Nick Gonzales delivers walk-off win after Pirates rally from 4-run deficit in 9th

The Pittsburgh Pirates staged an inspiring four-run rally against the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, so Nick Gonzales was looking to be aggressive in extra innings.

The rookie second baseman didn’t hesitate to swing at the first pitch he saw, drilling lefty reliever Erik Miller’s changeup on the outside corner for a single to center in hopes of advancing the automatic runner.

Michael A. Taylor raced from second base to score for a 7-6 walk-off win in the 10th, capping an incredible comeback Tuesday night before 12,652 at PNC Park for their fourth win in five games.

“They just battled throughout the whole thing,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We’re talking about one of the elite closers in the game, and we just had quality at-bat after quality at-bat. I think the biggest thing is you put pressure when you put the ball in play. You put the ball in play and you run hard.”

The Pirates (23-26) used three hits, two walks and a fielding error to tie the game in the ninth. Jack Suwinski drew a one-out walk and Yasmani Grandal followed with an opposite-field double to left-center to put a pair of runners in scoring position against Luke Jackson.

“I think the at-bat that really was the important one was Grandal’s,” Shelton said of the 35-year-old catcher, who exited the game with left groin discomfort. “I mean, he gets down two strikes, he shoots a ball the other way. That was very impressive.”

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The Giants were forced to turn to closer Camilo Doval, who walked Triolo to load the bases.

Ji Hwan Bae hit a sharp line drive to right to score Suwinski and cut it to 6-3, then shortstop Marco Luciano bobbled Andrew McCutchen’s grounder that allowed Grandal to score to make it 6-4.

Triolo scored when Bryan Reynolds grounded into a forceout at second to make it a one-run game, and Oneil Cruz doubled to right to score Bae from second to tie it at 6-6. Doval struck out Connor Joe, who went down swinging at a 100.1-mph fastball, to end the frame.

“It means a lot, obviously, just to be able to come back,” Cruz said through translator Stephen Morales, a Pirates coach. “The energy came back at the end of the game. It says a lot for our team.”

Pirates closer David Bednar (3-3) pitched a scoreless 10th to earn the win, exacting revenge by getting Giants catcher Patrick Bailey to fly out to center with the go-ahead run on third base. Bailey hit a three-run walk-off homer off Bednar in a 3-0 win on April 26 in San Francisco.

“They put a heck of a ninth inning together. It’s my job to kind of take the emotion out of it and just execute pitches and get the guys back out there,” Bednar said. “That was huge, especially in the ninth inning to come back there. Huge momentum. You want to always put up a zero, but especially then. Just keep the momentum. It was awesome to get that win. That was a big one for us.”

Cruz was the catalyst, despite a fielding error in the first inning that cost the Pirates a pair of runs. The 6-foot-7 shortstop went 3 for 5 with two doubles, setting a Statcast mark for the hardest hit of the season with a 121.5-mph double in the ninth that left teammates speechless. It was one of three Cruz hits with an exit velocity that topped 116 mph.

“Honestly, seeing that, I’ve never seen anything like that,” Gonzales said. “I was saying it’s a little frustrating because of how he hits it so hard so easily. It’s amazing to watch.”

Where Giants starter Logan Webb delivered a quality start by holding the Pirates to two runs on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts on 103 pitches in six innings, Pirates lefty Martin Perez allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks while striking out four on 98 pitches over 4⅓ innings.

Perez endured a 29-pitch first inning in which he sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a walk and a single before Wilmer Flores hit a pop fly into shallow left field with runners on the corners.

Cruz drifted deep into the grass, with Suwinski coming in from left. Both dealt with the glare of the sun, with Cruz positioning himself under the ball only to have it bounce off his glove. The two-out error allowed both Thairo Estrada and Luis Matos to score for a 2-0 Giants lead.

Shelton was impressed with how Cruz “stayed locked in” and took out his frustration from the field with violent swings at the plate.

“We had a play in the first we should have made. I think if you ask Oneil, he’s going to tell you he should have made it,” Shelton said. “But the thing about it is I think we’re seeing Oneil continuing to get better, continue to mature, because he did not let it affect him the rest of the game. His at-bats continue to be good, they continue to be solid, and he ended up getting the big hit to tie it there. Proud of him because of the fact that he stayed with it.”

In the bottom of the first, Cruz smacked a line drive down the right field line with an exit velocity of 120.4 mph, the hardest-hit ball in the majors this season. But it ricochted off the angled wall and directly to right fielder Ryan McKenna, holding Cruz to a two-out single, and he was stranded when Joe flied out to left.

The Pirates cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second when Gonzales singled to right, raced to third on a single to right by Suwinski and scored on Triolo’s sacrifice fly to deep center.

Cruz drilled a double clocked at 116.3 mph to the left-center gap with two outs in the third but was stranded again when Joe grounded out to third to end the inning.

Perez ran into trouble in the fifth, when Jorge Soler led off by drawing a full-count walk and Estrada followed by driving an 0-1 cutter 397 feet to left field for his eighth home run and a 4-1 lead. After giving up a double to Matt Chapman, Perez was replaced by righty Luis Ortiz.

After Ortiz surrendered a single to Wilmer Flores and walked Heliot Ramos to load the bases, the Giants sent lefty Mike Yastrzemski to pinch-hit for McKenna. Ortiz got Yastrzemski to pop out to first and Marco Luciano to pop out to second to prevent further damage.

After being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis, where he was leading the International League in batting with a .379 average, Bae showed how he could make an instant impact in the fifth.

Bae drew a full-count leadoff walk, stole second base, advanced to third on McCutchen’s infield single and scored when Reynolds grounded into a forceout at second to cut it to 4-2. This time, Cruz went down swinging to strand Reynolds.

Chapman crushed a first-pitch slider for his sixth homer, a 414-foot shot to center, to give the Giants a 5-2 lead in the seventh.

The Giants tacked on another run in the eighth when Kyle Nicolas gave up a leadoff single to Luciano and walked Curt Casali then put both runners in scoring position with a wild pitch. Luciano scored on Estrada’s groundout to short to make it 6-2.

Then the Pirates rallied with a four-run ninth before Gonzales provided the heroics with his first career walk-off hit.

“I think it’s important,” Gonzales said. “Obviously any win is really important, but when we’re down four in the ninth with one out and pull it off, it’s special.”