WEST SACRAMENTO – Bryan Reynolds did what Bryan Reynolds has been doing for the past three weeks, driving the ball with authority and consistency.
Reynolds had four hits, including a pair of home runs for the ninth multihomer game of his career, as the Pirates posted one of their most impressive comebacks of the season while rallying from four runs down to beat the Athletics, 6-5, on Tuesday.
“Just the way he’s been swinging the bat lately, barreling everything up and line drives,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “It’s not like he’s going up there trying to go deep. He’s just squaring the ball up and had a huge game tonight.”
Brandon Lowe provided the game-winner in the top of the ninth with his team-leading 18th home run, a solo blast that ended up in the A’s bullpen.
Ryan O’Hearn also had a trio of hits to back a solid outing from starting pitcher Mitch Keller as manager Don Kelly’s club won its third in 11 games, moving back to .500 at 37-37.
“It felt great,” Reynolds said after homering from both sides of the plate in the same game for the fourth time in his career. “Started off with a little jam shot, then put the barrel on it a few times. They both almost got robbed. Got lucky there.”
In more ways than one, this was a game that the Bucs needed.
For Reynolds, he extended one of his best offensive stretches of the season. His 23-game on-base streak tied the third longest of his career and he’s hitting .361 (30-for-83) during that time.
“We needed that,” Reynolds said. “We battled and came back and found a way off their closer. We needed it and it was a good one.”
As a team, the Pirates had 12 hits, four of them for extra bases.
“They’re a really scrappy team,” A’s starting pitcher Jack Perkins said. “They like to swing the bats. They put up a good fight and drove the pitch count up in a few of those at-bats, which ended up leading to me being a little tired going into the sixth."
Keller also stepped up with a decent start and etched his name further into the Pirates’ record books at the same time.
The right-hander allowed five runs (four earned) and five hits with seven strikeouts and four walks in 5 1/3 innings, moving into seventh place on the franchise’s all-time list with 902 for his career.
Keller didn’t get the win. That went to reliever Mason Montgomery (2-1), who retired three batters. Gregory Soto worked the ninth for his 11th save.
Kelly was pleased with the way Keller handled himself after he allowed four runs in a rocky first inning.
“For him to bear down and get into the sixth inning, as efficient as he was after the first, showed a lot,” Kelly said. “To me it looked like he went more attack mode.”
As a team, Pirates pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts. It was the 22nd consecutive game that Pittsburgh has had seven or more K's, their longest such streak in the Modern Era (since 1901).
The A’s jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning on a wacky play, when an infield single and fielding error led to three runs scoring on the same play.
The Pirates had only one runner through the first three innings, before breaking through against A’s starter Jack Perkins in the fourth. Reynolds and O’Hearn hit consecutive one-out singles, and Nick Gonzales grounded out to drive in a run.
After Pittsburgh added two runs in the sixth, Spencer Horwitz drew a one-out walk in the seventh and scored when Reynolds crushed a 1-0 pitch over the right field fence to tie the game at 5-5.