When Liover Peguero stretched out for a diving stop to steal a base hit from Trea Turner, it was only the beginning of a three-hit performance that included a solo home run.
When Endy Rodriguez doubled to drive in a run in the fourth inning, he had no idea that his best extra-base hit was yet to come. Rodriguez hit a bases-clearing triple that gave the Pittsburgh Pirates the lead.
Where the rookies provided big plays to rally the Pirates, it was only appropriate that the hometown hero delivered the dagger to the Philadelphia Phillies — on his bobblehead night, no less.
All-Star closer David Bednar recorded the final five outs to earn his 21st save and put the finishing touches on a 7-6 win over the Phillies on Saturday night before a boisterous sellout crowd of 38,434 at PNC Park.
It didn’t come without a close call.
After getting Kyle Schwarber swinging at a high heater and Nick Castellanos at a curveball low and away for a pair of strikeouts to end the eighth inning, Bednar struck out Phillies star Bryce Harper to start the ninth.
“That’s the big thing,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “You’re talking the top of their order, which is one of the best tops of the order in the game, and then the fact he was able to execute pitches.”
Bednar walked Alec Bohm on four pitches and gave up a single to Bryson Stott to put runners on the corners for J.T. Realmuto, who grounded into a game-ending 5-4-3 double play that saw Peguero stand tall on second to take Jared Triolo’s throw and make the turn.
“I saw it hit on the ground and was like, ‘Oh, maybe we have a chance. Hell yeah!’” said Bednar, a Mars alum. “When we finally got it, that was awesome. There’s no other way to put it. What a cap to that game.”
Rodriguez (2 for 4) and Peguero (3 for 4) — who had 18 major league games between them — combined for five hits and six RBIs as the Pirates pounded 11 hits. They tagged Phillies starter Aaron Nola for five earned runs on nine hits and three walks.
“I think the big thing is — and we saw it tonight — is they’re not scared,” Shelton said. “Sold-out crowd, they were into it. Big plays throughout the whole game. Not only big plays, but big at-bats. … We know we’re going to make mistakes, but they’re also going to do things like tonight that really excite you.”
Peguero started the excitement when he pounced on Nola’s 1-1 curveball, driving it 412 feet over the left field wall for his second home run and a 1-0 Pirates lead in the bottom of the third. Jack Suwinski followed with a double over Marsh’s head in center but Bryan Reynolds struck out and Suwinski sprinted to third on contact when Andrew McCutchen flew out to left and was doubled off at second.
After striking out Harper to start the fourth, Pirates rookie right-hander Quinn Priester ran into trouble when he sandwiched four-pitch walks of Bohm and Realmuto around a Bryson Stott double to right to load the bases. Priester struck out Turner but Marsh hit a three-run double to center to give the Phillies a 3-1 lead and Cave followed with an RBI double to make it 4-1.
The Pirates responded, as Ji Man Choi hit a leadoff double to right, advanced to third on a groundout and scored when Rodriguez doubled to right to cut it to 4-2. Peguero singled through the right side to score Rodriguez and bring the Pirates to within one run.
Priester got another defensive gem in the fifth, when Harper tried to stretch a single to right but Henry Davis fielded it on one bounce and fired it to shortstop Alika Williams to tag Harper before he slid into second.
Harper couldn’t return the favor when Davis hit a grounder to first, bobbling the ball for a fielding error as the Pirates loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth.
Rodriguez hit a low liner that skipped past Marsh in center for a three-run triple to give the Pirates a 6-4 lead. Rodriguez became the sixth Pirates rookie and seventh Pirates catcher to record a bases-clearing triple since 1974.
“That’s the best part of the game because that’s where you get paid,” Rodriguez said through interpreter Stephen Morales. “It felt pretty good. I thought I had a double at the beginning, but then I ended up having the triple. In my mind, I was to go all the way to home plate.”
Williams singled to score Rodriguez, recording both his first major league hit and RBI for a 7-4 lead, providing the insurance run that proved to be the game winner.
“It feels incredible. I can’t even put it into words or emotions. Just getting it off your back feels really good,” said Williams, who made his MLB debut Tuesday at San Diego. “I guess that run ended up meaning something at the end of the game, so it does feel really good to come out on top.”
The Phillies loaded the bases against Priester in the sixth, when Stott singled and Realmuto and Turner drew back-to-back walks. With a trio of left-handed hitters next in the order, Shelton turned to lefty Ryan Borucki.
Borucki got Marsh to ground to first, where Choi threw home for a forceout, then struck out pinch hitter Johan Rojas. After Schwarber drew a full-count walk to score Realmuto to cut it 7-5, Shelton brought in righty Colin Holderman to strike out Castellanos and strand all three.
When Yerry De Los Santos gave up a one-out single to Turner and walked Marsh in the eighth, the Pirates called on Bednar by playing his walk-out song, “Renegade” with the full scoreboard montage.
Rojas singled past a diving Triolo at third to score Turner and the trim the deficit to one run before Bednar got a pair of strikeouts to end the rally and set the stage for his fantastic finish in the ninth inning.
“That was awesome. That was a beautiful part of Yinzerpalooza. It got ‘em going, that’s for sure,” Bednar said of the Pirates’ weekend celebration of all things Pittsburgh. “What an absolute awesome environment. An awesome game, top to bottom. It was a good win for us, for sure.”
Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)