The Pirates completed the greatest comeback in franchise history after overcoming a 9-0 deficit in a 13-12 win over the Reds at Great American Ballpark.
"That was impressive," said manager Derek Shelton. "They just kept going, I mean we got down 9-0 and they just continued to grind."
It all started with a Bryan Reynolds three-run home run to make it a 9-6 Reds lead in the top of 6th inning. Everything changed after that.
"When Bryan hit the homer and then we go 9-6, it's funny because (Andy Haines) was standing next to me and said, 'if he hits a homer here this is going to get real.' "He hit a homer and it got real," said Shelton.
The Pirates scored three in the 7th to tie the game off an Alfonso Rivas bases clearing double.
In the 8th Jack Suwinski drove in the go ahead run to give the Pirates the lead and then Rivas and Ji Hwan Bae drove in a pair to extend the lead to 13-10.
The Reds weren't done yet though as they scored two in the bottom of the 8th making it a one run game. In the bottom of the 9th they added another run and had the tying run on third base with only one out.
Carmen Mlodzinski was in the game for the save opportunity as David Bednar was unavailable. Mlodzkinski struck out Elly De La Cruz in an eleven pitch at bat, getting the second out of the inning.
Jonathan India flew out to Jack Suwinski in center field for the final out, giving Mlodzinski his first career save.
The Pirates have scored 41 runs in the last four games as the offense is red hot. Alfonso Rivas went 3-5 with five runs batted in tying his career-high in RBI's in a game.
"We're excited to be playing in these types of games," said Rivas on the Kurveball Barbecue Whiskey Postgame Show with Josh Rowntree. "Yeah we might be out of the race this year but we're gonna be in it next year. So getting the experience of what playoff baseball may feel like against these teams that are trying to find their way for the postseason, we're gonna take every advantage of playing in these games."
