Not much more can be said about this one other than, wow, just wow at Josh Harrison. I mean, this guy is unbelievable. And Edinson Volquez has been pretty exciting as well. Just a fabulous night at the ballpark for the home team. 

Here is a quick gamer:

A strong argument could be made that the two most pleasant surprises for the Pirates this season have been Josh Harrison and Edinson Volquez.

Harrison began the season as a bench player who was expected to be not much more than an ultra-utility guy and Volquez was signed in the offseason off the scrap heap after several underwhelming seasons with the Reds, Padres and Dodgers.

But all Harrison has done is become one of the Pirates best and most important players while Volquez has become the Pirates most consistent pitcher.

Friday the value of both players was on full display as Volquez turned in one of the most impressive starts by a Pirates pitcher this year and he did so with the help of Harrison, who made four spectacular plays in the field to go along with three hits.

Volquez, who had a no-hitter through six innings and pitched 7 2/3 innings, and Harrison led the Pirates to a 2-1 win before a sellout crowd of 37,209 at PNC Park.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said the performance of both Harrison and Volquez were just a continuation of the incredible story both have written for themselves this season.

“This is another chapter [for Harrison],” Hurdle said. “You can watch a lot of Major League baseball games and you would be hard pressed to find a better all around game than Josh had tonight on both sides of the ball. He was fantastic on defense and every time he came to the plate, he put the barrel on the ball.

“He had a deep flyout for an out, a single, a double and a triple and defensively he saved a couple of runs, he was fantastic, I’m proud of him.”

Harrison, who was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, said “I’m very humbled by those words from [Hurdle]. I am just out there trying to help any way possible and I got presented with a lot of opportunities tonight. Sometimes that is how baseball is.”

Volquez, who Hurdle said didn’t even have his best stuff but pitched well and made key pitches when he needed to, said that he had almost as much fun watching Harrison play as he did pitching as well as he did.

And he said that the idea of Harrison as a National League MVP candidate should not be scoffed at because he has had that kind of season and the Pirates would not be nearly as good without him.

“He is unbelievable, he can do everything, for me, he is the MVP right now,” Volquez said of Harrison. “He is the MVP of the league, the way he is playing right now is something unbelievable. He can do everything, he is an exciting player.”

It was the third win in a row for the Pirates (70-64) and it broke a two-game losing streak for the fourth-place Reds (65-70), who were hoping to get close the gap with the Pirates and get back into the wild card race this weekend.

Volquez (12-7) struck out six and walked three and needed to be every bit as dominant as he was because Reds starter Mike Leake was nearly as good for the seven innings he lasted.

Leake held the Pirates scoreless through seven innings and though he wasn’t quite as dominant as Volquez – he allowed six hits – he never was in real danger in any inning.

“I like that [when the other pitcher is pitching well], I like the competition,” Volquez said. “And [Leake] is a great pitcher, too and we were talking about it before the game I said ‘pitch your game, I’ll pitch my game and let’s see what happens.”

The Reds finally scored a run in the 8th when speedy outfielder Billy Hamilton singled then stole second and scored on an RBI single by Devin Mesoraco.

The damage could have been worse but Brandon Phillips was thrown out at the plate by Harrison, who made a heads up play to pick up a mishandled throw and fire it to catcher Russell Martin to easily get Phillips.

That was one of four huge plays Harrison made in the game as he also made diving stops in the top of the 4th and 7th to rob the Reds of hits and he made an excellent play to cleanly field a liner by Phillips in the 6th that saved a run.

The single by Mesoraco, however, came after Clint Hurdle made a pitching change and brought Tony Watson in to try and get the final out of the 8th.

But the Pirates came right back in the bottom of the 8th against Reds reliever Jonathan Broxton when pinch hitter Andrew Lambo singled with one out and then scored to tie the game on a triple off the wall by Harrison.

Harrison then scored what turned out to be the winning run on a single by Jose Tabata.

“Yeah, you do [think he is going to make something happen when the Pirates need it most every night], he has kind of given everybody that belief,” Hurdle said. “That he is usually going to be in the middle of something big for us when it does happen. He has been from the time he was plugged in the lineup.”

Lambo was on the bench because he had been called up from Class AAA Indianapolis and activated him before the game.

The Pirates needed him as they were shorthanded due to injuries to Pedro Alvarez (sprained foot) and Travis Snider (hamstring discomfort) and while his defense is still a work in progress, the one thing he can certainly do is hit and he showed that in his lone at bat Friday.

Lambo, who was was hitting .328 (78-for-238) with 19 doubles, two triples, 11 home runs and 42 RBI in 61 games with Indianapolis, was supposed to be in the mix as the Pirates starting first baseman to start the season but a poor spring took him out of the competition and he has spent the season in Indianapolis.

“That’s exactly why we brought Lambo up [as insurance off the bench while Snider and Alvarez heal],” Hurdle said. “We have two left handed hitters that I don’t know will be available to us for this entire weekend. Andrew has continued to work hard to get ready for an opportunity and it presented itself now. He came in and saw one pitch and took it and put the barrel on the next pitch.

“And he found his way on base, which is the most important thing, to get us started.”

Broxton (4-2) took the loss for the Reds while Watson (10-1) got the win.

First Published: March 24, 2016, 5:07 p.m.