Michael Chavis hits RBI single in bottom of 9th for walk-off win as Pirates beat Reds

When the Cincinnati Reds visited the Pittsburgh Pirates, it became a battle to stay out of the basement in the NL Central.

The Pirates needed a rally in the bottom of the ninth to do it.

Kevin Newman doubled to tie the score, and Michael Chavis hit a bases-loaded single down the left-field line for a 5-4 walk-off win Friday night before 17,706 at PNC Park.

“It’s exciting. I love being in those types of situations, those clutch moments where I get an opportunity to help the team,” Chavis said. “I love just changing the perception of the pressure being on the pitcher. It came out good. Got a good pitch to hit.”

It was the second consecutive win for the Pirates (47-72), who moved ahead of the Reds (46-71) to climb out of last place in the division. Both are 20 games out of first place.

The unsung hero was rookie designated hitter Bligh Madris, who snapped out of a 2-for-44 funk since July 28 with a pair of singles that led to him scoring the tying runs in the seventh and ninth innings.

“It felt really good,” Madris said. “I’ve been barreling the ball, but I haven’t been able to find grass or a hole anywhere, so that felt really good for me. It was huge for us as a team, and to be able to contribute to that is what I’m here for. I’ll just try to pile that on and get that snowball effect going and, hopefully, get a couple of rallies going here in the next few days.”

Madris started the bottom of the ninth with a bloop single to right off Reds reliever Joel Kuhnel, advanced to second on pinch hitter Tucupita Marcano’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Newman’s double to center to make it 4-4. Ross Detwiler replaced Kuhnel and intentionally walked Bryan Reynolds, then hit Ben Gamel with a pitch to load the bases.

“They kept battling back,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “The last three innings, really good at-bats and contributions from a lot of people. The young kids stepped up. Bligh starting off the ninth there, Tuc getting the bunt down and Kevin had a nice night. Overall, it was a good team victory. … Just really pleased with how they finished the game.”

The Reds built a three-run lead after homers by Nick Senzel and TJ Friedl off Bryse Wilson before the Pirates tied it in the seventh, only to blow the lead in the eighth. Wilson had control of three pitches — mixing a sinker, slider and four-seam fastball — to allow three runs on five hits while striking out four without a walk in seven innings.

“The thing that I would highlight off his outing — regardless of the three runs — is no walks,” Shelton said. “One of the things we challenged him on when we sent him out was to put the ball on the plate. … So many positives since he’s come back.”

Wilson is pitching with more confidence since returning from Triple-A Indianapolis on July 2. He has given up only five walks in 44 2/3 innings over his past eight starts after allowing 14 walks in 28 2/3 innings over his first eight games.

“Obviously, it’s nice to go seven innings. Don’t want to give up the homers, but two bad pitches. They made me pay for it,” Wilson said. “I think a lot of it is just trusting my stuff. We made the mechanical adjustments, which help as well. But the growing confidence and trusting my stuff allows me to not feel too worried about throwing pitches in 3-0, 3-1 and 3-2 counts that are decent pitches to hit.”

With JT Brubaker throwing seven scoreless innings in an 8-2 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, it marked the first time since Joe Musgrove and Steven Brault on Aug. 16-17, 2019, that the Pirates had starting pitchers go seven innings or more on consecutive days.

Wilson gave up a leadoff single to Mike Moustakas, then Senzel sent his slider 410 feet to left field for his fourth home run and a 2-0 lead. Friedl hit a one-out solo homer to right in the fifth to give the Reds a 3-0 lead.

Reds starter Graham Ashcraft kept the Pirates scoreless through the first five innings, although they threatened to score when Greg Allen singled and stole two bases to reach third in the fifth. But Ashcraft got Madris looking at a called third strike and Jason Delay to ground out.

Newman singled to left to lead off the sixth, advanced to third on Gamel’s single and scored on a wild pitch by Ashcraft to cut it to 3-1. Rodolfo Castro drew a walk, and Oneil Cruz singled, which should have loaded the bases.

Instead, Gamel broke for home plate and was caught in a rundown. Gamel nearly juked his way to scoring a run, but home plate umpire Nic Lentz ruled that third baseman Kyle Farmer tagged him out. The Pirates didn’t challenge the call, which ended the inning.

“It was really close, evidently,” Shelton said. “I think we used all 20 seconds of it. Then even talking to (Pirates video coordinator Kevin Roach) afterwards, he got him on the foot. Even seeing the replay on the board, it was a lot closer than I think it appeared.”

The Pirates tied it in the seventh, which Allen and Madris started with back-to-back singles. Newman’s sacrifice fly to center scored Allen to make it 3-2, and Gamel singled to right to score Madris and tie it. It marked Gamel’s fifth consecutive game with an RBI, a career best and the longest streak in a single season by a Pirates player since 2019.

Duane Underwood Jr. left runners on first and second with two outs for Wil Crowe, who gave up an RBI single to Kyle Farmer to score Jake Fraley for a 4-3 Reds lead in the eighth. The Pirates then staged the ninth-inning rally to even their record in one-run games to 18-18.

“It’s really good to see the results, and then to get that win, the first game of a three-game series against them,” Chavis said. “Just getting that first win out of the way is really good.”