ST. LOUIS — David Bednar jogged out from the Pirates dugout in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday, smacked the palm of his glove with his right hand, put his head down and went to work. After a frustrating road trip, the Pirates were three outs from something that would actually feel good for a change. It was Bednar's job to shut the door.
The opportunity arose, of course, because of the work of another franchise building block, another player the Pirates should be counting upon to be a part of their next winning team, as Bryan Reynolds' scorching-hot June continued with a two-run homer in the seventh inning, pushing the Pirates ahead for good.
Though it won't completely wipe away the frustration from what was a nine-game losing streak, what transpired during the Pirates' 6-4 victory over the Cardinals in the finale of a four-game series at Busch Stadium felt special. Reynolds and Bednar, each already a fan favorite in his own way, lifted this young team out of a funk.
Bednar finished with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, earning his 11th save. He allowed one hit, walked one and struck out four.
With the teams tied at 4 and Tucupita Marcano standing on first base following a two-out single in the seventh inning, Reynolds pushed his chips to the middle of the table by taking a sizable hack against Cardinals reliever Andre Pallante.
Pallante threw a full-count curveball low and inside, a location from where Reynolds can do some serious damage provided his timing and anticipation are at their typical levels. It looked like that’s what happened here, as Reynolds waited and blasted the offering from Pallante over the fence in right to nudge his team ahead, 6-4.
Having endured a frustrating road trip to this point, manager Derek Shelton apparently didn’t want to take any chances and stuck with his two best relievers to close out the win.
Roansy Contreras started, gave up four runs (three earned) over 4 1/3 innings and gave way to Wil Crowe, who worked the next two, allowing a pair of hits and nothing else.
With two on, Shelton turned things over to Bednar, who entered the game and promptly struck out second baseman Nolan Gorman and left fielder Tyler O’Neill. The first got 96 mph heat, the second 97.
Trailing 4-1, the Cardinals came charging back with a busy fifth inning, one that featured three St. Louis runs and a couple Pirates miscues.
Center Fiedler Harrison Bader got things started with a triple off the wall in left, a play that felt like it could have been an inside-the-park home run given how Canaan Smith-Njigba played the hop off the wall.
After shortstop Tommy Edman walked, Donovan knocked in a pair of runs with his double to right field, the Cardinals first baseman connecting on a slider down and in from Contreras.
Having reached base in 13 of his first 16 plate appearances in this series and totaling four home runs through three games, it was a little surprising that the Pirates decided to pitch to Paul Goldschmidt with first base open.
The Pirates avoided further damage when Goldschmidt grounded out on a ball that clipped Contreras, and Wil Crowe entered a batter later. With four double plays on his ledger, the Pirates wanted No. 5 from Crowe — and nearly got it.
Crowe got a tapper back to the mound from Gorman but made a surprising choice.
Instead of throwing to second base, Crowe tried to nab Donovan dangling off third. The plan was foiled when his throw was too high for Ke’Bryan Hayes, allowing Donovan to slide back safely. The Cardinals tied the game at 4 when the next hitter, left fielder Tyler O’Neill, hit a grounder to shortstop and beat out Marcano’s relay throw.
If the Smith-Njigba or Crowe plays weren’t enough, the Pirates had another ugly one in the sixth, when Smith-Njigba was safe on a play at first but turned toward second base, into fair territory, and was subsequently tagged out.
The sloppiness was something that didn’t really show up until the finale of this series, but it weirdly plagued both teams. Pittsburgh scored its third and fourth runs on two bunts that traveled a total of 5 feet.
After Smith-Njigba drew a leadoff walk in the second, Tyler Heineman put down a terrific sacrifice. Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty — making his 2022 debut — threw wildly to first, the ball bouncing off the meshing and near the tarp, a point the Cardinals would later argue.
That allowed Smith-Njigba to score and Heineman to reach second, which mattered when the sequence nearly repeated. This time, Hoy Park bunted. Yadier Molina grabbed the ball and also threw off-target to first, allowing Heineman to score.
Hotter than all but two MLB hitters in June, Reynolds tripled in his first at-bat and scored on Daniel Vogelbach’s groundout. Entering Wednesday’s game, only Houston’s Jordan Alvarez (.488) and Toronto’s Santiago Espinal (.392) had a better batting average this month than Reynolds (.388).
Reynolds scored when Mitchell ripped a slider at the bottom of the zone out to center to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.
