Right when the Mets and Diamondbacks thought they might be getting another gift from the Pirates, Reds outfielder Noelvi Marte took it away.
In the top of the ninth inning, as the Reds were clinging to a 2-1 lead, Marte, playing right field, robbed a would-be game-tying home run to help preserve a win over the Pirates. The victory pulled the Reds within a half-game of the Mets, whom they hold the tiebreaker over in the wild-card race.
Pittsburgh had clawed back with a run in the eighth before Pirates right fielder Bryan Reynolds stepped in the box with one out in the ninth against Reds closer Emilio Pagan.
Reynolds sent a 3-0 offering high and deep to right field as Marte eased back to the warning track, timing his jump perfectly and reaching high above the wall to take what would have been a first-row dinger away.
Marte fittingly also caught the final out one pitch later, a more routine fly ball to right.
“Under the circumstances, that’s one of the best plays I’ve ever seen,” Reds manager Terry Francona, a two-time World Series champ with the Red Sox, said of the catch after the win.
Reynolds’ fly ball — which went 348 feet — would have been a home run in seven of 20 ballparks, according to Baseball Savant, and without Marte’s reach, would have been a game-tying shot in Cincinnati.
Marte had not been an outfielder before this season, and Thursday’s contest at Great American Ballpark marked just his 51st at the position in 2025.
Francona added that the play might not have been possible without the help of Collin Cowgill, the team’s outfield coach who has helped Marte in his transition to a new position.
“He’s worked so diligently with him for the last three months,” Francona said. “And that’s pretty cool.”
Thursday’s win for the Reds not only saved them from the ignominy of getting swept in the final week of the season by a 90-loss Pirates team, but it also put the pressure on the Mets and Diamondbacks, who are in the thick of fighting for the third wild-card spot in the NL.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
