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Tribe's Reynolds makes grand statement

Pirates No. 8 prospect hits go-ahead slam, plates five runs
Bryan Reynolds ranks among the International League leaders in seven offensive categories. (Adam Pintar/Indianapolis Indians)
April 17, 2019

Bryan Reynolds didn't just have a good day on Wednesday -- it was grand.The eighth-ranked Pirates prospect crushed a go-ahead grand slam, singled, walked and drove in five runs to help lift Triple-A Indianapolis past Toledo, 8-7, at Victory Field.

Bryan Reynolds didn't just have a good day on Wednesday -- it was grand.
The eighth-ranked Pirates prospect crushed a go-ahead grand slam, singled, walked and drove in five runs to help lift Triple-A Indianapolis past Toledo, 8-7, at Victory Field.

"I feel pretty good," Reynolds said. "I put the barrel on the ball, got to drive in some runs, and we ended up winning so yeah, definitely a good day."
Reynolds was acquired from San Francisco in January 2018 in the deal that sent former National League MVP Andrew McCutchen out west.
The five RBIs match a career high for Reynolds, who accomplished that feat in the California League on April 23, 2017, when he fell a double shy of the cycle for San Jose. Wednesday also marked the second grand slam of the 24-year-old's career, with the other coming last June 13 with Double-A Altoona. 
Gameday box score
Reynolds has risen a level in the Minors in each of the last three seasons. After posting a .312/.364/.462 line with 63 RBIs and 72 runs scored in 121 games in 2017, the Vanderbilt product batted .302, drove in 46 runs and scored 56 times in 88 Eastern League games last season.
Through 12 games this year, Reynolds is hitting .362/.434/.745 with seven extra-base hits, including five dingers, 11 RBIs and 10 runs scored.
Against the Mud Hens, he worked a five-pitch walk off No. 28 Tigers prospectMatt Hall in the first. Two innings later, Reynolds faced Hall again and drove in fifth-ranked Pirates prospect Cole Tucker with an infield hit. With Indianapolis trailing, 5-3, in the fourth, the outfielder saw Hall for a third time, this time with the bases juiced, and sent an 0-1 curveball over the wall in center.
"No," Reynolds responded when asked if he was trying to hit a homer in that spot. "I just had barrel on my mind. I didn't care where it went, I just want to hit it hard.
"When I got to the plate, I think I was trying to get myself ready for the fastball. [Hall] was dominating with the fastball throughout the game. There was just something weird about it, it was really hard to pick up and hard to hit. I was late on it in my last at-bat before this one. But he started me off with a curveball and I let it go but thought, 'I could have hit that.' Then the next pitch was another curveball and he left this one up and I was able to pull the trigger on it."

No. 43 overall prospectKe'Bryan Hayes had two hits, including an RBI double, and scored three runs for Indianapolis. He dashed home with the winning run on an error by second baseman Harold Castro in the ninth.
"This was a big win for us today," Reynolds said. "We've been playing good baseball, we got a strong lineup top to bottom, and to fight back and take the lead and then lose it but respond again in the bottom of the ninth, that was exciting."
Tigers No. 5 prospect Daz Cameron collected a pair of hits and scored a run, while 17th-ranked Jacob Robson hit an RBI single and scored during the Mud Hens' four-run second.

Rob Terranova is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RobTnova24.