The Pittsburgh Pirates entered San Diego with their season hanging by a thread and a massive opportunity in front of them. After struggling through much of the second half, the Bucs found themselves 8.5 games back of the final National League Wild Card spot with just a month remaining, making this series against the Padres one of the biggest opportunities they had left to make up ground.
San Diego had been one of the hottest teams in baseball and was one of the teams Pittsburgh was chasing in the Wild Card race, so even taking a series from them felt like a tall task. Somehow, the Pirates were able to do just that.
While they fell short of the sweep that could have truly changed the outlook of their season, Pittsburgh took two of three from the Padres in a gritty series that featured some of the best pitching this team has put together in quite some time. The sweep would have been huge, but taking a series on the road against one of baseball's hottest teams is still something this club desperately needed.
Braxton Ashcraft continues to be the horse in this Pirates rotation. Coming off back-to-back starts in which he worked through eight complete innings, Ashcraft followed it up with another excellent outing in the opener against the Padres. He finished with six innings pitched, allowing four hits and one earned run while striking out two and walking just one.
Even that one earned run felt like a bit of a gut punch. Ashcraft had the final out of the sixth inning secured on an inning-ending groundout, but a balk call erased the play and allowed a run to score from third. It was an incredibly frustrating moment for Ashcraft and Pirates fans watching at home, especially considering the inning should have been over. Regardless, the Big Texan once again did his job and put the Pirates in position to win.
The Pittsburgh offense was quiet against another left-handed starter, which has unfortunately become a familiar theme for this team, but the Bucs were finally able to break through in the sixth inning.
Esmerlyn Valdez got back to his magical ways. Valdez absolutely crushed a line drive over the wall in left-center field to put Pittsburgh on the board. It was his first home run in quite some time, and with an exit velocity of over 110 mph, this was a ball that was absolutely smoked.
The Bucs added another run later in the inning when Rafael Flores Jr. continued his recent hot streak with an RBI double to deep center field. Flores has been swinging a very hot bat lately, and his big hit gave the Pirates a 2-0 lead in San Diego.
Unfortunately, the Padres were able to work their way back into the game. After the controversial balk gave San Diego its first run, the Padres tied the game in the eighth inning against Luke Weaver. Weaver worked through a lengthy inning, but Jake Cronenworth eventually came through with a big two-out RBI single to center field to make it 2-2.
That could have been the moment where things started slipping away, but the Pirates bullpen made sure that didn't happen. Mason Montgomery tossed a scoreless ninth inning, while Camilo Doval, Kirby Yates, and Yohan Ramirez each added scoreless frames of their own to keep the game tied and give Pittsburgh another opportunity.
The Pirates offense couldn't take advantage until the 12th inning, but Nick Gonzales wasted no time in the top half of the inning, ripping a single up the middle to bring home the automatic runner and put the Pirates back in front 3-2.
That left the game in the hands of Ramirez, and he made sure there was no drama. Ramirez struck out the side in order in the bottom of the 12th, doing so in rather nasty fashion to secure a huge road victory for the Pirates and give them a 1-0 lead in the series.
Game 2 was about the team's superstars stepping up when they were needed most.
Paul Skenes got the ball for Pittsburgh looking for a much-needed quality start, and he delivered that and then some. Not only did Skenes put together a much cleaner stat line, but he also looked like the version of himself that Pirates fans had been waiting to see. His fastball was regularly reaching the 98-99 mph range again, while his secondary pitches had the command and movement that made him one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball over the last few seasons. It was incredibly refreshing to see.
Skenes finished with six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits while striking out four and walking nobody. After some of the struggles he has dealt with this season, this was exactly the type of performance the Pirates needed from their ace.
The bullpen followed right in line with Skenes. Camilo Doval, Gregory Soto, and Mason Montgomery each tossed a scoreless inning for the second consecutive night, completely shutting down the Padres and preserving a 0-0 game heading into the ninth.
The bullpen has come such a long way over the course of this season that it is almost hard to believe this was once one of the biggest concerns on the roster. With the additions Pittsburgh made at the Trade Deadline, this group now looks like it can be a legitimate weapon down the stretch.
The problem was that the offense had given them absolutely nothing to work with, but that changed with two outs in the ninth. Mason Miller, one of the nastiest relievers in baseball, was making quick work of the Pirates and had the offense completely under control. With two outs and nobody on, Oneil Cruz stepped to the plate and did what Oneil Cruz does best. He crushed a Cruz Missile.
Cruz lined a ball down the right-field line for a solo home run that gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. The homer was massive simply because it was the only run of the game, but there was an even crazier piece of history attached to it. Cruz's home run was the first homer allowed by Mason Miller since August 5 of LAST SEASON. That is an absolutely ridiculous stretch of dominance, and Cruz ended it in the biggest possible moment.
Montgomery then came back out for the bottom of the ninth and proved to be the better Mason in this one, tossing another scoreless inning to secure the save and give the Pirates their second straight victory over the Padres.
Skenes and Cruz put this team on their backs in this one, and that is exactly what you want to see from your stars in a game of this magnitude.
Suddenly, the Pirates had a chance to do something that seemed nearly impossible just a few days earlier. A sweep of the Padres would have cut Pittsburgh's Wild Card deficit to just 5.5 games with a month of baseball remaining. Considering the position this team had been in, sweeping one of the hottest teams in baseball could have completely changed the feeling surrounding the final stretch of the season.
With Bubba Chandler on the mound, and with the young right-hander continuing to look significantly better as the season has gone on, there was reason to believe it could happen.
Unfortunately, the Pirates ran into the same problem that has followed them throughout this season. They couldn't capitalize on the opportunity.
The offense had been lifeless for much of this California road trip, but the finale somehow took it to another level. The Pirates were shut out 3-0, but the frustrating part was not simply that they couldn't score. It was how many opportunities they had to change the game and simply could not come through.
Pittsburgh had four separate innings in which they put two runners on base with nobody out, and they failed to score in any of them. Three of those opportunities came consecutively in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, with the Pirates trailing by only two runs throughout that stretch. This was a game that was absolutely within reach, but the offense could not find the big hit when it mattered most.
That made Chandler's performance even more frustrating to waste. Bubba continued to show why there is plenty to be excited about with his development, tossing 6.2 innings of one-run ball while allowing another run to score unearned. He has looked significantly better as the year has progressed, and this was another encouraging outing for the young starter even in a tough loss.
Unfortunately, the offense simply could not give him anything to work with. The Padres added another run late and held on for a 3-0 victory, salvaging one game of the series and preventing the Pirates from completing what would have been a massive sweep.
The Pirates won the series, but it still felt like they left something much bigger on the table.
Final Thoughts
There is no question that taking two of three from the Padres is a successful series for the Pirates, especially considering where this team was coming into San Diego and the fact that the Padres have been one of the hottest teams in baseball. The pitching staff deserves a ton of credit for keeping Pittsburgh in these games, and seeing Paul Skenes look like himself again was easily one of the biggest positives to come out of the series.
Braxton Ashcraft continues to look like the ace of this rotation, Bubba Chandler continues to show signs of improvement, and the bullpen has transformed into a group that can actually be trusted in high-leverage situations. Those are all important developments for a team that is still trying to figure out exactly what it can be moving forward.
Oneil Cruz's home run off Mason Miller was obviously another massive moment, especially considering the historic nature of it, but the biggest takeaway from this series may simply be that the Pirates finally found a way to win a series against a team they desperately needed to beat.
At the same time, it is impossible to ignore what happened in the finale.
The Pirates had an opportunity to sweep the Padres and pull within 5.5 games of the final Wild Card spot, but they couldn't find a way to score despite repeatedly putting themselves in excellent situations. That has been the story of this season in so many ways. Pittsburgh has shown flashes of being a really good baseball team, but when the biggest opportunities have presented themselves, they have struggled to capitalize.
Now, the math is becoming increasingly difficult. The Pirates sit 7.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot with just 27 games remaining. That doesn't mean the season is officially over, but the margin for error is essentially nonexistent at this point. If Pittsburgh wants to make this interesting, they are going to need to start stacking wins and taking advantage of every opportunity that comes their way.
For now, they can at least take some confidence from winning a series against one of the best teams in baseball. Skenes looked much more like himself, Ashcraft continues to be incredibly reliable, Chandler is trending in the right direction, and the bullpen looks like a completely different group than it did earlier this season. Now they need to find a way to put all of that together consistently.
Next up for the Pirates is the final stop of this nine-game road trip in St. Louis against the Cardinals. Jared Jones will take the mound against Quinn Matthews on Friday night, with first pitch set for 8:15 PM.
