Bryan Reynolds overcomes muffed fly ball, homers twice to help Pirates defeat Red Sox

Teammates at Vanderbilt and best friends off the field, Bryan Reynolds and Jason Delay were drafted in 2016 by the San Francisco Giants.

Nearly seven years later on Monday night, circumstances placed them in Boston’s Fenway Park, teammates again. This time, members of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

And as the first four innings against the Red Sox progressed, something else tied the two 28-year-olds together.

They hit home runs to lead the Pirates to a 7-6 victory in front of a noisy, pro-Sox crowd of 28,369.

“The Vandy boys hit some homers tonight, which was good,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on AT&T SportsNet.

Actually, there was an important distinction: Reynolds hit two homers – giving him three in the past two games – and Delay the second of his career.

“I told Delay that Bryan overshadowed him when he hit the second one,” Shelton said.

But the manager recognized the other part of Delay’s game after the Pirates’ backup catcher made his first start of the season.

“He had a couple really tough picks, not blocks, in crucial situations,” Shelton said. “I thought he played really well.”

The Pirates (2-2) needed every edge after falling behind 5-3 in the first inning when starter Johan Oviedo allowed home runs to Rafael Devers, Masataka Yoshida and Triston Casas. Only four runs were earned after Reynolds, playing centerfield, dropped a fly ball in a case of miscommunication with right fielder Jack Suwinski.

The homers, an RBI single by Suwinski in the third inning and a misplayed popup by Red Sox third baseman Devers in the top of the first led to the seven Pirates run – only one fewer than their total in the first three games. Ke’Bryan Hayes’s single that caromed off the first base bag and Canaan Smith-Njigba’s double against the Green Monster in leftfield followed Devers’ misplay to stake the Pirates to a 3-0 lead.

It should have been a scoreless first, but the Pirates earned the victory later. The bullpen maintained two- and one-run leads after Delay and Reynolds homered two batters apart to break a 5-5 tie in the top of the fourth.

In a game that was not among the quickest this season – two hours, 57 minutes – Shelton used relief pitchers Dauri Moreta, Rob Zastryzny, Duane Underwood Jr., Colin Holderman and David Bednar to back up Oviedo.

Bednar earned his second save, but in the eighth, Holderman forced groundball outs from Yoshida and Adam Duvall, who came to the plate with nine RBIs this season, two runners on base and a one-run Pirates lead.

“We just liked our matchup right there,” Delay said. “Holderman has nasty stuff, and we let him use his power stuff and it worked out for us.”

The decisive pitch to Duvall was a 98-mph sinker.

“Holderman got himself into a little bit of trouble, but I thought his stuff was electric, 97, 98 with heavy sink,” Shelton said. “He went right after him, didn’t show any fear, didn’t show any hesitation. That was impressive. It was his inning.”

Shelton also liked the way Oviedo settled down after the five-run first.

“He really did a nice job of settling in, not an easy place to pitch,” the manager said of Fenway. “Early on, I thought he just left fastballs in the middle of the plate that got hit by some really good hitters.

“Then, he started to mix and, I think, once we started to mix, we saw what we expected out of him.”

Shelton saw what he expected of Reynolds, who is one of only four players in the majors with three home runs. The contract talk concerning Reynolds and the Pirates doesn’t affect him, Shelton said.

“I don’t think Bryan ever lets anything affect him once he gets between the lines,” he said. “That’s something I know I personally really appreciate about him. Regardless of what is happening externally, he is always the same guy.”

Under the circumstances, the victory was rare one for the Pirates, only their 20th in 205 games since 1901 in which they allowed five runs in the first inning, according to the AT&T SportsNet telecast.

Shelton was pleased with how his players, most of whom never had played in Fenway before Monday, reacted after falling behind in front of a tough crowd.

“That’s one of the things I love (about) baseball,” Oviedo said. “You’re actually playing against a big crowd. That plays in my favor a lot.

“I just love the feeling of having a thousand people screaming, supporting or not supporting. It’s just a feeling that I really love. It’s fun.”