PITTSBURGH -- Jake Fraley has been one of the hottest hitters in the Majors over the past few weeks, and in Saturday’s 10-1 victory at PNC Park over the Pirates, he torched a ball so far that it went for a swim.
It backed the best start of the season by right-hander Justin Dunn, a close friend of Fraley’s who was traded alongside him last offseason by the Mariners to the Reds.
Fraley, who also walked twice, hit a two-run homer in a four-run fourth inning for the Reds. Pirates starter Tyler Beede threw a hanging 1-1 slider that caught the heart of the plate, and Cincinnati’s right fielder lifted it over the Clemente Wall, past the right-field stands and into the Allegheny River on a bounce.
Fraley became the 44th player to hit a baseball into the river and the first since Juan Soto did so for the Nationals on April 16. It was the second-longest home run of Fraley’s career, behind a projected 439-foot blast against the Mets on Aug. 9 of this season.
“It’s as good as you think it feels,” Fraley said. “It’s awesome. It’s a blessing.”
Entering the game, Fraley’s .340 average since he returned from the injured list on July 30 was the fifth best in the National League, trailing teammate Kyle Farmer (.344) in fourth place. His 1.013 OPS was the ninth highest in the NL.
Dunn has faced Fraley since he was 9 years old, at a tournament in Maryland, before they were both acquired by the Mariners and came up through their system. What are we seeing right now?
As Dunn puts it, “Rake Fraley.”
“He’s hit every level I’ve seen him at every year,” Dunn said, “and it’s amazing to see what he’s doing, finally coming into his own and starting to do what he did in [Double-A] Arkansas. I gave him a big hug after the game and said he was my favorite player.”
Fraley’s hot bat has catapulted him to the leadoff spot for a Reds offense that ranks 24th in the Majors with a .683 OPS. He never batted in the No. 1 hole when he was with the Mariners from 2019-21, but he’s done so in six of his last seven games.
“I think the obvious is the ability to get on base, but that spot comes back around at the end of the game,” Reds manager David Bell said of Fraley’s leadoff traits. “And the way he’s been swinging the bat, he’s a guy that we want at the plate. Just a good strike zone awareness … and he’s driving the ball right now.”
On the other side of the scorebook, Dunn worked through some blips in command at times to produce five innings with only one run allowed against the Pirates. After allowing five runs on three homers to the Cubs in his last start, he gave up another long ball, this time one struck by Rodolfo Castro that banked off the visiting bullpen’s fence and over the deep notch in left-center field in the fourth inning.
In the second inning, Dunn began to struggle to fill up the strike zone against a Pirates lineup loaded with eight lefty batters. He loaded the bases on two walks and an infield hit that glanced off his glove, but he induced a groundout from Tyler Heineman to end the threat. Besides that sequence, he allowed a runner to reach second base only three other times, including Castro on his trot.
Reds fans have only gotten three starts’ worth of a look at Dunn. What is it like when he’s fully healthy and locked in from the perspective of a longtime friend?
“When he’s on, nobody hits him,” Fraley said. “He has very low hits through his innings, and he does a good job of working each hitter and having a good gameplan. He did that tonight. He pitched extremely well.”
The stretch that Fraley has been on and the start that Dunn produced Saturday is about what the Reds had hoped to see from the two after they acquired them in the package deal for Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suárez. Brandon Williamson, the other player in the trade, is on the cusp of the Majors, too, with a 3.62 ERA in eight starts during his first season at Triple-A.
Fraley and Dunn worked their way through the Minors together. They shared a rental house in Arizona during Spring Training for the Mariners, growing deeper connections than those simply shared on the field.
Now, after the pair dealt with injuries that kept them on the 60-day injured list -- left knee inflammation for Fraley and a right shoulder ailment for Dunn -- they’re working together on the Reds, trying to be part of the emerging core the club hopes will help build its next postseason contender.
Jake Crouse was a reporter for MLB.com.