SAN FRANCISCO -- It might not have quite been a robbed home run, but it was absolutely the catch the Pirates needed.
While they were comfortably ahead most of the afternoon in their 9-4 victory over the Giants at Oracle Park Wednesday, the Giants threatened to get back into the game in the sixth with runners on the corners and one out. Mitch Keller ran the fastball inside to Casey Schmitt, but the latter was still able to get his hands inside and drive it.
Fortunately for Keller, Reynolds was able to track that ball down and make the catch up against the wall:
"Just a ball in the gap that just got blown by the wind and just jumped into the wall," Reynolds said. "Didn’t get blown up by it this time."
Reynolds has not had great results going back on the ball so far this year. Going by Baseball Savant's Outs Above Average by direction, his -3 OAA on balls to his back side is the seventh-lowest in the game. In that back right direction, he's been worth -2 OAA.
This has been a common problem for Reynolds the past couple years, as his -7 OAA on balls he had to backpedal for was the fourth worst among all outfielders. Seeing how Reynolds has played much more left field this season rather than center field, it seems safe to assume that the team felt too many of those long fly balls were turning into extra-base hits rather than outs.
But when his team needed it to help get a much-needed series win, he came through.
"That catch changes the complexion of the game if he doesn’t make it," Derek Shelton said. "We don’t know how the ball caroms off."
