The Pittsburgh Pirates expected a wild finish after rallying from a five-run deficit — only to allow the San Francisco Giants tie the game — then scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning on an error.
Just when the Pirates thought they were about to avoid a sweep at San Francisco, Thairo Estrada swung at Wil Crowe’s sinker and smacked a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Estrada hit a 395-foot shot to left-center for his first career walk-off to lift the Giants to an 8-7 win and a three-game series sweep Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park.
“It sucks,” Crowe said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “I want to try to help us win as many times as we can. We competed our butts off today and get back ahead, then that happens — and it sucks. We fought. We played well, and it just didn’t turn out our way.”
It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Pirates, who dropped eight of 10 games on their road trip against Baltimore, Arizona and San Francisco to fall into last place in the NL Central. It was their 41st loss in 70 games decided by two runs or fewer.
“These guys continue to battle, regardless of the situation, regardless of who we’re playing,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “They continue to grind and battle back. We battled back twice and just didn’t finish the game.”
Desperate to drive in a run against Giants after going 0 for 20 with runners in scoring position, the Pirates got a monster game from Bryan Reynolds. He went 3 for 4 with five RBIs, hitting a three-run homer for the lead in the seventh inning and scoring the go-ahead run in the ninth on Evan Longoria’s throwing error on Rodolfo Castro’s chopper.
Reynolds was batting .206 (7 for 34) on the road trip when the switch-hitting center fielder delivered a two-run double from the right side against Giants lefty Alex Wood in the fifth inning for the Pirates’ first runs after 15 consecutive scoreless innings.
Reynolds crushed a three-run homer from the left side off righty John Brebbia in the seventh to rally the Pirates from a five-run deficit. Reynolds’ five RBIs were the most by a Pirates player at San Francisco since Al Oliver had as many in a 13-2 win over the Giants on Aug. 27, 1974 at Candlestick Park.
“Everybody likes to hit well. Nobody likes to suck,” Reynolds said. “To put some balls on the barrel feels good.”
The Pirates had their chances to score early but came up empty.
Kevin Newman hit a leadoff double to right off Wood, who then hit Reynolds with a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. Wood then got Michael Chavis, Ben Gamel and Castro swinging for strikeouts in succession.
After Tucupita Marcano and Jason Delay hit back-to-back, two-out singles, Newman was hit by a pitch to load the bases in the second inning, only for Reynolds to fly out to center.
After stranding two runners in the first against Zach Thompson, the Giants took advantage in a four-run second.
Brandon Crawford drew a one-out walk, then scored on Tommy LaStella’s double to right when Newman’s relay throw bounced past Delay at the plate for a 1-0 lead. The wind aided Joey Bart’s pop fly, which dropped in on Chavis in shallow right.
LaMonte Wade Jr. followed with a three-run homer to give the Giants a 4-0 edge. Wade’s 406-foot shot to center was his seventh homer of the season and second in as many games.
The Giants took advantage of Thompson with two outs in the fourth. After Thompson hit Joc Pederson on the right hand with a pitch, Wilmer Flores doubled down the left-field line to score Pederson for a 5-0 lead.
The Pirates started 0 for 20 with runners in scoring position in the three-game series, going 0 for 9 in Friday’s 5-3 loss, 0 for 7 in Saturday’s 2-0 loss and 0 for 4 in the finale before Reynolds delivered a two-run double in the fifth.
After Delay hit a leadoff single and Newman drew a walk, Reynolds drilled a grounder down the left-field line to score both, cutting it to 5-2. Reynolds then tagged up to third on a Chavis fly out to right and scored on Gamel’s groundout to second to make it 5-3.
Wood struck out a season-high nine batters, allowing three runs on five hits and one walk on 101 pitches in six innings, and was replaced in the seventh by Brebbia.
The pitching change benefited the Pirates, as Delay drew a full-count walk and Newman beat out a grounder to third. Reynolds drove Brebbia’s 1-1 fastball 442 feet to center for his 17th homer and a 6-5 lead. It was the longest homer hit at Oracle Park this season.
Reynolds’ blast was one foot short of matching the longest homer by a Pirates player this season — Jack Suwinski hit a 443-foot shot on June 25 at Tampa Bay — and the second-longest of Reynolds’ career behind a 454-foot homer on June 30, 2021, at Coors Field.
“He is definitely a stabilizing force,” Shelton said. “The home run he hit, he really got on it. Just good at-bats. That’s what we need out of Bryan, and he really came through.”
The Giants tied it 6-6 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when Flores scored from third after a pop fly by Crawford dropped in shallow center as Oneil Cruz and Newman collided.
“That’s a ball we’ve got to catch,” Shelton said. “It looked like the ball just kept drifting on them, and they didn’t realize it was going to drift that far. … It’s challenging, but we have to make sure we’re going to assume that the ball will continue to drift, especially with the way the wind was blowing.”
Reynolds singled off closer Camilo Doval to start the ninth, then got a good jump to avoid a double play on a Chavis groundout to short. Gamel drew a walk to put runners on first and second for Castro, who hit a chopper to third that Evan Longoria barehanded but threw over the head of first baseman Flores.
That allowed Reynolds to score the go-ahead run, but Gamel was called out at home. The Pirates challenged the call, claiming Gamel’s path to the plate was blocked by catcher Bart. After review, it was upheld.
“It’s a good, aggressive play with the situation we’re in with scoring runs,” Shelton said. “And with who’s on the mound, we have to be aggressive there.”
Longoria started the bottom of the ninth with a single, but Mike Yastrzemski grounded into a fielder’s choice that could have been a double play if second baseman Josh VanMeter hadn’t tried a backhand flip. Instead of two outs, the tying run remained at first base. Then Estrada drove Crowe’s first pitch to left-center for the walk-off win.
“It’s tough going back and forth. It’s just how it goes sometimes,” Reynolds said. “It just stinks that that’s how it ended.”
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