O'Hearn's left quad injury exacerbates Bucs' difficult loss

CINCINNATI -- Ryan O'Hearn sprinted toward first base in the top of the ninth when the Pirates' looming crushing loss suddenly turned worse. O’Hearn came up limping heavily before touching first base, holding his left quad in pain.

O’Hearn left the field with the assistance of Pirates manager Don Kelly and a member of their training staff. Pittsburgh ran out of outs two batters later, dropping its fourth straight game.

O’Hearn’s injury only compounded the Pirates' 8-7 loss to the Reds on Friday evening at Great American Ball Park. Another tough outing for ace Paul Skenes, mixed with a late-inning comeback followed by a late-inning collapse resulted in the defeat. The Pirates (55-56) hadn’t been under .500 since July 3. They hadn’t lost four straight games since June 5-9.

Now, worry moves to O’Hearn, who was seen with a crutch to navigate the postgame clubhouse. While there’s no official diagnosis on O’Hearn yet, the injury appeared to be one that could force him to miss time. The Pirates' top free-agent pickup this offseason already missed two weeks with a right quad strain earlier in the season.

“It's really hard. I was pretty emotional about it, honestly,” infielder Nick Gonzales said postgame. “That's a big-time player on our team, but also a leader. I love that guy to death, and feel really bad for him. Feel really bad for the team for losing him and everything. But it's really unfortunate. He's one of my best friends on this team, and it's really tough to see that.”

Pittsburgh has found ways to survive multiple injuries to key players. With the Trade Deadline looming on Monday, the Pirates could look for an outside move to fill the void. Spencer Horwitz is nearing a return after a hamstring strain and concussion, and is expected to play first base when he comes back.

“Every loss hurts, but to couple that with the loss of a guy like O'Hearn, nothing ever feels good when that happens, and we're just praying that it's not as bad as it could be,” fellow veteran Brandon Lowe added.

Before O’Hearn’s injury, Pittsburgh rallied for three runs in the eighth with the good old-fashioned single. The Pirates put together five singles in six batters, flipping the game from a one-run deficit to a 7-5 lead.

Antwone Kelly held the Reds' offense down for three scoreless innings to provide time for a comeback, following Skenes’ five earned runs in four innings. After Kelly, Wilber Dotel entered for the eighth and allowed the first two runners to reach on singles and, after a strikeout, Sal Stewart singled to tie the game.

Then came the nightmare. With two outs in the eighth, bullpen-ace Mason Montgomery came on and looked to have extinguished the fire with runners on first and third following an intentional walk. A hard-hit ball by Nathaniel Lowe went right to Gonzales on the ground at third. With an easy out at first, Gonzales opted to turn to second, looking for the force out. The second baseman Lowe was playing deep, far from the bag. Gonzales double clutched before delivering a throw to Lowe breaking late to the bag.

Kelly said he’d have to go back and watch the video to see what happened. Lowe admitted he has to catch the ball. Gonzales took blame, too.

“It was a hard-hit ball from the lefty. Just trying to throw it to second, get a force out, and once I saw how the shift was and everything, I should have thrown to first and [get] the out there,” Gonzales said. “So, it's on me. Should have thrown to first soon as I saw nobody there [at second].”

Right now, Pittsburgh’s season is slipping away with each injury and defeat.

“Doesn't really feel like we're able to catch a break at any turn,” Lowe said. “As soon as we're looking to get some people back, we lose some other guys. And yeah, it's going to hurt. But hopefully, we've got enough talent here to hopefully weather this storm, too.”