Shohei Ohtani was making his first appearance on the mound at PNC Park amid another historic season, so the Pittsburgh Pirates were determined to steal the show from the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Wednesday night.
“I think that’s human tendency, to want to elevate when you’re facing the best,” Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds said. “He is, so … ”
And the Pirates did twice early as Jared Jones struck out the four-time MVP, not with his triple-digit fastball but by getting him swinging at a slider. Then Reynolds robbed Ohtani of a home run by leaping over the left-field fence to snag a fly ball in front of fans.
Just when it looked like Dodgers rookie Ryan Ward’s first career grand slam would doom the Pirates, they turned the tables on the two-time reigning World Series champions by staging an inspired comeback.
Tyler Callihan hit the first two home runs of his major-league career, a solo shot off Ohtani in the fourth inning and a three-run blast for the lead to ignite a five-run eighth inning as the Pirates pulled off a thrilling 9-8 win before 30,646 at PNC Park.
“That was a great Pittsburgh win,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “My goodness.”
That it came on the heels of bad news made it even more special. The Pirates placed Oneil Cruz, who leads the team in RBIs, runs scored and stolen bases, on the 10-day injured list with a fractured left hand, and the center fielder is expected to miss four to six weeks.
In stepped Callihan, who was acquired from the Cincinnati Reds in March for infield depth but started in right field for the Pirates. Callihan has had an eventful series against the Dodgers. A night earlier, he saved the bullpen by pitching the ninth inning of a 12-3 loss. On Wednesday, he went 2 for 2 with two homers, two walks, four RBIs and three runs scored to upstage Ohtani and the Dodgers.
“Unbelievable,” Kelly said, noting that Callihan suffered a serious injury that required three surgeries on his left wrist and forearm in the outfield last year. “The first one was amazing, and then to hit the three-run bomb there to put us ahead, that was tremendous. … Especially to hit two on the same night and the second one to put us ahead, but then to hit it off of Ohtani — and then to have it later in a big moment in the eighth inning? Yeah, speechless on that.”
Ohtani entered with a .301 batting average, 11 home runs and 37 RBIs, and Jones was up for the challenge of facing the two-way phenom from the start. The right-hander hummed a 99.5-mph four-seam fastball for a ball, followed with a 99.7-mph heater for a called strike and got Ohtani swinging at a slider low and in. Ohtani took two balls before striking out on a slider. Jones then got Andy Pages to fly out to center and Freddie Freeman to pop out to third to end the first.
Ohtani worked a full count against Jones in the third inning before driving a 99.4-mph fastball 383 feet to left field, where Reynolds made a leaping catch above the short wall for a home run robbery to the roar of the home crowd.
“That was the best play I’ve seen Bryan make in the outfield,” Kelly said. “For him to go up over the wall, I mean, that wasn’t just getting over either. It looked like he got up and hit the wall pretty good, made a great play there and got two runs back.”
Reynolds called it “one of my better ones.” That it was hit high allowed him to time it, so he called it a perfect ball for a home run robbery. But he wanted to be clear that it wasn’t as easy as it might have looked.
“It was two rows back,” Reynolds said. “It was a tough catch.”
The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the fourth, however, when Freeman doubled to left and scored on Max Muncy’s double and Kyle Tucker singled to center to drive in Muncy.
Callihan cut that lead to 2-1 by smacking Ohtani’s first-pitch fastball 427 feet and over the right-field seats for his first major-league homer. Jake Mangum followed with a double to right, but Jared Triolo struck out to end the frame.
“I kind of saw what he had been trying to do to the other lefties, throwing that fastball down a lot, and I knew if I could get one just a little bit elevated, I had a shot,” Callihan said. “So that was my game plan going into the second at-bat.”
Ohtani, who entered the game with an MLB-best 0.74 ERA, had only allowed one run in the previous 27 innings. It wouldn’t be the last against the Pirates, as he allowed season highs of three runs and six hits.
Jones was pulled after allowing two runs on three hits and one walk with four strikeouts on 75 pitches over four innings, and Mlodzinski fanned Ohtani with a full-count curveball to end a 1-2-3 fifth.
But the Dodgers did their damage in the sixth. Andy Pages hit a leadoff single and Freeman and Muncy drew walks to load the bases. After Mlodzinski struck out Tucker for the second out, Ryan Ward whacked a first-pitch sweeper 385 feet to right for his first career grand slam to give the Dodgers a commanding 6-1 lead.
In the seventh, Callihan drew a leadoff walk and Mangum reached on a dribbler down the third-base line. Ohtani got Triolo and Spencer Horwitz looking at called third strikes for punchouts, but Lowe roped a two-run double down the right-field line, and Mangum’s headfirst slide beat the relay throw to home plate to cut it to 6-3.
That was it for Ohtani — on the mound, at least — as the Dodgers replaced him with lefty Alex Vesia. Reynolds hit a sharp grounder that skipped under the glove of Muncy at third base for a fielding error that allowed Brandon Lowe to score from second to come within two runs of the Dodgers.
Pirates rookie Rafael Flores Jr., recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis with catcher Henry Davis being placed on the major league paternity list, replaced Endy Rodriguez when the catcher was removed after the seventh inning with left hip discomfort.
Gonzales and Flores drew walks to start the eighth, and Callihan drilled Kyle Hurt’s first-pitch changeup 394 feet to right field for a 7-6 lead. Mangum singled to right and advanced to second on a wild pitch but was thrown out at third, only for Triolo to follow with a double off the base of the Clemente Wall. But Spencer Horwitz hammered lefty Jack Dreyer’s 0-1 fastball 402 feet to right-center for his ninth homer to make it 9-6.
The Pirates would need that cushion, as Ohtani wasn’t finished.
After Alex Freeland singled, Ohtani crushed Gregory Soto’s first-pitch fastball — clocked at 99.1 mph — 412 feet into the bullpen in left-center for his 12th home run to cut it to 9-8. But Soto got Pages to fly out to left and Freeman to line out to third to earn his ninth save.
“You’re not going to face too many guys like that. There’s one,” Kelly said. “It’s ridiculous what he’s able to do. Just the effortlessness. Even the swing Reynolds brought back — and the ninth inning, it’s just pure. That’s a hard part of the park to go at in PNC, and that looked pretty effortless for him to get out there. Anytime he steps to the plate, it looks like he’s in scoring position with as much power as he has.”
But this game belonged to Callihan, who had the night of his life.
“A first home run’s always special. To have your first two in one game and against one of the best pitchers in the world makes it even more special,” Horwitz said. “The cherry on top, to give us the lead in the eighth — that’s movie stuff. You can’t ask for much more than that.”