Oneil Cruz shines as Pirates rally past Reds for Opening Day win

CINCINNATI — The first Opening Day for Oneil Cruz will go down as one to remember, as the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop started their scoring with a solo home run and ended it by driving in the winning run.

The 6-foot-7 shortstop went 1 for 2 with two runs scored and two RBIs, including a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning that lifted the Pirates to a 5-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday afternoon before a regular-season record crowd of 44,063 at Great American Ball Park.

“It couldn’t (have been) better,” Cruz said through translator Stephen Morales. “I hit a home run and drove in the go-ahead run. It was a really good, a really good start to the season.”

Ji Hwan Bae, who reached safely in three of four at-bats, scored the go-ahead run as the Pirates rallied against Buck Farmer (0-1) in the eighth. Bae drew a leadoff walk, stole second, advanced to third on an Austin Hedges sacrifice bunt and scored on Cruz’s sacrifice fly to left field.

“I was shortening my swinging a little bit just because the importance of that run,” Cruz said. “(With Bae) at third base, I needed to make contact no matter what to get that run across the plate.”

Bae, who started at second base, also stood out. He went 2 for 3 with a bunt single, a double and a walk, stole two bases and scored two runs in his 11th major league game and first Opening Day.

“Once he’s on base, he’s a definitely threat, which we’ve known,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He looked like he was having a little bit of fun. He got the bunt base hit, which I think may have given him that sigh of relief, that little breath of like, ‘All right, I got a hit.’ Stealing second with Hedges there, then making the read on the bunt, overall he played really well.”

Shelton stressed the Pirates’ fundamental play, getting on base by drawing nine walks (three by Andrew McCutchen) and moving baserunners by sacrifice bunt and fly and steals. Their defense was solid, too, with Hedges throwing out a runner at second base in the eighth inning and left fielder Bryan Reynolds making a strong throw to second to hold a runner in the ninth to ruin the Reds reveling in their pageantry of Opening Day.

“We played really well,” Shelton said. “Overall, really pleased because there was a lot of team stuff that happened. It wasn’t one guy who did it. We kind of did it up and down (the order) and with our pitching, too.”

The Reds loaded the bases against Pirates starter Mitch Keller in the first inning, when Jonathan India hit a leadoff single to right, TJ Friedl drew a walk and Jake Fraley singled to left.

Where Keller gave up a grand slam to Jose Iglesias in the first inning of his major league debut here on Memorial Day 2019, he didn’t have flashbacks but instead remained locked in. Keller heeded Hedges’ call for a first-pitch sinker inside that got Tyler Stephenson to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. India scored to give the Reds a 1-0 lead but Jason Vosler popped out to short for the final out.

“That’s the thought after that when you’re in that situation: just minimize damage,” Keller said. “Trying to get back into the dugout as fast as possible, and I thought we did a really nice job doing that. Definitely trade two outs for one run there in that situation.”

Reds right-hander Hunter Greene touched triple digits on 44 of his 83 pitches (52 for strikes) while striking out five of the first nine batters he faced before running into trouble his second time around the order.

Cruz hit a full-count fastball clocked at 101.3 mph 425 feet to right-center for a homer to lead off the third and tie the score.

It was the hardest-thrown pitch hit for a homer by a Pirates player since Statcast started tracking exit velocity in 2015. Only five major leaguers have hit balls thrown harder in that span.

“I don’t know if it really changed how Hunter approached the game,” Shelton said. “We know he’s got a good arm and throws a lot of balls really hard. Cruz just happened to get one in a really good at-bat. I thought Hunter threw the ball well. Came in, attacked. The thing that I was proud of is we made him work. We made him execute pitches. Because of it, we were able to get his pitch count up a little bit.”

Greene recorded eight strikeouts before giving up a double to Bae with one out in the fourth and was pulled after walking Hedges. Fernando Cruz couldn’t find the strike zone, however, and walked the next three batters. Bae and Hedges scored when Reynolds and McCutchen drew walks, and Cruz strolled across the plate on a wild pitch to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead. Alex Young got Carlos Santana to ground to third, where Spencer Steer threw out a sliding Reynolds at home plate to end the rally.

The Reds cut it to 4-2 when Steer drove a 2-2 cutter 435 feet to left field, but Keller responded by striking out Will Benson and Jose Barrero to end the fourth, earning himself another inning. Keller got 15 swing-and misses, tied for the second-most in his career, but also gave up six hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings.

Even with Keller starting the fifth at 83 pitches, Shelton showed confidence by sticking with him after India drew a leadoff walk and Jake Fraley singled to put runners on the corners. It appeared to pay off when Keller got Tyler Stephenson looking at a called third strike with a 97-mph fastball for his eighth strikeout and the second out of the inning. Then it backfired when Jason Vosler hit a rope to the right field corner. As rookie Canaan Smith-Njigba slipped on the warning track, India and Fraley scored to tie the game at 4-4 as Vosler raced around the bases for a triple.

The Pirates pulled Keller and turned to Dauri Moreta, acquired from the Reds last fall for shortstop Kevin Newman, only to see the righty reliever load the bases by walking Wil Myers and Steer. Then Moreta stunned the home crowd by getting lefty Will Benson swinging at a 2-2 changeup, then stomped off the mound.

“Any time you come back to a place you played and it’s opening day, it’s a little bit emotional,” Shelton said, with a laugh. “I don’t know if you guys noticed, but he was a little hyped up.”

Moreta struck out the first two batters in the sixth before Shelton turned to lefty Rob Zastryzny (1-0) — a non-roster invitee to spring training who had to wait until Opening Day to learn that he’d made the final cut — to face the left handed-hitting Friedl. It worked, as Zastryzny got Friedl swinging at a 2-2 curveball.

The Pirates turned a double play to end the eighth, when Colin Holderman got Benson swinging and Hedges threw out pinch runner Stuart Fairchild at second base. The Reds challenged the call at second base but Cruz’s tag was upheld after a video review.

India hit a one-out double to left in the ninth off Pirates closer David Bednar to put the tying run in scoring position, but Bednar struck out Friedl with a splitter and Fraley with a fastball to notch his first save of the season.

“Yeah, I think that’s the identity of most good teams, too: Grinding out at bats, getting on base, winning close games,” Reynolds said. “We got to do all three and get an early one.”