O'Hearn Goes Yard Twice, Pirates Bury Reds 9-4

Ryan O'Hearn hit two home runs, drove in four, and scored three times as Pittsburgh dismantled Cincinnati 9-4 on Sunday. The story of the night was a fifth-inning solo shot that swung Pittsburgh's win probability from 61% to 75% — the single biggest momentum shift in a game that never felt safe until it suddenly was.

Pittsburgh jumped on Brady Singer early and hard. In the second inning, Esmerlyn Valdez laced a ground rule double that scored Gonzales and moved O'Hearn to third, staking the Pirates to a 1-0 lead. Then Tyler Callihan unloaded a 412-foot shot to right that cleared the bases and made it 4-0 before Cincinnati had answered. Singer lasted just 4.1 innings, allowing 9 hits and 5 earned runs without issuing a single walk — a brutal line for a starting pitcher who struck out six but couldn't miss enough bats when it mattered.

Cincinnati clawed back with conviction. A two-run single by JJ Bleday in the fourth cut the deficit to 4-2, and the fifth inning turned genuinely tense: Tyler Stephenson doubled home a run, then Edwin Arroyo singled to right to score Stephenson and knot it at 4-4. The Reds had erased a four-run hole and appeared to have all the momentum. Then O'Hearn stepped in and hit a 421-foot home run to right, pushing Pittsburgh back ahead 5-4 and swinging the win probability from 61% to 75% in a single swing. That's the play that broke Cincinnati's back.

Mitch Keller did his job — 6.0 innings, 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 4 strikeouts — and Carmen Mlodzinski followed with 2.0 scoreless innings to close the door on any Reds rally. Pittsburgh put the game away for good in the eighth. O'Hearn struck again, a 384-foot shot to right center that scored Reynolds and Gonzales and pushed the lead to 8-4. Valdez capped the inning with a 461-foot missile to left center, the longest ball of the night, making it 9-4 and rendering the final three outs a formality. Valdez finished 3-for-4 with a homer, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored — a quietly excellent night that looks even better alongside O'Hearn's dominant performance. Pittsburgh's offense produced three home runs, nine runs, and a complete dismantling of a Cincinnati bullpen that couldn't stop the bleeding once Singer exited.