Bryan Reynolds leads Pirates past Cardinals 6-4

The Pittsburgh Pirates were hoping to avoid a double-digit losing streak and being swept at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals, and it was Bryan Reynolds who stepped up to make sure it didn’t happen.

Reynolds tripled in the first to get things moving for the Buccos and then later scored off of a Daniel Vogelbach groundout to give Pittsburgh an early 1-0 lead that quickly jumped to 4-0 Bucs.

And then after the Cards battled back to tie the game, Reynolds hit a two-run shot in the seventh to give Pittsburgh the 6-4 lead, which they would never relinquish to get the win. B-Rey finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI.

Reynolds has been scorching hot this month. After hitting barely above .200 the start the year, Reynolds is hitting .386 over the last 15 games and he’s pumped his average up to .257 on the year. He also now stands at 11 homers for the season. He was the only multi-hit Pirate for this game, though Ke’Bryan Hayes also had a triple and finished 1-for-3 on the night.

On the mound, Roansy Contreras got the start and he went four and a third, giving up four runs, three of them earned, on six hits, three walks, two strikeouts for his second straight sub-standard start, but thanks to Reynolds and the bullpen, he walked with the no-decision.

Wil Crowe got the win pitching two scoreless innings to lower his ERA on the year to 2.13, while David Bednar snagged yet another six-plus out save, going two and two-thirds while striking out four and giving up just one hit for his 11th save of the year.

The Buccos are off today but will return to action tomorrow night at home against the San Francisco Giants.