Pirates triumphant in Andrew McCutchen's return behind Bryan Reynolds' 6 RBIs

The black-clad crowd chanted M-V-P during the introduction of Andrew McCutchen in his return for the Pittsburgh Pirates, bringing back that Buctober feeling to PNC Park.

The trade that sent McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants five years ago came full circle when fans later serenaded the player the Pirates acquired in that deal with the same chant.

Bryan Reynolds stole the show, propelling the Pirates to their fourth consecutive win by beating the Chicago White Sox, 13-9, on Friday before a sellout crowd of 39,167 in the home opener at PNC Park.

Reynolds finished a double shy of hitting for the cycle, going 3 for 5 with a career-best six RBIs, including a three-run home run and a bases-clearing triple that saw him score on a throwing error. Reynolds is batting .448 (13 for 29) with five homers, 13 RBIs and a 1.572 OPS through seven games.

“It’s probably the most locked in I’ve seen him,” said Derek Shelton, who won his first home opener in four seasons as Pirates manager. “The thing that stands out is not as much the pitches he’s swinging at. It’s the pitches he’s not swinging at. … When you don’t swing at bad pitches and guys have to come into the zone to guys like him, he can do a lot of damage.”

The Pirates (5-2) finished with their most hits (19) in a home opener during the modern era (since 1968) and most runs scored (13) in a home opener since a 14-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on April 13, 1976, when Dave Parker hit a three-run homer and had five RBIs.

It was their highest attendance since drawing 39,500 at the 2016 home opener, and the blackout crowd provided a positive vibe reminiscent of their three consecutive wild-card teams from 2013-15.

“It was awesome, just to be able to see that many fans,” Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said. “It felt almost like a playoff-type atmosphere. It was great to be able to score as many runs as we did and get all those hits that we did in front of all those fans.”

The six RBIs tied Reynolds’ career-best from his three-home run game against the Washington Nationals on June 29, 2022, and showed why the All-Star left fielder is demanding a trade or a nine-figure contract extension. Reynolds’ five homers in the first seven games tied a team record set by Hall of Famer Willie Stargell.

“It’s special anytime you’re in same sentence with somebody like that,” Reynolds said. “It’s something that can never get taken from you, so I’ll be able to take that with me for a while.”

By doing so, Reynolds not only upstaged the triumphant return of McCutchen, the five-time All-Star and 2013 NL MVP, but helped turn a matchup between a pair of pitchers who threw nine-inning no-hitters against the Pirates into a hit parade.

“That’s fine,” said McCutchen, who signed a one-year, $5 million contract in January. “He can keep doing that, keep doing what he’s doing. It’s been fun to watch thus far in the season. Shows the type of special player that he is.”

The 53-degree temperatures for first pitch didn’t help Pirates 43-year-old lefty Rich Hill or White Sox righty Lucas Giolito, as they combined to give up 14 runs on 20 hits without a walk through the first four innings. Giolito allowed a career-high 12 hits and had three strikeouts, and Hill gave up eight hits and whiffed one batter.

“It doesn’t sit well with me,” said Hill, who has allowed 10 runs on 11 hits in nine innings over his first two starts. “The inability to go out there and have a shutdown inning when we put up runs is poor on my behalf. I understand I’m a far better pitcher than I’ve shown these past two outings.”

Where Hill had his spoiled by Josh Harrison’s walk-off home run in the 10th inning of 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 23, 2017, Giolito tossed a no-hitter for the White Sox in a 4-0 win over the Pirates on Aug. 25, 2020.

Tim Anderson drove Hill’s second pitch, an 85-mph fastball, for a line-drive double to left-center, stole third base and scored on Andrew Vaughn’s fielder’s choice to short for a 1-0 White Sox lead.

McCutchen, serving as designated hitter, received a standing ovation and M-V-P chants for his first at bat with the Pirates since Sept. 27, 2017. McCutchen drew more cheers when he hit Giolito’s first pitch through the right side for a two-out single. McCutchen, however, was caught stealing on the second pitch to Carlos Santana, when Giolito made a pickoff move to first and Vaughn threw to Anderson at the bag.

“I mean, I think there’s so many things that embodied why the people here love him,” Shelton said. “The ovation in and of itself and being able to compose himself and get a hit.”

Santana tied the scoree in the second inning when he drilled Giolito’s 2-2 knee-high fastball over the Clemente Wall in right field for a 379-foot solo shot. It was Santana’s second consecutive game with a homer. The Pirates took a 2-1 lead when Connor Joe doubled to right field, then scored when Ji Hwan Bae’s grounder skipped past second baseman Elvis Andrus for an RBI double.

The lead didn’t last long, as Hill surrendered a pair of two-run homers in the third inning. Luis Robert Jr. launched an 0-1 sweeper 413 feet into the visiting bullpen in left-center to give the White Sox a 3-2 lead, and Jake Burger crushed a 1-1 curveball 419 feet to left to make it 5-2.

The 32-pitch second inning took a toll on Giolito, who gave up back-to-back singles to Reynolds and McCutchen and a one-out double by Hayes to the left-center gap to score Reynolds to cut it to 5-3.

The Pirates responded with a four-run fourth, taking a 7-5 lead when Reynolds blasted a 414-foot, three-run homer. It was his fifth homer in three different stadiums, after hitting one at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, three at Boston’s Fenway Park and one at PNC Park.

“He’s unconscious right now,” Hayes said. “That’s a guy that, for me personally, I would love to see him here long-term with us, the player he is, the person he is, super low-key and just goes out there and gets the job done.”

Again, the lead didn’t last long, as Robert homered for the second time by driving a full-count curveball 346 feet to right to tie the score at 7-7. Switching pitchers didn’t help the White Sox. Joe hit a leadoff double off lefty Jake Diekman, advanced to third on Bae’s single to left and scored on Jason Delay’s single through the left side for an 8-7 lead.

After Oneil Cruz drew a walk to load the bases, the White Sox turned to righty Jimmy Lambert only for Reynolds to line his second pitch to the right-field corner for a bases-clearing triple. When Andrus’ relay throw from second skipped past Yoan Moncada at third, Reynolds scored on the throwing error to give the Pirates a commanding 12-7 lead.

Six Pirates had a multi-hit game, and Reynolds was joined Bae and Delay (both 3 for 5) with three hits and Joe matched a career-best with four hits. Joe’s third double drove in Santana to stretch it to 13-7 in the eighth.

Oscar Colas hit his first career homer in the top of the ninth to make it 13-8. Anderson, who went 4 for 5, doubled and scored on a single by Robert, who finished with five RBIs, to cut it to 13-9 before Wil Crowe struck out the final two batters, getting Vaughn swinging and Moncada looking at a called third strike to set off a celebration.

It was a warm welcome for McCutchen, who was reminded just how special playing for the Pirates at PNC Park is to him, especially now that he gets to enjoy it with his three children.

“It was a long time coming. It was a special moment,” McCutchen said. “You only get one Opening Day at home. I’ve just been thankful that I had the opportunity to come back and to be able to experience it again.”