PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The Pirates fought back twice to tie the game and then with one-out in the eighth inning, rookie Esmerlyn Valdez hit his first career MLB pinch-hit home run to right as the Pirates took the lead. A big crowd at PNC Park that endured the rain on its feet, two outs for Cincinnati with two on in the ninth, down to its last strike, Cincinnati’s Eugenio Suarez went deep, also to right, off Bucs closer Gregory Soto to give the Reds a comeback win, 9-7 Saturday.

It’s back-to-back losses for the Pirates falling back under .500 at 41-42 as the bullpen gave up five earned runs.

Jones odd outing

It was little details that kept Jones from being in the decision as the Reds upped on Pirates issues in the odd numbered innings.

Sal Stewart hit a ball well the other way for a solo home run in the first In the third inning, after a leadoff double, Jose Trevino was sacrificed to third. Jones got Elly De La Cruz to ground out weakly, but an infield single with two outs by Stewart made it 2-0 Jones walked the leadoff batter of the fifth, Dane Myers went to second on a balk and to third on a wild pitch. Edwin Arroyo doubled home Myers to make it 4-3. It appeared Jones would get out of the inning and qualify for a win, but a routine grounder to second was booted by Brandon Lowe tying the game and ending Jones’s sixth start of the season Final line—4.2 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, a walk, 4 strikeouts, a balk and 2 wild pitches

2nd to 20

With Lowe’s HR he becomes only the second Pirates second baseman with over 20 home runs in a season. He needs one more to tie Neil Walker for the most by a Pirates 2B. He’s also the quickest to 20 home runs in a season since Josh Bell in 2019 (72 games). Three times Brian Giles hit 20 home runs by game 83, others Pirates to do it since 2000—Pedro Alvarez and Jason Bay.

Lowe would add another RBI with a deep sacrifice fly to center in the seventh inning. It was Lowe’s second 4-RBI day as a Pirate and first at PNC Park (other May 9 at San Francisco).

Defensively after the earlier error, he prevented a run diving to his right with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, grabbed the grounder and flipped the ball with his glove to Jared Triolo to turn an inning-ending double play.

June forever

Bryan Reynolds has been on base for every game in June and overall 32 straight. It’s now the longest in his career and longest for the Pirates since Jason Kendall did so from June-August, 2004.

Reynolds also made a running catch right before the bullpen wall in the Northside Notch to prevent a leadoff extra-base hit in the eighth inning.

Tarps Off

It’s the newest trend among baseball fans, for men to take a mostly empty section of a corner of the upper deck at a ballpark and start a loud cheering section. I say men because part of the requirement to be in the section is you have to take your shirt off, hence ‘tarps off’. Unlike most baseball crowds, what else is different is they cheer/commentate constantly while twirling their shirts above their heads.

The group started as a couple of rows in the last section of the upper deck along the third base side to by the end of the game nearly fill every row.

Notes

Triolo’s second three-hit game of the season (May 19 at St. Louis went 3-4) Mangum’s second straight multi-hit game (7th in June)Valdez has eight hits in the majors, four are home runs.

Up Next

Mitch Keller (5-5, 4.89 ERA) starts the final game of the homestand against Reds RHP Brady Singer (3-6, 4.81 ERA) at 1:35p with the North Shore Tavern Leadoff Show with Dan Zangrilli beginning at noon, followed by the Pirates Insider Show with GM Ben Cherington and Jason Mackey at 12:35, all on 93.7 The Fan.