Bryan Reynolds' 8th-inning homer lifts Pirates over Reds in pitchers' duel

For the second consecutive game, offense was hard to come by for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds.

After managing only four hits in a one-run loss to the Reds on Tuesday, the Pirates fared worse in the series finale Wednesday, collecting only three.

However, it translated to a win, with Bryan Reynolds’ eighth-inning solo home run making the difference in a 1-0 victory.

Mitch Keller (8-4, 3.11 ERA) took a no-decision but tossed seven shutout innings, allowing two hits and a pair of walks while striking out seven.

Colin Holderman (3-0, 0.70 ERA) took over for Keller with a man on first and no outs in the eighth and delivered a scoreless frame, with David Bednar picking up his 16th save of the year by way of a quick ninth.

With temperatures in the 90s Wednesday, manager Derek Shelton detected signs of fatigue in Keller, even with his pitch count at only 83.

Keller took no offense to Shelton’s decision to pull him.

“Given the situation of the game, pinch-hitter, runner on first, 0-0 (score), it made a lot of sense to me,” Keller said. “I wasn’t really fighting it. Honestly, I had no idea how many pitches I was at — wasn’t really looking at that. … I don’t even know how much it ended up being. Felt like 150, though.”

Reynolds’ homer came with two outs in the eighth off Reds reliever Nick Martinez, who took the loss.

It extended Reynolds’ hitting streak to an MLB-leading 17 games, tying a career best.

Reynolds, a historically superb hitter in June with a .346 career average, is slashing .343/.395/.600 through 70 at-bats this month.

“I’ve got a good history in June, I guess. So I need to make it a longer month,” Reynolds said.

Before Reynolds’ 10th homer of the year, the Pirates (36-38) had a difficult time against Reds starter Hunter Greene, who was effective over 6 1/3 innings, striking out nine with no walks.

He allowed two hits and hit a pair of batters, Reynolds in the first inning and Ke’Bryan Hayes in the second.

Yasmani Grandal was the first Pirate to record a hit, ripping a double into right field in the second inning.

The Pirates put runners on second and third in the frame but were unable to capitalize.

From there, it took until the seventh inning for the Pirates to notch their second hit. Rowdy Tellez hit a double off the center-field wall that narrowly missed being a home run.

Tellez’s double prompted Greene’s exit from the game, with Cincinnati reliever Fernando Cruz getting out of trouble to keep the game scoreless.

Keller’s leadoff walk of Stuart Fairchild preceded Holderman’s entry into the game, and he got a first-pitch flyout of Jeimer Candelario before striking out Luke Maihle and getting Jonathan India to ground out.

“(Grandal) called another great game back there,” Keller said. “We had a really good flow going. Defense played great, (Reynolds) with a huge homer and (Bednar) closed it out. It doesn’t get much better than that.”