Bae began the eighth inning by drawing a four-pitch walk against Buck Farmer, then swiped second on Farmer’s first offering to Austin Hedges, his second steal of the day. Hedges laid down an awkward-but-operational sacrifice bunt, advancing Bae to third base. Cruz, instead of going for gusto, shortened up his swing and drove in Bae with a sacrifice fly, giving the Pirates a one-run lead they’d never relinquish.

“He doesn’t have to take full swings at times,” Shelton said. “I think we can see that as strong as he is, as big as he is, the commitment to just shortening up and putting the ball in play. That’s hard to do for a guy who’s six-foot-seven with really long arms. But to be able to see that today was really impressive.”

From there, the backend of the bullpen held it down. Colin Holderman, cutter and sweeper in tow, needed just nine pitches to get through a scoreless eighth inning, collaborating with Hedges to complete an inning-ending strike-‘em-out, throw-‘em-out double play — a call that stood after the Reds challenged. David Bednar made things a tad interesting in the ninth when he allowed a one-out double to Jonathan India, but he struck out TJ Friedl and Jake Fraley to end the game and record a save.