Pirates survive Chase Burns, rally behind Bryan Reynolds' triple

Chase Burns came with a reputation as a fireballer whose four-seam fastball flirts with triple digits, and the Cincinnati Reds rookie right-hander lived up to his billing with 10 strikeouts in six innings.

Despite a dominant performance by Burns, his first major-league victory continued to elude him as the Pittsburgh Pirates staged an eighth-inning rally for a comeback victory.

Bryan Reynolds continued his late-season resurgence, scoring the Pirates’ first run and driving in the winner with a two-run triple to lift the Pirates to a 3-2 win Friday night before 22,092 at PNC Park.

“Yeah, he’s been swinging the bat really well,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said of Reynolds. “He looks like he’s loose, fluid and seeing the ball well and squaring it up.”

After being stifled by Burns, who became the first pitcher in at least 125 seasons with 10 or more strikeouts in four of his first eight career outings, the Pirates pounced against the Reds’ bullpen.

The Pirates got going against righty reliever Tony Santillan when Isiah Kiner-Falefa drew a one-out walk and Tommy Pham hit a two-strike, two-out single to center. Reynolds drilled a sharp grounder down the right-field line to score both, and the ball kicked back and caused right fielder Noelvi Marte to fumble it.

“Just stayed fair enough,” Reynolds said. “It feels good, to come through tonight in that situation. Just have to keep it going. I didn’t know if it was going to be enough. I saw the kick, so I knew it would be easy to third. I just kept my eyes on him and saw him go.”

Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller allowed two runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts, finishing one out shy of his 16th quality start. But the bullpen came through as Dauri Moreta, Kyle Nicolas (1-0) and Dennis Santana combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

Santana earned his seventh save by retiring the side in the ninth, striking out former teammate Ke’Bryan Hayes swinging for the final out nine days after the Gold Glove third baseman was traded to the Reds.

Keller gave up singles to Gavin Lux and Miguel Andujar, then walked Tyler Stephenson on four pitches to load the bases with no outs in the second inning. Lux scored when Jake Fraley grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, giving the Reds a 1-0 lead. Hayes knocked a line drive to center, but Oneil Cruz made a sliding catch to rob him of a hit.

The Reds got robbed again in the fourth when Andujar drew a four-pitch walk and then attempted to score from first on Stephenson’s double to the right-center gap. Jack Suwinski made the relay throw to second baseman Liover Peguero in shallow center. Peguero’s frozen rope to catcher Henry Davis arrived before Andujar, who was deked when Davis stood statuesque and then tagged him out on his slide into the plate.

Keller, who had the best view while backing up Davis behind home plate, called it the play of the game.

“He does it all the time. I mean, it’s great,” Keller said of Davis’ deke. “When I saw it coming in I was like, ‘Dude, just catch the ball. We have him out. We don’t need to deke him.’ But it really does set up, I don’t know if players don’t run as hard, I mean it kind of just throws them off once he catches it. It’s like, ‘Oh (crap), where do I slide?’ So it’s a really smart play by him.”

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Burns, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft out of Wake Forest, came into the game averaging 14.9 strikeouts per nine innings but with a 0-3 record and a 6.04 ERA.

“I think his numbers are kind of surprising, honestly,” Keller said of Burns. “After watching him throw, he throws strikes, he’s got an electric fastball, a really good slider. Yeah, he just kept us off balance. You look at his underlying numbers, he’s a really good pitcher. Honestly I wasn’t that surprised. Throws hard, and he’s got a good slider. It’s tough to hit.”

Burns threw fastballs on 56 of his 97 pitches, averaging 98.9 mph, touching 101.4 and topping triple digits 18 times. That included nine times in the first inning, when he struck out three of the four batters he faced. And he kept the Pirates off-balance with his slider.

The Pirates tied the score 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth, when Reynolds hit a leadoff double off the Clemente Wall and scored on Cruz’s double that kicked off the corner of the left-field fence.

“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, a good piece of hitting by Cruz.”

Keller retired the first two batters he faced in the sixth before Lux doubled to left and Andujar drew another four-pitch walk. Moreta replaced Keller, but Stephenson hit his second-pitch slider for a double to the right-field corner to drive in Lux and give the Reds a 2-1 lead.

Burns retired the final nine batters he faced, striking out Reynolds swinging at a 98.2 mph fastball and Cruz looking at a 99.7 mph four-seamer to end the sixth with a one-run advantage.

Despite batting .241 this season, Reynolds came through in the eighth for the Pirates with the clutch hit down the line.

“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 going to continue the rest of the year and for many more years to come.”