Reynolds, Bednar step up to lead Bucs to victory

ST. LOUIS -- When in doubt, let the stars shine.

Bryan Reynolds hit a go-ahead two-run home run, David Bednar recorded an eight-out save, the longest outing of his career, and the Pirates beat the Cardinals, 6-4, on Wednesday night at Busch Stadium, snapping a nine-game losing streak. The energy, if for but a night, is good. And for that, Pittsburgh has its leaders to thank.

“We’re going to make young mistakes. We have to have teaching moments off those moments. That’s going to be really important. As we’re doing that, we have some guys that need to step up. Those are two guys that we need to step up, and we really did tonight,” said manager Derek Shelton.

If this isn’t the most momentous moment of the season thus far, then it’s, unquestionably, right at the top. The Pirates raced out to a four-run lead only for the Cardinals to score four as well.

As the game entered the latter third, Pittsburgh was facing the possibility of a 10th straight loss.

Reynolds and Bednar took it from there.

Beginning with the reigning All-Star, Reynolds deposited Andre Pallante’s curveball into the Cardinals’ bullpen. Two-run lead. The first two months may have been a grind, but Reynolds, who has raised his wRC+ from 97 to 122 this month, is back to damaging the baseball.

“This is a guy that started the All-Star Game in center field last year and got off to a rough start,” Shelton said. “I think on this road trip, we saw the Bryan Reynolds that we all expected to see with the series he had in Atlanta and then coming in here. That’s a huge at-bat and that’s a big lift. That’s the thing that Bryan Reynolds can do.

“It was probably one of the bigger moments for us this year.”

With one All-Star providing the lead, Pittsburgh’s likely All-Star-to-be took it on home. Bednar entered in the bottom of the seventh in the high-leverage situation of the game. Runners on first and second. One out. Two-run lead at stake. A wild pitch by Bednar turned up the pressure, putting runners on second and third. Bednar didn’t fold. He struck out Nolan Gorman, then Tyler O’Neill. Inning over. Crisis averted.

Then, he came back for more. Far more.

Following a low-stress eighth inning, save for a leadoff walk, Bednar stood at 28 pitches. Earlier this year, Bednar had thrown a career-high 50 pitches in a gutsy outing against the Dodgers. Given that Bednar has seldom thrown on this road trip, he certainly had the juice to finish the job. Shelton said that Bednar made a convincing argument to finish the job. The exact details of what Bednar said will remain in that dugout.

“Something along the lines of, ‘I’ll take the ball,’” Bednar said. “I guess that would be the PG version. However you wanna read between the lines. That was the gist of it.”

Regardless of specifics, the message was clear. This game was Bednar’s to finish, and finish the game he did.

Brendan Donovan led off the inning with a single, bringing Paul Goldschmidt to the plate with a chance to tie. Goldschmidt has done nothing but agonize Pittsburgh’s pitching staff over the last three days, but Bednar doused the fire by way of a double play. Nolan Arenado went down swinging, and for the first time in a week and a half, the Pirates had a win.

“Bednar’s a beast,” Reynolds said. “I think he’s the best closer in the National League.”

Reynolds paused.

“I think he’s the best in baseball. Every time he’s out there, I have all the confidence in the world in him. He’s just a beast.”

The Pirates are a young team. By night’s end, they rolled out seven rookies. Even with the win, they had their share of learning moments. There will be moments when they need to lean on their leaders. Tonight was one of those nights. And in the biggest moments, experience led the way.