Pirates rally from 4-run deficit to beat Guardians, snap 5-game losing streak
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With one out in the seventh inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates trailing the Cleveland Guardians by a run, Ji-Man Choi was watching and wishing while waiting on deck behind Carlos Santana.
“I was hoping that he would take a walk so that I could probably make something (happen) up there,” Choi said through interpreter Daniel Park. “For me, actually, when the bases loaded, it makes me focus a little bit more.”
Choi followed with a line drive to right field for a two-run single that gave the Pirates the lead, then later slid across home plate to score on Jared Triolo’s two-run single that provided the perfect cushion.
The Pirates ended their offensive ineptitude against Cleveland, rallying from a four-run deficit with a five-run seventh for a 7-5 win Wednesday afternoon before 26,541 at PNC Park.
The Pirates (42-54) snapped a five-game losing streak and avoided a sweep of both the three-game series and six-game homestand after losing three consecutive to the San Francisco Giants over the weekend.
“We’ve been struggling,” Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds said, “so it was good to get a win and have it be a comeback win like that.”
The Guardians had outscored the Pirates, 21-1, in the first two games of the series. The Pirates had scored only 10 runs in the five games after the All-Star break and didn’t want to leave for a six-game trip to play the Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres on an ominous note.
“It was a big win,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I give them credit because we kept grinding. It could have been a (bad) situation. We scored one run in the first two games and got it handed to us pretty good. They kept going even though they got down.”
The seventh served as a rally point for the Pirates.
After Nick Gonzales drew a one-out walk against Nick Sandlin in the seventh, the Guardians brought in lefty Sam Hentges to face pinch hitter Endy Rodriguez. The rookie catcher, who was 0 for 7 with six strikeouts in his first two career games, hit a bloop single that dropped in shallow left-center for his first major-league hit.
“It shows they trust me,” said Rodriguez, the Pirates’ 2022 minor league player of the year. “That’s good. If they trust me and I trust myself, we’re going to have something good. Makes me feel good.”
Connor Joe pinch-hit for Jack Suwinski and got an infield single to short to load the bases, setting the stage for a pivotal play that proved to be the turning point.
Reynolds hit a sharp grounder to short for what was initially ruled an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play on a close call at first base. The Pirates challenged the call and it was overturned, allowing Gonzales to score and cut Cleveland’s lead to 4-3.
“I always run hard down the line,” Reynolds said with a shrug. “I was obviously hoping I was safe. I thought I was when I hit the bag. It was a matter of people having good at-bats and passing the baton down the line, really.”
Carlos Santana drew a full-count walk to load the bases again for Choi, who lined the two-run single to right to give the Pirates a 5-4 lead.
The Guardians turned to Enyel De Los Santos, but Henry Davis drew another full-count walk to load the bases for a third time. Triolo smacked a two-run single to left to score Santana and Choi for a 7-4 lead.
“That’s kind of what we’ve been talking about, having that big inning where we can bust it open,” Triolo said. “We had guys all the way through the lineup putting good swings on balls and having good at-bats. That’s what it takes.”
Cleveland got a boost when first baseman Josh Bell blasted Ryan Borucki’s 1-2 sweeper 401 feet to left field for his 11th homer — and second in as many games against his former team — to cut it to 7-5.
David Bednar pitched a clean ninth to earn his 18th save.
Pirates lefty Rich Hill retired the first six batters he faced before David Fry hit a leadoff double off the Clemente Wall in the third, then advanced to third base on Myles Straw’s sacrifice bunt. But Hill got Cam Gallagher looking at a full-count curveball for a strikeout, then got Steven Kwan to line out to left, where Reynolds made a diving catch.
The Guardians took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, when Andres Gimenez dropped a perfect squeeze bunt down the first-base line to score Jose Ramirez from third.
Cleveland added three more runs in the fourth, as Amed Rosario hit a two-run double that popped out of Jack Suwinski’s glove when he crashed against the bullpen fence in left-center and Bell followed with a single to right-center to score Rosario to make it 4-0.
The Pirates answered in the fifth, when Davis hit a leadoff single, advanced to third on Triolo’s single to left and scored when Gonzales smoked a single through the middle. Suwinski doubled to right to score Triolo to cut the Guardians’ lead to 4-2.
Triolo extended his hitting streak to 12 games, the longest by a Pirates player this season and the second-longest active streak in baseball. Per Elias Sports Bureau, Triolo is just the third Pirates player since 1900 to have a hit streak of 12 games or longer within his first 17 career games, tying Jewel Ens (1922) and Woody Jensen (1931).
The Pirates pulled Hill after his 97th pitch went for a two-out double by Straw, and Dauri Moreta got Gallagher looking at a 95-mph four-seamer at the top of the zone for a called third strike to prevent a run.
“We’re up against it, obviously, as far as the urgency to win,” Hill said. “I got to do better, in my position as a starter, and put us in a better position to win and that’s frustrating to sit on. But I take full responsibility for that. I think the comeback effect that we’ve had throughout the year, we did it early. We know that we can do it and we proved it.”