PITTSBURGH _ Sean Rodriguez didn't let Tony Watson stew for long. Shortly after Watson blew his first save as Pirates closer, Rodriguez ripped a fastball from Cincinnati Reds right-hander Ross Ohlendorf into the left-field bleachers at PNC Park for a no-doubt, walk-off home run.
The Pirates, whose charter flight from Atlanta to Pittsburgh touched down at 2:24 a.m. Friday, bounced back from a miserable one-win road trip by bouncing the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2, in a series opener at PNC Park. They climbed again to one game over .500, at 54-53.
Steadied by another strong start from right-hander Jameson Taillon, who threw six innings of one-run baseball, the Pirates pulled into the lead with two runs in the fifth inning on a replay review, a sacrifice fly and a Jordy Mercer's squeeze play. Rodriguez won it in the ninth.
Taillon allowed six hits and struck out six. He walked one, his only walk over his past five starts.
Josh Harrison's third-inning single was the Pirates' only hit over the first four innings, and Harrison was soon erased by right-hander Anthony DeSclafani's pick-off move and a brief rundown.
The offense jolted to life in the fifth. After David Freese walked leading off, John Jaso fouled off four pitches and blasted a long drive to center field. Billy Hamilton raced to the warning track, leaped at the wall and ended up flat on his back with the baseball in his glove. The play, originally ruled an out, was overturned on replay review. The ball had smacked Hamilton's glove, hugged the wall and then bounced back into Hamilton's reach as he fell to the dirt.
The runners were sent to second and third, farther than any Pirates runner had dared venture to that point in the night. Francisco Cervelli tied the game on a sacrifice fly, and Mercer executed a textbook squeeze play to grab the lead. On a 2-1 pitch, Mercer squared and bunted, and Jaso barreled down the line. The Reds, caught on their heels, settled for an out at first.
The Pirates bullpen inherited a 2-1 lead and lined up their new back-of-the-bullpen trio.
Left-hander Felipe Rivero struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh.
Pitching coach Ray Searage popped out of the dugout in the eighth after right-hander Neftali Feliz started Scott Schebler with two balls. Feliz already had walked two batters, and Searage wanted to push pause. The next two pitches came in at 99 mph and evened the count. Feliz's final heater blazed past a swinging Schebler at the letters, and the scoreboard blinked 100 mph.
After Watson walked the leadoff batter in the ninth, a heads-up play by Cervelli nearly saved the game. Watson dived at a bunt and tipped the ball into foul territory. Cervelli burst into action, bare-handed the ball and gunned to first. The lead runner then stole third, however, and scored on pinch-hitter Ramon Cabrera's sacrifice fly to left field, tying the game, 2-2.
Rodriguez followed with his 11th home run this season, and his second career walk-off blast.
