PITTSBURGH -- Bryan Reynolds has followed a poor first half of the season with a solid second half, and his post-All-Star break surge continued on Friday night.
Reynolds’ two-run triple with two outs in the eighth inning rallied the Pirates to a 3-2 victory over the Reds on Friday night at PNC Park.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa drew a one-out walk from Tony Santillan to start the Pirates’ winning rally. After a Spencer Horwitz strikeout, Tommy Pham singled to put runners on the corners.
Reynolds then pulled his third triple of 2025 past diving first baseman Santiago Espinal and down the right-field line, scoring Kiner-Falefa and Pham to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
“Just stayed fair enough,” Reynolds said.
The Pirates (51-66) have won the first two games of the four-game series, and are 4-1 vs. the Reds at home this year.
Reynolds doubled in the fourth and then scored on an Oneil Cruz two-bagger to pull the Pirates into a 1-1 tie. Tyler Stephenson put the Reds ahead with a double in the sixth.
The back-to-back doubles accounted for the only run the Pirates scored in six innings against Reds rookie phenom Chase Burns.
“He has a good arm, and the slider down was really good,” Reynolds said. "To just be able to scratch one out against him today was good, a good piece of hitting by Cruz.”
Reynolds is hitting .316 (24-for-76) with eight doubles and 10 RBIs in 19 games since the break. In the first half, Reynolds’ batting average was just .225 with 10 home runs in 91 games.
“He’s putting in a ton of work,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said in explaining Reynolds’ second-half surge. “Just the way that he gets after it, the early work he had the other day was electric -- just the barrel, the fluidity, the whip was back. It’s hard when you’re going through that and you’re grinding and trying to figure things out. This game is hard.”
That track record of success has helped the 30-year-old stay confident when he has struggled.
“In the long view, it gives you confidence,” Reynolds said. “You can look at stuff in the short view, but it definitely gives some confidence there even when things aren’t going great.”
Mitch Keller allowed two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings with three walks and three strikeouts.
“Any time that Bryan's going through something or whatever or if he's struggling at the plate, everyone knows he's just one swing away from being the best hitter in baseball,” Keller said. “We all have the confidence in him to do that.
“He had a really good night tonight. Very happy for him. Got no doubt in my mind that it's gonna continue the rest of the year and for many more years to come.”
Kyle Nicolas (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the win. Dennis Santana retired the Reds in order in the ninth for his seventh save of the season.