Pirates climb up over .500 with 2-1 victory against the Royals taken at PNC Park (Pirates)

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Bryan Reynolds walks back to the dugout after scoring a run.

The story has been told time and time again for the 2021 Pirates: some well-placed knocks and a lock-down effort from the bullpen will lead to some wins.

Hosting the team with baseball’s best winning percentage, the Pirates were able to stick to the script and get over .500 to take the opener of the two-game set with the Royals, 2-1, at PNC Park on Tuesday night. The Buccos are 12-11 after losing six of their first seven games to start the season.

Wilmer Difo delivered the go-ahead run with a pinch-hit single in the seventh inning, and Colin Moran took over the lead for RBIs as a cleanup hitter with his 16th on a run-scoring single in the opening frame. 

Difo’s hit was just his third since his last run-scoring knock -- a two-run, pinch-hit homer on April 11. Moran later added a double and another hit to finish 3-for-4 and improve to .289 this season. His double was the Pirates’ only extra-base hit against starter Jakob Junis and a pair of Kansas City relievers.

Using all of his incredible athleticism, Bryan Reynolds was all over the field for the Pirates. He walked and scored the run in the opening inning and made a potential run-saving sliding catch in the fourth.

Richard Rodriguez secured his fifth save of the season with another perfect ninth inning. Opposing batters are 1-for-33 this season against Rodriguez, who has not allowed a run in his past 21 innings, a span which dates back to Aug. 30 of last year. Duane Underwood Jr. and Sam Howard each chipped in a scoreless inning in relief of Tyler Anderson.

The veteran presence of left-hander Anderson has been a breath of fresh air for the Pirates’ rotation thus far. The 31-year-old worked his longest outing of the season against the Royals, completing six innings with just one run allowed on three hits and a pair of walks while striking out five.

Kansas City took advantage of a lead-off walk to Nicky Lopez and broke through on Carlos Santana’s infield single in the third. Anderson has a 3.38 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 26 ⅔ innings through his first five starts with the Pirates.

Erik Gonzalez nearly made an absurd throw from foul territory to nab Santana and keep the run off the board, but the heave across the diamond took Moran off the bag at first. He was too late after a nice play on another of Santana's infield singles in the eighth -- the only hit against the Pirates' bullpen in three innings.

More coverage to come from PNC Park.

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