CINCINNATI — When you're forced to wait 560 days between big league starts, the perfect return would be a triumphant first game back. Despite his perseverance through a long rehab period, that's not what Reds starting pitcher Brandon Williamson got to enjoy vs. the Pirates on Tuesday.
Instead, Williamson was roughed up for three home runs – including a three-run shot by Ryan O'Hearn during a five-run second inning – for an 8-3 Reds loss to Pittsburgh.
“Just wasn’t commanding like he can and will. He was dodging a lot of trouble the whole time," Reds manager Terry Francona said.
Over 4 2/3 innings, Williamson gave up six earned runs and six hits with two walks and three strikeouts. It was his first big league game since Sept. 17, 2024. That's when Williamson, four games into his return from missing most of that season with a shoulder injury, suffered a devastating ulnar collateral ligament tear in his left elbow that required Tommy John surgery.
That also wiped out all of Williamson's 2025 season.
“I learned a lot from tonight, honestly," Williamson said. "I’ve got to come out of the gates a little more ready to go. But it took me a few times getting hit where I was like, ‘I really need to lock in and focus on exactly what I’m trying to do.’ I felt like after the second inning, I remembered a few things from previous years that I was like, ‘OK, I can’t do that. I need to do this.’ Then it just comes down to execution.”
Williamson's night began with a leadoff single and a walk and soon, a wild pitch. But the lefty did nice work to get out unscathed with three straight outs that included a pair of strikeouts.
There was no such good fortune in the second inning.
The bases were loaded with no outs when Pittsburgh's first run crossed on a Nick Yorke sacrifice fly. With two outs, O'Hearn clobbered a 2-2 fastball over the middle for a three-run homer to right-center field. Bryan Reynolds made it back-to-back long balls when he pulled a 2-1 fastball on the inside corner to the left field seats for a 5-0 Pirates lead.
Then it became all about damage control. Williamson worked a perfect six-pitch third inning but opened the fourth inning with Oneil Cruz hitting a 3-1 cutter to right-center field for a homer, making it a 6-1 game.
“Obviously I threw a few too many heaters over the plate," Williamson said. "Hindsight 20/20, I throw something else or locate it a little bit. Really the three-run shot was the dagger. The solos, I can live with those. It’s really just the two walks and the two-strike homer that O’Hearn hit.”
Williamson was able to stay in the game for 94 pitches and retired nine of his last 10 batters with the Cruz homer being the blemish.
“I should be pretty much built up full," he said. "I felt good. I didn’t have any fatigue or arm pain or nothing. I was maybe kicking rust off and lack of execution.”
While frontline starters Nick Lodolo and Hunter Greene were both sidelined by injuries, Williamson earned a rotation spot with a sensational Spring Training while posting a 1.65 ERA in five games.
“My arm feels good. I’m ready to fix the problem," he said.
Importantly to perhaps help the Reds take Wednesday's series-deciding game, lefty Brock Burke gave them 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to help keep some high-leverage relievers from having to be used.
“Burke really saved us because we were up against it," Francona said.
Williamson's early struggles and some effectively wild pitching by Pirates starter Bubba Chandler made any comeback effort too difficult. Chandler survived for 4 1/3 hitless innings while giving up six walks and striking out six but exited two outs before he could qualify for a win. The Reds, which scored their first run on a third inning error, didn't notch their first hit until Jose Trevino's one-out single in the seventh inning.
Back-to-back home runs by Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart to open the eighth inning brought Cincinnati to life too little, too late.