Defeat was one gulp of air, one deep breath away for the Cincinnati Reds. One swing and a miss, one pop-up, one ground ball and it was a heart-shattering defeat.
Then Eugenio Suarez said, “No, not today, baby.”
His three-run home run in the top of the ninth gave the Reds an ultra-dramatic 9-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday in PNC Park.
Home runs are never routine and this one was cloud-high above routine.
The Reds were down a run. They had two runners on base, but there were two outs. And Pittsburgh closer Gregory Soto had two strikes on Suarez.
On 2-and-1, Suarez swung and missed a low and away Sinker. Strike two. One pitch away from a Pittsburgh win.
Soto tried the same pitch, same location — below the knees and off the outside corner. Suarez was waiting for it in ambush. He shot the ball the opposite way, down the right field line, 344 feet over the 21-foot high Roberto Clemente right field wall.
What a turn around, what a downer for the Pirates.
The score was 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth when Pittsburgh pinch-hitter Emerlyn Valdez crushed a home run off Caleb Ferguson to give the Pirates a 7-6 lead entering the ninth.
Soto quickly gave up a leadoff single in the ninth to Edwin Arroyo and walked Elly De La Cruz when he was called out on strikes on a full count, but challenged and ABS showed it was ball four.
Two on, nobody out. But Sal Stewart hit into a 4-6-3 double play and the Reds were down to their final out. Soto walked JJ Bleday on a full count when Bleday was 2 for his last 30.
It was Suarez time. . .and he did what the Reds signed him to do, but hasn’t done much this season.
He earned it on this at bat.
“I swung and missed the pitch before and I knew he would throw it again in the same place and I was ready,” said Suarez.
“I know it hasn’t been good for me the last month or month and a half, so it was good for me to do something to help the team.
“I put myself in a situation where not to think about the past,” he added. “This game is about one at bat at a time. My experience let me be not too excited in that situation.”
Reds manager Tito Francona, always even-keel, was about as demonstrative as he ever gets.
“Yeah, wow, when you are down to your last pitch,” he told reporters. “What a nice swing on a day when there were a lot of ups-and-down.”
Indeed there was, ups-and-downs like a standard Duncan Yo-Yo.
It went like this:
Reds, 2-0, in the top of the second.
Pirates, 4-2, in the bottom of the fourth.
Tied, 4-4, in the top of the fifth.
Reds, 6-4, in the top of the sixth.
Tied, 6-6, in the bottom of the seventh.
Pirates, 7-6, in the bottom of the eighth.
Eugenio Suarez in the top of the ninth.
“It was nice to finish on an up,” said Francona. “Oh, boy, this is what we’re here for. I’m glad we won because today it was a tough, a lot going on. A lot of pitchers, a lot of moving parts.”
“But we found a way to win and sometimes you need one of your best players to do something special and Geno did,” he added.
To start with, Reds starter Chase Burns had, for him, an off day. In six-plus innings he gave up five runs, nine hits, walked nobody and struck out 10.
He had given up two or fewer runs in 12 straight games and in 14 of his first 15 starts.
It started positively for the Reds when Sal Stewart, batting second, drove a 100 miles an hour fastball from Pittsburgh starter Jared Jones into the right field seats in the first.
The Reds made it 2-0 in the second with some small ball, some fundamentals. Jose Trevino, Burns’ preferred catcher, doubled. Edwin Arroyo bunted perfectly, sending Trevino to third and he scored on Stewart’s two-out infield hit.
The Pirates grabbed a 3-2 lead in the third when Burns went to his third best pitch, a change-up, and Brandon Lowe lashed a three-run homer. The first two Pirates’ hitters of the inning singled ahead of Lowe.
The Pirates made it 4-2 in the fourth on a double by Endy Rodriguez and a first-pitch single by No. 9 hitter Jared Triolo.
Pirate pitcher Jared Jones and the defense gave the Reds two runs in the fifth to tie it, 4-4. Dane Myers walked and Jones balked him to second. Myers took third on a wild pitch and scored on Arroyo’s double.
Arroyo took third on another wild pitch and scored on second baseman Brandon Lowe’s error.
The Reds barged back ahead, 6-4, in the fifth when Dane Myers dropped a perfect bunt for a hit to fill the bases and Trevino singled for two runs.
The Pirates tied it in the seventh, 6-6. Burns started the inning but gave up a leadoff double to Triolo and Burns’ day was done.
Sam Moll came on and gave up a sacrifice fly, two walks and a run-scoring single to Ryan O’Hearn.
Caleb Ferguson pitched the eighth and gave up the go-ahead home run to Valdez to make it 7-6 and Pittsburgh was three outs from a win.
Then along came Eugenio Suarez.
But it wasn’t over. The Reds needed three outs in the bottom of the ninth and trudging to the mound was Chase Petty, who not only didn’t have a major league save, he had never had the opportunity.
He recorded two quick outs, but walked Nick Gonzales. It ended when Ryan O’Hearn ripped one down the first base line that first baseman Spencer Steer snagged.
Petty is the 11th different Reds pitcher to record a save this season.
“He’s been throwing the ball over the plate, he is hard to run on, and he is showing really good composure,” said Francona. “And good for him.”
With the second straight win over Pittsburgh, the Reds have clinched the series, their third series win in their last four — two of three from the New York Mets, two of three from the New York Yankees, three straight losses to Milwaukee and the two over Pittsburgh.