The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks last night 1-0 in a Paul Skenes gem, but it was Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds that made the history.
Reynolds went-2-for-4 in the game, giving him 1,000 hits for his career. It also makes him just the fifth Bucco to go for 1,000 hits, 200 doubles and 140 homers, joining Andrew McCutchen, Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Roberto Clemente. Elite company indeed.
It also bumped Reynolds up to a .260 average on the season. He also has 4 homers and and 22 RBIS, as well as an .OBP on the year of .402, which is good for 11th in all of Major League Baseball. 30 walks in 37 games will do that to you. He’s also slugging .420 and has an .OPS of .822, which is third best on the team behind Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn.
The other news from last night is that the Pirates are finally out of the basement of the NL Central. The Bucs are tied with the Cincinnati Reds with a 20-17 record, but the Bucs are techincally above the Reds due to owning the season series thus far. The Milwaukee Brewers are an identical 5 games back as well, but they have slightly higher winning percentage than the Bucs and Reds, so they are techincally in third place. The St. Louis Cardinals are in second, 3.5 games back of the division leading Chicago Cubs. It is still very much anyone’s division.
And lastly, I think we need Jamain calling for more Paul Skenes innings more often. Just a couple days after he asked for more Skenes, we got an eight-inning gem out of the Pirates’ ace. Skenes also dropped his ERA to a more Skenes-like 2.36 and now stands with a 5-2 record on the season. Nicely done.
The Bucs are back in action this afternoon with another one versus the D’Backs.
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