The Pirates at long last got their best player back and celebrated with a come-from-behind, 5-3 win over Miami. Ke’Bryan Hayes contributed two hits and a web gem, and Jacob Stallings had a three-run double in the eighth inning.
For quite a while, things proceeded the same as ever. The Pirates couldn’t get far against Elieser Hernandez, who was making his return from the 60-day injured list. Hernandez breezed through five innings, allowing three hits and no walks, while fanning six. He left only due to a leg injury.
Two of the hits off Hernandez came in the first, when Hayes and Bryan Reynolds both singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Gregory Polanco and Stallings, though, fanned. Polanco is now batting .088 (3-for-34) with runners in scoring position. The only other hit off Hernandez was Reynolds’ eighth home run, which came in the fourth.
Reynolds’ blast tied the game, 1-1. The Marlins had gotten a run off Tyler Anderson in the third on a single, a bunt and a two-out single. They broke the tie in the sixth after Hernandez led off with a single. A double by Starling Marte put runners on second and third with one out, and brought on Clay Holmes. Before he got the last two outs, he let both runners score on a ground out and a single.
Holmes got in more trouble in the seventh, starting with the leadoff hitter reaching on a strikeout and wild pitch. Sam Howard came on with one out and runners on second and third to face pinch hitter Corey Dickerson. A hard grounder to Adam Frazier kept the runners where they were and Hayes made a great stop on a grounder to his left to end the inning.
That kept the score 3-2, as the Pirates had picked up a run in the bottom of the sixth. Hayes tripled and scored when Reynolds grounded to short. The shortstop booted the grounder, but Hayes would have scored anyway, so Reynolds got an RBI.
In the seventh, the Pirates seemed to be up to their usual tricks. Ben Gamel led off with a single, but got caught stealing.
Kyle Crick managed to keep the Pirates within a run in the top of the eighth without throwing many strikes. In the bottom half, the Bucs loaded the bases with two outs on a single and two walks. That brought up Stallings, who at that point was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. He lined a double into the left field corner to clear the bases.
In the ninth, Richard Rodriguez got back to normal, allowing just a two-out single. He picked up his seventh save.
