Tim Benz: Bryan Reynolds, David Bednar stopped the Pirates' bleeding; now others need to contribute in homestand

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ losing streak finally ended after nine games thanks to a 6-4 victory in St. Louis on Wednesday night.

More specifically, it ended because of outfielder Bryan Reynolds. His tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh inning was the difference.

Bryan Reynolds in June ???? pic.twitter.com/Z6vhXOfcZg

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 16, 2022

Reynolds also tripled on the night.

Credit David Bednar, as well, for an eight-out save. It was his 11th of the season.

“For them to trust me to be in those situations is big,” Bednar said via AT&T SportsNet. “To get those final eight outs is huge. Also to finally get a win on that road trip.”

With a day off Thursday, and clearly desperate to end the streak, manager Derek Shelton let his potential All-Star closer finish out the game with 2⅔ innings pitched. The right-hander paid off the decision by totaling four strikeouts over 43 pitches. His ERA is down to 1.14, and he hasn’t given up a run in four appearances in June.

“It gives me confidence that I can go out there and do it for more than one inning. I can get more than one out. More than three outs. Having the confidence to go out in any situation and to get the job done,” Bednar said.

But Reynolds has been the real story this month. Over 14 games in June, he is batting .404 with an OPS of 1.131. That includes four home runs. He has driven in nine runs and scored 11 times.

Reynolds’ .257 average, 11 homers and 21 RBIs don’t look like much. But through the first two months of the season, he was at .212 with five homers and 12 RBIs, so it’s been quite the jump.

“It was a tough road trip for us,” Reynolds said after the game with AT&T SportsNet’s Robby Incmikoski. “But for the most part, we were in a lot of those games. To come out here and grind one out and end the road trip with (a win), it’s big.”

During the eight-game road trip through Atlanta and St. Louis, Reynolds had 15 hits, three homers and seven RBIs.

Now the rest of the Pirates need to get things going as the team returns home for seven games, starting Friday. It won’t be easy at first as the San Francisco Giants visit PNC Park.

They just had a five-game winning streak snapped by the Kansas City Royals (3-2) on Wednesday. But the Giants have won seven of their last 10 games and currently occupy the National League’s final wild card slot.

However, the back half of the homestand features an opponent that is struggling just as badly as the Pirates have been. Maybe worse.

The Chicago Cubs are in town Monday through Thursday of next week. They have an even worse record (23-39) than the Pirates (25-37) and have lost nine of their last 10 games as well. In their past five games, the Cubs have been outscored 8-0 and 18-4 by the New York Yankees, then 4-1, 12-5 and 19-5 by the San Diego Padres.

One area where the Pirates have to improve is fielding. Shelton’s team made two errors in Wednesday’s win. Via ESPN.com, that’s now 52 on the season, tying Colorado for the most in the majors. The Bucs made eight errors in their three games at St. Louis. That’s the most in a series since 2012 when the team made eight in three games against the Cubs.

However — say it with me now — it’s all about development, so these things will happen. Granted, they’ve been happening pretty much non-stop since losing the 2015 National League Wild Card Game. But that’s a column for another day.

Maybe it’ll be next Friday if the Pirates can’t get a series win against the Cubs.

Did I mention the Cubs really stink right now? Did I make that clear enough?

OK, good.