While the Pirates continue to monitor their outfield situation, at least one thing has become clear in the past week: Bryan Reynolds needs to be out there.
Pittsburgh’s left fielder reached base in four of his five plate appearances against the Brewers on Sunday, including a towering two-run, go-ahead home run in the top of the seventh off Milwaukee reliever Brad Boxberger. It took late-inning heroics from first baseman Colin Moran after Brewers first baseman Daniel Vogelbach tied the game with a two-run bomb in the bottom of the inning, but the Pirates' bullpen hung on in the 10th inning to earn the 6-5 win at American Family Field.
“Obviously it’s good to win the series,” Reynolds said of the Pirates’ first series win in Milwaukee since September 2018. “We had a rough start, to answer back the way we have speaks a lot to who we are as a team. We’ll just keep it going.”
Reynolds’ blast tied a 436-foot home run he hit off Cardinals pitcher Daniel Ponce de Leon on Sept. 18, 2020, for the longest home run of his career, and it’s the third-hardest hit home run he’s hit in the Majors.
“I had a nice view of that from the weight room. That was a moonshot. That was unbelievable,” Pirates starter Chad Kuhl said. “I knew it was gone, I don't know what he was thinking, but I didn't even know where that was gonna land. That was an incredible shot and obviously a big spot in the game.”
“I had the best view in the house for that homer. It was a bomb,” said Moran, who was on-deck during Reynolds’ at-bat. “I think they shorted him on the distance. I heard it was like 430 or something, [but] it had to go further than that.”
It perfectly punctuated the hot streak Reynolds has been on over the last week. Reynolds went into Sunday hitting .357 over his past seven games, dating back to a four-hit day against the Cubs on April 11. By the end of Sunday’s game, Reynolds had moved his season average up to .317 with an .880 OPS.
Reynolds reached base on a hit-by-pitch in the first, doubled and scored in the third and drew a four-pitch walk in the fifth. His lone blemish came when Brewers closer Josh Hader blew three fastballs averaging 97.4 mph by him in the ninth, but because he ended the inning, Reynolds led off the 10th on second base with Moran coming to the plate. He scored on Moran’s second go-ahead hit of the day, a double all the way to the right-field wall.
The bullpen’s 11-inning scoreless streak came to an end on Vogelbach’s home run, but Kyle Crick and Richard Rodriguez kept the Brewers at bay over the last three innings to pick up the series victory.
"They were solid,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “They had to use a lot of relievers, but they pitched well, they got a couple big hits and there were no mistakes on their part.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Reynolds found himself shifted over to center field in the sixth inning with Phillip Evans moving from third to left as Pirates manager Derek Shelton brought Sam Howard on in relief.
It’s a position Reynolds said he’s comfortable playing, and considering the hitting struggles the Pirates’ center fielders have had so far this season, it’s a change Shelton could make permanent.
Rookie third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes is nearing a return from the injured list. It would be a logical way to insert Hayes back into the lineup while also keeping Reynolds’ and Evans’ bats in the lineup, though Shelton said that isn’t on his mind at the moment.
“I haven't thought about it yet,” Shelton said. “When [Hayes] comes back, then we'll cross that bridge.”