Bryan Reynolds turned a week at PNC Park into a highlight reel. In four games, the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder robbed three home runs, capped by a leaping catch on Saturday that kept Heriberto Hernandez's drive from clearing the left-field fence.
The sequence began Wednesday, when Reynolds backed up, timed his jump and reached his glove over the 379-foot marker to steal a two-run home run from Shohei Ohtani in the third inning of a 9-8 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. On Thursday, he denied Mookie Betts with a grab that erased what would have been a three-run homer in another game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, this one an 8-6 loss. By Saturday, he was at it again, taking away Hernandez's ball in a 3-2 win over the Miami Marlins. Three swings that looked like extra-base damage became outs instead, and that is why Reynolds is being searched now: the catches happened last week, one after another, and they changed the shape of close games.
The numbers make the case. Reynolds saved six runs by stealing the three homers, and the Pittsburgh Pirates won two of the three games by one run. Shohei Ohtani's drive, hit off Jared Jones, left the bat at 101.7 mph, traveled 383 feet and, per Baseball Savant, would have been a home run in 29 of 30 ballparks. Hernandez's ball carried a 105.4 mph exit velocity with a 41-degree launch angle. Reynolds was featured on highlight reels after all three plays, and the attention only grew because the catches came in games the Pirates needed.
There was still a small crack in the story. Reynolds called Saturday's play one of his better ones, but downplayed the size of the moment. Don Kelly saw it differently, calling it the best play he had seen Reynolds make in the outfield and noting that he went up over the wall and came down hard after making it. Jared Jones said the catches saved a lot of runs and left him standing on the mound with his hands up for about 30 more seconds, wondering whether the Pirates would have won without them. Reynolds has two All-Star selections, so this was not a player discovering his range for the first time. It was a veteran outfielder taking away damage in the biggest moments and shrugging afterward.
What remains unanswered is how long this kind of week can last. Reynolds has three home-run robberies in four games at PNC Park, but the larger career total is still the question hanging over the sequence. For now, the Pirates have the answer that mattered most last week: when the ball went up toward the wall, Reynolds got there first.
