CINCINNATI -- Felipe Vazquez' turntable blared Latin music and the party lights danced around on the ceiling of the Pirates clubhouse, just as they do after every victory.
Wednesday night's 5-4 win over the Reds was a little unusual, however.
Not only did it take 12 innings and four hours and 21 minutes to complete, it came with Kyle Crick — and not Vazquez — on the mound to record the final three outs at Great American Ball Park.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOVazquez certainly had an opportunity to pick up his 10th save a few hours earlier but that, like so much else Tuesday night, didn't go quite according to script.
Technically speaking, this was not an implosion on Vazquez's part. No, this was not like Sunday's game against the Padres when the Pirates closer surrendered four runs (three earned) on four hits without recording an out.
Tuesday was more of a garden variety meltdown with plenty of blame to share with Michael Feliz.
Feliz entered the game in the eighth inning with a 4-1 lead, but you had to know it wasn't going to be his night after giving up a leadoff single to Jesse Winker and then getting drilled in the rear end on Tucker Barnhart's hot shot up the middle. Feliz stayed in the game but, in hindsight, it might have been better had he not.
With one out, Eugenio Suarez hit a sac fly to score Winker. Alex Blandino followed with a single to right scoring Barnhart to make it 4-3. Vazquez came on looking for a four-out save, but he promptly served up a single to Jose Peraza scoring Scooter Gennett with the tying run:
In all, the Pirates bullpen blew a three-run lead, squandering a strong outing from starter Chad Kuhl (more on him below). No matter.
Thanks in part to two scoreless innings from Steven Brault, the game would remain tied until the 12th when Josh Harrison laced a triple down the right field line to bring in Jordy Mercer, who made an outstanding slide to slap the plate around the outstretched arm of Barnhart. That proved to be the winning run:
"There's some thinking rounding third as that play is developing right in front of him to see what he has to do. It's a very solid baseball play and a really good slide," Clint Hurdle said of Mercer.
The drama wasn't over there, though. A little bit out of his element, Crick pitched the 12th and had to work his way out of a bases-loaded jam, getting Brandon Dixon to ground out to Mercer at short to finally end the game. It was Crick's first career save in the 25-year-old's 44th career game.
Crick had been so pumped up to get in, he threw a 98-mph pitch to 53-year-old bench coach Tom Prince during his warmup while Elias Diaz was still getting his catching gear on. Crick credited the backup catcher, who entered the game in the 12th, for settling him down in his first save opportunity.
Is he keeping that ball? You better believe it:
Crick still doesn't have a win on his resume, but he'll gladly take the save.
"I think I thought more about hitting bombs as a kid, I was like that guy," Crick said. "Thought I was going to hit bombs in the big leagues. It's just as good. I think I'll take this over a bomb."
There's no chance that Vazquez is losing his spot as the closer, but Hurdle said he was impressed by what he saw from Crick.
"A lot of experience gained for him out there, that part of the game for him tonight," Hurdle said. "To get a save, that's good for him and was really good for us."
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Pirates, who will look to take two-of-three in the series a little over 13 hours after Wednesday night's marathon ended.
1. A happy Harrison homecoming.
Hurdle deemed it a "perfect storm." Harrison wouldn't go quite that far, but he was more than happy to play the hero in Tuesday night's win.
"The game he had out there tonight, that's special," Hurdle said. "Big time players make big time plays. He's shown the ability to do that."
Harrison was playing just his third game after coming off the disabled list, missing six weeks with a broken bone in his left hand. And he was playing in his hometown. The two-time All-Star went 4-for-6, including his game-winning triple, and also scored a run.
"Just coincidence, right man in right spot," said Harrison, who is 8-for-15 since his return and is batting .288 on the season. "Just happened to be at home for me. Just playing the game."
Though he's a Queen City native, Harrison never grew up a Reds fan. He told DKPittsburghSports.com that he grew up a fan of whatever team his uncle, former major leaguer John "T-Bone" Shelby, was coaching at the time. Actually he says he was more of a fan of not having to go to school. Shelby had promised to take him to the World Series if he ever reached the Fall Classic.
Harrison never dreamed of having a game-winning hit at Great American Ball Park, though he did play a high school All-Star game here years ago. But as he left the park late Tuesday, a large contingent of his family was waiting for him outside the Pirates locker room.
"Always special coming home," Harrison said. "For one, get to sleep in my own bed. Be at home and wake up with my wife and kids. They come with me when I'm at Pitt, but there's no place like home."
2. Cervelli's new-found power.
Before he left the game in the 12th with right hand discomfort after trying to block a pitch — he reported afterward that he's OK — Cervelli had given the Pirates a 2-0 lead some four hours earlier.
In the first inning, Cervelli smacked a line-drive into the left field seats for his seventh home run of the season to match his career high:
With 27 RBIs in 38 games, he's four short of his 2017 total when he played in 81 games. He is just 17 RBIs short of surpassing his previous best of 43 set in 2015. That was his first season in Pittsburgh, when he played 130 games.
What's gotten into Cervelli? I asked Hurdle and here's his explanation:
3. How Kuhl was that?
After losing four in a row, the Pirates were desperate for a win. Coincidentally they turned the ball over to Kuhl, who was also the starter in their last victory on May 17.
The Pirates have now won their last four games when Kuhl has started. Had the bullpen not blown the three-run lead in the eighth, Kuhl would have earned his first official win since May 6 at Milwaukee, where he pitched seven shutout innings and struck out eight.
Hurdle reported that Kuhl's command was as good as it was earlier this month against the Brewers. When he's on, the 25-year-old can be quite effective. He was Tuesday, pitching six-plus innings, allowing one earned run on five hits and striking out six.
The key, he said, was locating his fastball early and getting ahead of the count.
"Just being able to move the hitter around, I think that was the biggest thing," he said. "These two starts, I was efficient even if I was falling behind. I found a way to get back in the count because of fastball execution, especially with all the left-handers they have, really similar (to Milwaukee)."
Hurdle pulled Kuhl with no outs in the top of the seventh after he gave up a leadoff single to Scott Schebler. Kuhl threw 78 pitches, 52 of them for strikes.
As if that weren't enough, Kuhl also had an RBI bunt single that scored Austin Meadows from second in the sixth. Kuhl laid down a perfect bunt past the hard-charging Suarez at third. With the Reds not picking up the ball, third base coach Joey Cora waved in Meadows.
Asked if he'd be telling his grandchildren about his exploits at the plate 40 years from now:
"That's how good I was," he joked.