighth with a single, and Moran bunted for a base hit against the shift, his third single of the night.
Reynolds scored both with his triple, as he went down and got a changeup from Alex Claudio, driving it to left. Tucker added another hit, a single, to score Reynolds.
