Bryan Reynolds is a man on a mission.
It’s hard to say if the Dennis Eckersley’s “Hodgepodge of nothingness” comment started a fire, because Reynolds has been on a tear in the month of August.
On Thursday night the Pittsburgh Pirates avoided their seventh loss and second consecutive series sweep by scoring early and scoring often. To sweeten the deal the Pirates also got a beautiful pitching display by JT Brubaker.
Brubaker pitched a quick first inning setting down the Boston Red Sox on 15 pitches collecting two strikeouts on the first two batters of the inning. As they did Wednesday night — and in almost identical fashion — Newman singled with one out before Reynolds took a hanging 1-2 cutter from Josh Winckowski to deep right field for an early 2-0 lead.
That was all JT Brubaker needed as he never relinquished the lead. Brubaker breezed through seven innings in total while only allowing two hits, with no walks and seven strikeouts. He managed to get through those seven innings on only 84 pitches. Mike Persak mentioned that Brubaker was actually removed due to a blister that formed in the sixth inning.
Back to the Pirates offense, they didn’t wait long to add on to their early lead. With two on and two out in the third inning, Ben Gamel stepped to the plate and hit a two-run double. Two innings later Reynolds came up with two outs — and once again after a Kevin Newman single — and hit his second home run of the game.
In his last four games, Reynolds has gone 8-for-15 with a double, four homers, and 11 RBI’s. For the month of August he is carrying a 1.087 OPS after Thursday’s game.
They would add two more runs in the sixth on a Michael Chavis RBI double (against Austin Davis who he was traded for) and then a Tyler Heineman RBI single for an 8-0 lead.
Pirates couldn’t maintain the shutout through the end of the game though. Zach Thompson making an appearance out of bullpen couldn’t complete the eighth inning. He got the first batter to groundout before the next four batters all reaching base safely. With a run across, Manager Derek Shelton would bring in Manny Banuelos who let one inherited runner score on a sac fly then two batters later struck out Alex Verdugo to end the inning. Colin Holderman came in for the ninth and shut the door. It took all of nine pitches, eight for strikes, for Holderman to finish the game off while collecting two strike outs.
Bryan Reynolds continues to show that he is a player they should urgently try to extend and build around. Especially if they’re trying to draw any kind of praise from the fan base in the near future, locking up a beloved player that has consistently performed over the course of his career would be a step in the right direction. They would then need to fill in the rest of the roster will MLB capable talent.
Time: 7:05 PM EST
Pirates Starter: Bryse Wilson (2-7, 5.93)
Reds Starter: Graham Ashcraft (5-3, 3.96)
Wilson Notes: Bryse Wilson will be making his 14th start of the season and his 17th appearance which sets a new career high in appearances. If he can last three innings then he’d also set a new MLB career high in innings pitched in a season. Wilson hasn’t been as effective lately in limiting runs but he has been able to log innings. He has been able to complete at least five innings in each of his last four starts.
LINEUPS:
Pirates
Friday night baseball.#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/xTLPj8zAj9
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) August 19, 2022
Reds
1. Jake Fraley (L) RF
2. Jonathan India (R) 2B
3. Kyle Farmer (R) 3B
4. Mike Moustakas (L) 1B
5. Nick Senzel (R) DH
6. Albert Almora Jr. (R) CF
7. TJ Friedl (L) LF
8. Jose Barrero (R) SS
9. Michael Papierski (S) C
