Down to final strike, Suárez's 3-run HR lifts Reds in rainy roller-coaster game

PITTSBURGH – For many reasons on Saturday, it was a home run that meant a lot for Reds slugger Eugenio Suárez.

On the field, Suárez's three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning lifted the Reds to a 9-7 victory over the Pirates and locked in a series victory with back-to-back wins. It was also a hard-scrabble game filled with lost leads and messy conditions because of showers.

“What a nice swing," manager Terry Francona said. "And on a day when there were a lot of ups and downs, it was nice to finish on an up.”

Off the field, Suárez was thinking a lot about his home country of Venezuela, which endured a pair of massive earthquakes on Wednesday that killed more than one thousand people.

“It’s tough. You always have your country in your heart and you want to do something for them too, to tell everybody that even if we play baseball we feel their pain too," Suárez said.

Against Pirates closer Gregory Soto in the ninth, Edwin Arroyo hit a leadoff single to right field and Elly De La Cruz drew a walk. Sal Stewart grounded into a double play that threatened to derail the budding rally.

JJ Bleday extended the game with a walk on a full count to set up Suárez, who was down to his final strike. He saw a 2-2 sinker down and away from Soto and drove it to the opposite field, and watched the ball carry into the right-field seats.

"I don’t want to be the last out and against that guy, I know pretty much how he’s been pitching me lately," Suárez said. "The previous pitch, he got me with the same pitch. I was ready for that one, at least to put in play. That’s all I wanted … be ready for something hard in my strike zone. Thank God I was able to put that one in play and give the lead to our team and win the game.”

It was Suárez's eighth homer of the season. This one qualified as one of his biggest of 2026.

"I have to execute my pitches better and make no excuses," Soto said.

After the ball left the yard, Suárez raised his arms and looked to the skies above.

“I’m glad we won because today, that was tough," Francona said. "There was a lot going on, a lot of pitchers, a lot of moving parts but we found a way to win. And sometimes you need one of your best players to do something special, and Geno did.”

The game was as messy as the conditions. Chase Burns blew a 2-0 third-inning lead when his changeup was hit to right field by Brandon Lowe for a three-run homer. He gave up a double and RBI single in the fourth inning.

Burns found another gear to recover and get deeper in the game.

“Any time you give up a big hit like that, it pisses you off a little," Burns said of the homer. "I was kind of pitching soft, kind of scared to throw the slider but I started to attack and trust my stuff and we got through six.”

Burns was charged with a season-high-tying five runs and nine hits over his six-plus innings. Although his streak of consecutive starts where he allowed two or fewer runs ended at 12, he didn't walk a batter and struck out a season-high 10.

It was a 4-4 game when the Reds rallied before Trevino pounded a bases-loaded single on the ground through the right side to score two runs.

Burns exited after a leadoff double in the seventh, with the run later crossing on a sacrifice fly against Sam Moll. Moll also issued two walks, which led to a tying run scoring.

It was a 6-6 game in the bottom of the eighth inning when Pirates pinch-hitter Esmerlyn Valdez slugged a go-ahead solo homer to right field against lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson. But the 39-42 Reds – who are now 4-16 vs. National League Central clubs – didn't fold.

“It’s a great team win," Burns said. "It just shows that we’re battling in an environment like that where it’s raining and it sucks but we battled and fought hard. A win like that brings a team closer together.”

The team had already united closer over the plight of Venezuelans trying to recover from a disaster.

On Friday, Dominican teammate Noelvi Marte told Suárez he wore a yellow wristband as a homage to Venezuela as he hit the game-winning pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning of a 6-4 victory.

"As a Latin player, I appreciate that from him," Suárez said.

On Saturday, there was a team meeting held about the situation in Venezuela. Bullpen catcher José Duarte, who like Suárez is also Venezuelan, was the leader of that meeting.

"We collected a bunch of money for supplies for our people in Venezuela," Suárez said. “We appreciate all that my team is doing for us and Venezuela and we hope it helps my people in Venezuela."