Bryan Reynolds hit a two-run home run in the top of the first inning at Great American Ball Park, which proved to be the catalyst for a 9-5 Pirates win over the Reds on Tuesday night.

Yay!

Maybe it’s not that big of a deal. After all, Pittsburgh went into Tuesday’s affair losers of two straight and three of its last four games. The Bucs are now 38-41 and in third place in the National League Central Division. But that’s not bad, no? Yes it is, because the Pirates have fallen to two-and-a-half games out of the last wildcard spot in the National League. Remember when Pittsburgh was just a half-game out of the final wildcard spot and one-and-a-half back of the second wildcard? “With a pitching staff of Paul Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch “The Pitch” Keller, nobody will want to face the Pirates in the postseason,” some of them were quoted as saying about a week ago.

Yeah, and nobody will have to play the Pirates in the postseason if their offense doesn’t soon get it into gear and start producing hits and runs.

That brings me back to Reynolds, the headline star for this article.

His two-run home run extended his hitting streak to 22 games. Do you know how I know that? My brother called me at work to tell me this with an excitement level normally reserved for someone who wanted to tell someone else that a baseball player had just hit four home runs in a single game. My brother texted me with a similar level of excitement on Monday–including the flexing biceps emoji–to inform me that Reynolds had extended his hitting streak to 21 games. When I read the text, I immediately assumed Pittsburgh was winning the game. Nope, the Pirates were down by a score of 6-3 and would go down even further before losing by a score of 11-5.

I know what you’re going to say, “Oh no, you’ve jinxed it!”

I haven’t jinxed a thing. Then again, maybe I have. Admittedly, I’m not exactly sure how jinxes work, but if the karma gods want to come after Reynolds’s 22-game hitting streak, have at it. Heck, the Pirates finish up their three-game series at Cincinnati on Wednesday at 1:10, so this “tremendous” streak might have ended by the time you read this article.

Who cares?

If you know baseball then you are aware that Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio had a 56-game hitting streak back in 1941, which set an MLB record that still stands to this day. Pete Rose set the National League mark when he hit in 44-straight games back in 1978.

Paul Molitor hit in 39 straight games in 1987 when he played for the Brewers. Jimmy Rollins had a 38-game hitting streak with the Phillies that overlapped the 2005 and 2006 seasons, so I’m not even sure that counts. Either way, it’s been a long time since anyone has even approached Charlie Hustle’s feat with the Reds in 1978, let alone DiMaggio’s record.

Reynolds’s streak is nothing at this point, and certainly not worthy of daily texts and phone calls from my brother. (Man, Pirates fans really are a neglected lot.)

The main point is that Reynolds, the highest-paid player in franchise history, is the Buccos’ hottest hitter at the moment. After batting a combined .249 with seven home runs and 30 RBI in April and May, Reynolds is hitting .360 in June. He’s hit six home runs and has 16 RBI. He has an on-base percentage of .418 and, most impressive of all, an OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 1.081.

That’s one hell of a month.

This is the Reynolds we saw in April of 2023 when he was so hot that the Pirates decided to cave to public pressure and signed him to an eight-year, $106 million contract extension, again, the richest in team history.

Unfortunately, while the Pirates delivered to Reynolds, he didn’t return the favor and swooned over the next few months before recovering in time to have an optically good year that included 24 home runs and 84 RBI.

Reynolds wasn’t swooning in April and May but was only doing okay. Now, he’s red hot and has an overall batting average of .280 and an on-base percentage of .347. He’s hit 13 home runs and driven in 46 runs.

Not only do the Pirates need Reynolds to remain hot, but they need others to follow suit. Seriously, this is one of the worst lineups in baseball. Only the Buccos could produce a pitching staff that is the talk of Major League Baseball but an offensive lineup that is worse than most other teams during a year when offense is down everywhere.

In conclusion, even if Reynolds’s hitting streak ends by the time you read this article, he still needs to remain hot moving forward, and some other Pirates need to join him.

PS,

If I did jinx you, B-Rey, I’m truly sorry. (Btw, B-Rey? No Boltin’ Bryan? No Bryan Bustle? Gosh, today’s nicknames are as unimpressive as the hitting streaks.)