Ji Hwan Bae hits 1st career homer, Bryan Reynolds adds 2 RBIs as Pirates top Red Sox

Ji Hwan Bae picked a towering target and a historic ballpark to hit the first home run of his career, and Bryan Reynolds made some personal history of his own by going deep for the third consecutive game.

Bae blasted an improbable two-run home run over the famed Green Monster at Fenway Park – and later added a spectacular catch against the left-field wall – and Reynolds went 3 for 4 with two RBIs as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-1, on Tuesday night.

That clinched the first series victory of the season for the Pirates, who can complete a three-game sweep with a win Wednesday afternoon.

With an opposite-field shot off Nick Pivetta in a second inning that should have ended before he came to bat, Bae joined Atlanta’s Vaughn Grissom (Aug. 10, 2022) as the only National League players to ever hit their first career homer at Fenway Park, which opened in 1912.

It left even Bae almost speechless.

“Amazing,” Bae told AT&T SportsNet’s Robby Incmikoski in an in-game interview. “It’s an honor. That’s it.”

Bae’s big moment came after a mistake by Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire, a Pirates first-round pick in 2013. With two outs in the second, Pivetta got Canaan Smith-Njigba swinging at a full-count curveball for a strikeout. When the ball bounced off McGuire’s shin guards, Smith-Njigba raced to beat the throw to first base to extend the inning.

“It’s really important,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “We have to take advantage of mistakes and catch the ball to win games. One play that will go unnoticed is that, a lot of times when guys strike out, they stand there. Canaan was aware enough that when the ball kicked, he got to first base and we ended up extending the inning and getting the homer. So it’s the not at-bat he’s looking for, but when your head’s up and you play like that, I give him a ton of credit.”

Bae then drove Nick Pivetta’s 1-1 fastball to the opposite field for a 359-foot shot over the Green Monster for a 2-1 lead.

“I didn’t try (to hit a homer),” Bae said, “but I got the barrel on it and a good launch angle.”

Bae’s most breathtaking play also involved the Monster but came on defense, when he moved to center field in the eighth. After Alex Verdugo hit a 107.1-mph line drive directly to Bae, he made a leaping grab against the wall to rob Rafael Devers of an extra-base hit.

“The Green Monster, it’s a huge wall. I saw it coming, but I just had to leave it to my instinct and I caught it,” Bae said through translator Daniel Park. “I didn’t know it was going to go that way, so when I actually reached for the ball, I was surprised myself too.”

Shelton raved about Bae’s all-around play, especially the catches he made after moving from second base to center field in the ninth.

“Offensively, defensively, on the bases, the plays he made defensively, the catch he made late,” Shelton said. “That was a great catch. Not having ever played center field at Fenway, it’s not easy. I don’t want to discount the first ball. The first ball was hit square on the nose. He broke down on a line drive right at center field. That’s a hard play to make, and he made it. Overall, really nice game.”

Reynolds led off the third inning by hitting Pivetta’s first-pitch curveball 388 feet into the home bullpen in right-center for his fourth home run of the season and a 3-1 lead.

It was Reynolds’ fourth solo shot in the past three games, marking the first time he has homered in three consecutive games in his career. Reynolds homered in the 3-1 loss at the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday and twice Monday night in the 7-6 win over the Red Sox.

“He’s in a spot right now here he’s seeing the ball pretty good,” Shelton said. “We need to keep him in that tree.”

The last Pirates player to homer in three consecutive games was Josh Bell, who homered twice at St. Louis on Aug. 11 and once each on Aug. 12-13 at the Los Angeles Angels in the 2019 season.

Reynolds joins Barry Bonds (1992) and Reggie Sanders (2003) as the only players in franchise history to homer in three of the first five games of a season. It also marked the fourth consecutive game that Reynolds has homered against the Red Sox, dating to last Aug. 17, a span in which Reynolds is 11 for 17 (.647) with six homers and 10 RBIs.

Pirates starter Roansy Contreras (1-0) gave up a leadoff single to Verdugo, who advanced to third on Justin Turner’s single to right and scored when Masataka Yoshida grounded out to second for a 1-0 Red Sox lead.

After that, Contreras was efficient in retiring the next 13 batters, until McGuire doubled to left in the fifth. After Bae made a sliding backhand stop to throw out Devers in the sixth, Contreras was one out from finishing the sixth. Then he walked Justin Turner and Yoshida hit a grounder to shortstop Oneil Cruz, whose throw skipped past Carlos Santana at first base to put runners on the corners.

Dauri Moreta replaced Contreras and got Adam Duvall looking at a called third strike on a full-count slider to escape the jam. It was a strong first start of the season for the 23-year-old Contreras, who allowed one run on three hits and one walk with two strikeouts in 5⅔ innings.

The Pirates got a boost from catcher Tyler Heineman, whose contract was selected Tuesday when starter Austin Hedges was placed on the seven-day concussion injured list. Heineman singled off Josh Winckowski in the seventh, stole second and scored when Reynolds singled to center for a 4-1 lead.

McGuire doubled again in the seventh, this time off Moreta. So Shelton turned to lefty rookie Jose Hernandez, who froze Christian Arroyo with a 95-mph sinker for a called third strike to record his first career strikeout and end the frame.

Boosted by Bae’s defense, Colin Holderman pitched a clean eighth. All-Star closer David Bednar came in for the ninth and had a baserunner after Yoshida reached on an error by Santana at first base. Bednar got Adam Duvall to pop up to Ke’Bryan Hayes at third and Triston Casas to pop up to Bae in center, then struck out Enrique Hernandez with a 2-2 splitter to earn his third save.

“They’ve shown up,” Reynolds said of the bullpen. “They’re pounding the zone, just gotten after it. It’s been fun to stand in the outfield and watch it.”