Bubba Chandler watched Heriberto Hernandez hit his full-count curveball hard but high — at a 105.4-mph exit velocity but 41-degree launch angle — and figured it was a routine fly ball to left field.

Then the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie right-hander saw catcher Endy Rodriguez put his hands on his hips and recognized the body language. Wait a minute, Chandler thought to himself, this one could have a chance of leaving the ballpark.

Then Bryan Reynolds backed up toward the wall and perfectly timed his jump to reach his glove over the 379-foot marker and catch the ball before it could clear the left field fence for a home run.

“I see Bryan freaking sizing it up and was like, ‘Oh gosh,’” Chandler said. “The way he was sizing it up, the confidence I’ve got in our guys out there, he made it look easy.”

It was the third home run robbery by Reynolds in a span of four games last week at PNC Park, a feat that had the two-time All-Star outfielder featured on highlight reels. More importantly, it might have prevented the Pirates from getting swept in three consecutive series.

Reynolds made a spectacular leaping grab to steal a two-run shot from Shohei Ohtani in the third inning of a 9-8 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday. His thievery continued on Thursday by snagging a Mookie Betts blast to deny a three-run homer in the third inning of an 8-6 loss to the Dodgers. Then came the heroics against Hernandez in a 3-2 win over the Miami Marlins on Saturday.

By stealing three homers, Reynolds spared six runs from scoring.

The Pirates won two of those games by one run.

“It saves us a lot of runs,” Pirates right-hander Jared Jones said. “Who knows if we win those games if he doesn’t?”

When Ohtani hit Jones’ 99.4-mph full-count fastball, it had a 101.7-mph exit velocity and sailed 383 feet. It would have been a home run in 29 out of 30 ballparks, per Baseball Savant, and would have landed in the left field bleachers if Reynolds hadn’t leapt to snare it.

“That was the best play I’ve seen Bryan make in the outfield, for him to go up over the wall,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “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.”

While Reynolds was dismissive of the importance of robbing Ohtani, regarded as the best player in baseball, he acknowledged that it “was a good catch” that had some degree of difficulty.

“That was one of my better ones,” Reynolds said. “Yeah, it was two rows back. It was a tough catch. It was a perfect ball for it. It was high. Had time to time it. It was perfect.”

Jones stood on the mound and thrust his arms upward as if they were double exclamation points. It was an emphatic ending to the third inning of a scoreless tie that soon became a slugfest, with the Pirates hitting three homers and the Dodgers two, including one by Ohtani in the ninth.

“I think you saw me stand on the mound for about 30 more seconds with my hands up in the air,” Jones said. “I feel like that’s all you need to know. It was unbelievable.”

Yet real enough that it inspired Reynolds’ young sons, Reese and Brooks, to imitate their dad’s fantastic feat when they got home from the game.

“They were excited to watch Ohtani,” Reynolds said. “I don’t know if they’ll remember it, but we talked about it. And they’ve practiced robbing homers on the couch.”

So imagine their surprise when Reynolds did it again the next night, after Ohtani hit a solo shot off Mitch Keller to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the third inning. After Andy Pages singled to right and Freddie Freeman was hit by a pitch, Betts drove a first-pitch sinker 382 feet toward the SeatGeek sign in left.

Reynolds backpedaled toward the wall, believing he had room. Reynolds caught the ball as his back slammed into the padded wall, hard enough that his ballcap bounced off his head.

“The fans were telling me I had room. I didn’t have room,” Reynolds said. “I think it was two Dodgers fans right there. I heard them. I don’t know why I listened, but I did.”

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Reynolds impressed the Pirates with his willingness to listen when they asked him to move from right field, where he started 117 games last season, back to left to accommodate Ryan O’Hearn. Reynolds has played all three outfield spots in eight seasons but left field can be the most demanding because of its cavernous coverage area and the North Side Notch at the 410-marker near the bullpen in left-center.

“We ask Bryan to do a lot. We ask him to play a lot. We don’t have to ask him to play hard. He just does,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said Sunday during a guest appearance on radio flagship 93.7 The Fan. “Now we’re asking him to move between left field and right field a lot, just by the way our roster is constructed. So, we’ve added a little bit of difficulty to his job description.”

The home run robberies served as a reminder of Reynolds’ athleticism, especially at a time when the metrics showed signs of defensive deficiencies. Where Reynolds recorded minus-5 defensive runs saved in 117 starts in left field in 2024, he has plus-5 in left this season.

“He’s a much better defender than he gets credit for,” Pirates center fielder Jake Mangum said. “I do believe that.”

Cherington credited Reynolds for not complaining about making a third position switch in four years — going from center in 2022 to left for 2023-24, to right last season and back to left again — and doing whatever is best for the team. That’s especially true when it comes to robbing homers.

“It was cool to see this week, a reminder of what he’s capable of doing in the outfield,” Cherington said. “We trust him out there.”

Reynolds, 31, also reminded the Pirates of what he can do at the plate, going 8 for 24 (.300) with three doubles, two home runs, three RBIs and four runs scored over the six-game homestand. He leads the team with a .392 on-base percentage and 46 runs scored, is tied for first with 16 doubles and two triples and ranks third in RBIs (42) and OPS (.833) while appearing in all 72 games, including 52 starts in left field.

It’s the type of production that prompted the Pirates to sign Reynolds to an eight-year, $106.75 million contract extension in April 2023, making him a franchise cornerstone. So, Chandler was pumped when Reynolds robbed Hernandez of a homer in the fourth inning Saturday, when the Pirates were clinging to a 2-1 lead over the Marlins.

“He’s a freak of nature. That’s why he makes a lot of money and why he’s hitting in the three-hole for us every night,” Chandler said. “He understands that his job is to hit homers, drive guys in and be a presence in our offense. When you pair together really good defense, that’s why he’s an All-Star, a multi-time All-Star. He’s awesome. I love that guy to death. He’s one of the best leaders I’ve been around. When he makes plays like that, it shows he’s ready for the moment.”

This time, Reynolds got an assist from Mangum. As Reynolds kept his eye on the flight of the ball, Mangum repeatedly shouted “wall!” to prevent the left fielder from crashing into the fence again.

After patrolling center at PNC Park, where the wall is 10 feet high, and playing in front of the 21-foot Clemente Wall in right, Reynolds is relishing his chance for home run robbery over the 6-foot fence in left.

“You’re not going to be robbing homers in right and most likely not center, where it’s 10-plus feet, so it feels good to bring some back,” Reynolds said. “Hopefully, we won’t keep it going because that means they’re hitting homers. But when it presents itself, maybe we’ll have some more.”

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