Twenty-four hours earlier, Brandon Lowe stood in the same spot and described one of the unfortunate realities of baseball, especially when the stakes are raised.
“Baseball’s a very interesting game,” Lowe said. “It can humble the crap out of you. I say this all the time. It’s the only game where you can do everything right and be wrong.”
Lowe then dropped a Kennywood reference. OK, sort of.
“It’s a pain of a game,” he said. “You have to ride the rollercoaster.”
The twists and turns belonged next to the Thunderbolt during the Pirates’ 8-7, 12-inning loss to the Diamondbacks Tuesday at PNC Park, but Lowe’s point remains true: Baseball isn’t always fair, and it’s the process that ultimately matters.
Looking at this one through that lens, it’s easy to see why the Pirates felt at least semi-encouraged by what transpired during the middle game of their series against Arizona, specifically erasing a six-run lead and the bullpen covering eight innings while allowing just one earned run.
“There were a lot of positives in this loss,” Lowe said. “It's only July. We can go game-by-game right now. Let's get home, rest up quickly and go win a series [Wednesday].”
The most notable occurrence from this one came when the offense awoke from a seven-inning slumber and pushed across a half-dozen runs in two frames.
That started with an RBI double from Ryan O’Hearn into the right field corner and continued when Endy Rodriguez and Marcell Ozuna drove in runs via singles.
(O’Hearn missed an 11th-inning walkoff by what seemed like inches.)
But at that point, belief was brewing. Then Jake Mangum took it up a notch with his double to lead off the ninth. Lowe cranked the dial even higher when he crushed a 1-2 sweeper 415 feet to right-center for his first homer since July 5.
The two-run bomb brought the Pirates to within a run.
“Sometimes you think when you’re down six with two innings left, the game’s over,” Nick Gonzales said. “But guys fought back. We had good at-bats one through nine.”
Another of those quality at-bats came next, as Bryan Reynolds turned on a fastball middle-in, cranking a 402-foot homer to right-center to tie the game.
As Reynolds rounded the bases and actually showed some emotions, it was a reminder that this team is never out of a game, not with the offense the Pirates have relied on in 2026.
“It's just keep getting that next guy up to the plate, keep building the rally, building the pressure,” Lowe said. “I think it's just what everyone's up there trying to do.
“When you're rolling off that approach, you tend to get some big swings."
There were certainly frustrating parts of this one, too.
Lowe couldn’t handle a few balls hit his way early. Jared Triolo committed an error that led to a run in the top of the 10th. Esmerlyn Valdez struck out looking in the 11th — a rare ugly at-bat from him. Kelly elected to pitch to James McCann, despite the Diamondbacks catcher having three hits in the game, and he picked up No. 4 to knock in the go-ahead run in the 12. Bubba Chandler allowed five runs, four earned and threw 91 pitches over four innings.
The Pirates (55-53) certainly have things they need to clean up from this game, but they also have something you can’t just snap your fingers and create: the willingness to continue to fight and the offensive firepower to actually do something about a deficit.
“The fight. ... to be able to tie it up and go to extras and battle the way we did, there were so many things that could have went either way,” said Kelly, whose team had seven extra-base hits, five after the eighth inning. “Just really proud of the guys and the way that we continue to fight. We have to rinse it off and find a way to bounce back [Wednesday].”
We’ll see if these things hold, but Brandon Eisert — who had allowed six earned runs in his first 4 2/3 innings as a Pirate — looked much better with 2 1/3 scoreless frames.
Ron Marinaccio pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the ninth. Wilber Dotel got a big ground ball to end the 11th and really only got beat because McCann put a good swing on a cutter on the outer half.
The bullpen has certainly lacked for confidence — not to mention results. And that group has actually been in a better place of late, with reinforcements hopefully coming next week with the arrival of the MLB Trade Deadline.
“Shoutout to those guys,’ Chandler said. “A lot of gutsy innings from them, which is really fun to see.”
Wednesday wasn’t the result the Pirates wanted. However, much of the process remains sound, especially as it pertains to the Pirates’ willingness to fight and their ability to do that in a productive way.
As cruel as baseball might be by not always rewarding the process in the micro, it could actually bode well for the big picture.
“I don't think I've ever seen anybody clinch in July,” Lowe said. “As much as people want to put pressure and high stakes on these games, it's still the middle of the season, still a lot of baseball left.
“Having been around for a little while, I've been on teams that have won five games in July. This is not the turning point. It's playing good baseball and cleaning up areas that we have to clean up.
“We'll get there, we'll do that and keep playing our brand of baseball."
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.