PITTSBURGH -- Bryan Reynolds’ walk-off home run was such a no-doubter, all he could do was joke about it postgame.
“I thought I flew out,” Reynolds quipped. “No -- I got every bit of it.”
With one out, Tyler Callihan on first base and the Pirates trailing by one in the bottom of the ninth on Friday night, Reynolds certainly got all of it. He hammered a sinker from Minnesota closer Taylor Rogers a Statcast-projected 422 feet to left field to secure the 6-5 walk-off win.
The ball left Reynolds' bat at 110 mph, his hardest-hit homer of the year (previously 108.1 mph on May 1 vs. the Reds), and Reynolds instantly dropped his bat and enjoyed the view.
“It’s like a movie,” Reynolds said. “It’s pretty sick.”
The Pirates had trailed 5-4 since the bottom of the third inning, going scoreless across five innings before Reynolds played hero to give Pittsburgh the series-opening victory. Reynolds recorded eight hits across four games against the Cubs to start the Pirates' homestand. He credited the hot streak to “good drill work” the past three or four days, and getting good pitches to hit.
Trailing by one in the bottom of the ninth, Pittsburgh got the tying run on board with a single from Spencer Horwitz. The speedy Callihan pinch-ran for Horwitz, but Callihan's speed didn’t matter much as all he had to do was jog around the bases with Reynolds trailing behind.
Starting pitcher Jared Jones, who made his first start in the Majors since September 2024, sat in the clubhouse with relief pitcher Evan Sisk as Reynolds went deep. The televisions in the clubhouse are delayed a few seconds behind the live game on the PNC Park field. Jones and Sisk soon saw the pandemonium for themselves.
“We heard a couple of claps and were like, 'Maybe a single or double,'" Jones said. "And then we see him hit the [crap] out of it and we were like, 'Holy [crap].'"