CINCINNATI — After producing five outs in his first four at-bats, Bryan Reynolds was looking for a way to salvage his day.
He found one.
The rookie outfielder hit a tiebreaking two-run triple in Pittsburgh’s four-run eighth inning, and the Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-5, on Monday in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.
Reynolds’ one-out liner off David Hernandez (1-3) got into the gap in left-center and drove in Cole Tucker and Adam Frazier. Starling Marte followed with a shot to center for his sixth homer, lifting the Pirates to an 8-4 lead.
“A runner on second, late in the game, you want to do something to drive him in,” Reynolds said of his first career triple. “It’s always nice to mark things off your list.”
Hernandez felt he was close to escaping the situation.
“I thought I had Reynolds struck out,” Hernandez said. “I didn’t get the call. I didn’t think he swung, but I thought I caught the bottom of the zone. I haven’t looked at it again, but it looked good to me. You still have to make pitches after that. Marte was a flat slider, middle away. If I throw him a good one down and away, it’s not a home run.”
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle credited Reynolds with not getting down.
“Toward the end of the day, you could see he wasn’t happy with the results with the opportunities he had,” Hurdle said. “You show up, and you keep fighting.”
Josh Bell also went deep for the Pirates, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Kyle Crick (2-1) got four outs for the win.
Felipe Vazquez replaced Crick with the bases loaded in the eighth and struck out Nick Senzel, ending the inning. Vazquez then worked the ninth for his 14th save, yielding a sacrifice fly to Curt Casali before coaxing Yasiel Puig into a game-ending groundout.
Joey Votto had three hits for Cincinnati in his fourth consecutive multihit game. Eugenio Suarez finished with three hits and two RBIs.
Coming off a successful weekend series in Chicago, the Reds grabbed a 3-1 lead in the fifth on consecutive two-out RBI doubles by Senzel, Votto and Suarez, whose drive to center was inches away from being a home run.
But Gregory Polanco hit a tying RBI single in the Pirates’ two-run sixth, and Bell made it 4-3 when he connected for his 17th homer in the seventh. It was Bell’s 11th homer in May, tops in the majors.
Cincinnati right-hander Luis Castillo allowed three runs and six hits in 51⁄3 innings. He struck out four and walked four.
Votto’s error on Elias Diaz’s potential double-play ball turned into an unearned run in the sixth.
Nick Kingham pitched 42⁄3 innings for the Pirates in his third start of the year.
He permitted three runs and seven hits.
