Searching for a way to snap a five-game losing streak, the Pittsburgh Pirates found the most unlikely suspects to be their best candidates.
Henry Davis and Marcell Ozuna — both batting below the Mendoza Line — combined for three home runs and five RBIs as the Pirates battered the National League Central-leading Cincinnati Reds.
Sparked by Bryan Reynolds, who homered and had an RBI triple, Davis homered twice for his first career three-RBI game and Ozuna added a two-run shot as the Pirates pounded the Reds, 9-1, on Friday night before 13,442 at PNC Park.
It was even more impressive considering the Reds (20-12) entered the game with a 10-3 record on the road whereas the Pirates (17-16) were 8-9 at PNC Park following a four-game sweep by the St. Louis Cardinals.
The offensive outburst overshadowed a strong start by Mitch Keller (3-1), who allowed one run on three hits and had six strikeouts against one walk on a season-high 104 pitches over seven innings for his fifth quality start of the season.
The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 31 minutes by a rainstorm, but Reynolds came out red-hot. He belted Brady Singer’s 1-1 fastball 443 feet to straightaway center, dotting the “I” in the “PIRATES” hedges for his fourth home run to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Reynolds has homered in each of his last three games against the Reds, matching his longest single-season homer streak against one team (Milwaukee in 2019).
With two outs in the third, Reynolds hit a liner past a diving Spencer Steer in right-center for a triple to drive in Davis, then scored on Ryan O’Hearn’s single to right to make it 3-0. Nick Gonzales followed with a flare to left, and Ozuna drew a walk to load the bases, but Spencer Horwitz flied out to right to end the inning.
Davis, who entered the game with a .154 batting average, sent Singer’s 0-1 sinker 415 feet to straightaway center for his first home run of the season — and his first extra-base hit since a double against the San Diego Padres on April 7 — to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning. When Oneil Cruz doubled down the right-field line, the Reds pulled Singer after he allowed seven hits and two walks in 3 1⁄3 innings and replaced him with Zach Maxwell.
After Gonzales drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, it was Ozuna’s turn to break out. Ozuna, who was 3 for 30 with 11 strikeouts and one walk in his previous nine games, crushed Maxwell’s full-count fastball 425 feet to center for his third homer to give the Pirates a 6-0 lead.
When Konnor Griffin singled to right, Davis got behind for an 0-2 count before fouling off four of the next five pitches. Davis drilled Maxwell’s eighth offering, a slider over the middle, 385 feet and just inside the left-field foul pole for a two-run homer and 8-0 lead. It was the second career two-homer game for Davis, who took Shohei Ohtani deep twice as a rookie in an 8-5 loss at the Los Angeles Angels on July 21, 2023.
Keller, meantime, cruised through five scoreless innings. Steer walked to start the fifth, advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third when Keller won a 10-pitch battle with Tyler Stephenson by getting him to ground out to short. Keller got Ke’Bryan Hayes looking at a sweeper at the bottom of the zone for a called third strike to end the frame.
The Reds finally scored in the sixth, which started with a TJ Friedl double. Friedl advanced to third on a fielder’s choice and scored when Elly De La Cruz grounded out to second to cut it to 8-1.
The Pirates padded their lead to 9-1 in the sixth when O’Hearn singled, advanced to second on a single by Gonzales and scored after Pierce Johnson issued back-to-back walks to Horwitz and Griffin.