After hitting a walk-off two-run home run off Twins reliever TaylorRogers and guiding the Pirates to a 6-5 win here tonight at PNC Park, BryanReynolds reacted in typical fashion.
"Did that. So that was cool," he said, following the Pirates' first win of the season when trailing after eight innings. "It’s like a movie. It’s pretty sick."
As soon as the ball left his bat and traveled into the seats in left field, prompting a crowd of 27,107 to rise to their feet in elation, Reynolds knew he had just secured his second career walk-off homer. He immediately dropped his bat after making contact and even took some time to admire it as it sailed out.
"I got every bit of it," Reynolds said with a grin on his face.
This outcome was rather significant considering the fact that the Pirates were three outs away from a third straight loss and potentially slipping back to the .500 mark. And it didn't happen solely due to Reynolds leaving the yard. The Pirates were trailing 5-4 to begin the ninth when Spencer Horwitz, facing the left-handed Rogers, reached on an infield single to the shortstop. That hit, one of two for Horwitz on the night, set the stage for Reynolds to be in a situation to call game, mashing a 93.5 mph sinker into the left-field seats:
GREG BROWN'S RADIO CALL OF BRYAN REYNOLDS' WALK-OFF HOME RUN
Call was so loud his microphone couldn't handle it lmao
"We were kind of grinding for most of the game, after the first couple innings," Reynolds said. "Spencer had a good at-bat. Left-on-left, got on base. He just saw a bunch of pitches from him, so he was trying to help me out and give me an idea of what the pitches were looking like."
There was plenty of heartbreak on the losing side of this one, as Rogers was the first of five Twins relievers to allow runs to come across. Eric Orze, Yoendrys Gomez, Anthony Banda and CodyLaweryson combined to allow just one hit over four scoreless innings before Rogers took over.
"Especially all the bullpen guys doing well, kind of having them throwing as much as they have," Rogers told reporters. "To kind of go wreck that, it stinks a little extra."
One man who has seen Reynolds impact plenty of games in the past is DerekShelton, who described Reynolds as a "good hitter" afterwards.
“I know that because I was here for a long time and saw him do a lot of good things," Shelton said. "Taylor just missed his spot. We played good baseball.”
This positive outcome didn't just come out of nowhere for Reynolds. He's been locked in this month, batting .308 with a .922 OPS over 26 games. He's hit three of his six home runs on the season over that span and has driven in 18 runs. On the season, Reynolds is now hitting .273 with an .834 OPS that ranks among the top 25 hitters in the National League.
Reynolds said he's benefitted from some good drill work the past three or four days and has just worked to build off of that while taking advantage of getting good pitches to hit. Regardless, it's obvious that his success benefits the Pirates lineup as a whole. And it isn't lost on DonKelly just how important a productive Reynolds is to this team.
“Bryan has been swinging it extremely well, driving the ball in the gaps, hit the home run left-handed, then turning around and hitting that righty and driving one," Kelly said. "That one was a no-doubter.”
THE ASYLUM
Reynolds delivers with ninth-inning heroics
After hitting a walk-off two-run home run off Twins reliever Taylor Rogers and guiding the Pirates to a 6-5 win here tonight at PNC Park, Bryan Reynolds reacted in typical fashion.
"Did that. So that was cool," he said, following the Pirates' first win of the season when trailing after eight innings. "It’s like a movie. It’s pretty sick."
As soon as the ball left his bat and traveled into the seats in left field, prompting a crowd of 27,107 to rise to their feet in elation, Reynolds knew he had just secured his second career walk-off homer. He immediately dropped his bat after making contact and even took some time to admire it as it sailed out.
"I got every bit of it," Reynolds said with a grin on his face.
This outcome was rather significant considering the fact that the Pirates were three outs away from a third straight loss and potentially slipping back to the .500 mark. And it didn't happen solely due to Reynolds leaving the yard. The Pirates were trailing 5-4 to begin the ninth when Spencer Horwitz, facing the left-handed Rogers, reached on an infield single to the shortstop. That hit, one of two for Horwitz on the night, set the stage for Reynolds to be in a situation to call game, mashing a 93.5 mph sinker into the left-field seats:
"We were kind of grinding for most of the game, after the first couple innings," Reynolds said. "Spencer had a good at-bat. Left-on-left, got on base. He just saw a bunch of pitches from him, so he was trying to help me out and give me an idea of what the pitches were looking like."
There was plenty of heartbreak on the losing side of this one, as Rogers was the first of five Twins relievers to allow runs to come across. Eric Orze, Yoendrys Gomez, Anthony Banda and Cody Laweryson combined to allow just one hit over four scoreless innings before Rogers took over.
"Especially all the bullpen guys doing well, kind of having them throwing as much as they have," Rogers told reporters. "To kind of go wreck that, it stinks a little extra."
One man who has seen Reynolds impact plenty of games in the past is Derek Shelton, who described Reynolds as a "good hitter" afterwards.
“I know that because I was here for a long time and saw him do a lot of good things," Shelton said. "Taylor just missed his spot. We played good baseball.”
This positive outcome didn't just come out of nowhere for Reynolds. He's been locked in this month, batting .308 with a .922 OPS over 26 games. He's hit three of his six home runs on the season over that span and has driven in 18 runs. On the season, Reynolds is now hitting .273 with an .834 OPS that ranks among the top 25 hitters in the National League.
Reynolds said he's benefitted from some good drill work the past three or four days and has just worked to build off of that while taking advantage of getting good pitches to hit. Regardless, it's obvious that his success benefits the Pirates lineup as a whole. And it isn't lost on Don Kelly just how important a productive Reynolds is to this team.
“Bryan has been swinging it extremely well, driving the ball in the gaps, hit the home run left-handed, then turning around and hitting that righty and driving one," Kelly said. "That one was a no-doubter.”
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