DENVER — Nearly at the midway point of their season, in an outcome probably only a few creative thinkers expected, the Pirates have formed an identity, a facet of their game they can return to when things go awry.
Offense? Yes, offense. It took longer than anyone wearing black and gold might’ve wanted, but that group finally reached its familiar and impressive altitude here in the Mile High City.
Pittsburgh scored eight runs Sunday — twice as many as the past two nights combined — to earn an 8-6 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field, avoiding a series sweep that would’ve been disastrous.
“That’s just part of baseball,” Bryan Reynolds said. “Even if you’re playing at Coors, sometimes you’re cold. We were cold the first couple games (4-3 and 2-1 losses). Got back to ourselves this game. … We’ve been good all year. Can’t put too much stock in a few bad games in a row.”
The only downside to the finale of this three-game set was Jared Jones taking a comebacker off the back of his right elbow.
The third inning ended on that play, and Jones did not return. However, the Pirates announced in the eighth inning that initial imaging was negative. Jones will be reevaluated Monday back in Pittsburgh, the team said.
“It doesn't feel great, but kind of best-case scenario that nothing's too messed up in there,” said Jones, who threw well before exiting. “Getting hit in the elbow five starts after coming back from surgery [ticks] me off, but everything's fine."
Not that there’s ever a good time to have your starting pitcher injured, especially one as important as Jones, but it came 12 hours or so after the piggyback with Carmen Mlodzinski was halted.
Mlodzinski pitched two innings Saturday and was unavailable, though Yohan Ramirez and Evan Sisk picked up the slack by delivering four scoreless frames.
Four Pirates had multiple hits, including Reynolds and Nick Gonzales, who each hit long homers and drove in a pair. Jake Mangum collected three hits to facilitate an important secondary attack from the bottom of the lineup.
"I thought we had consistently good at-bats throughout," Pirates manager Don Kelly said.
After a quiet first three innings, the Pirates offense finally achieved liftoff with Gonzales’ two-run homer to left in the fourth inning. Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen, who had been cruising to that point, left a curveball middle-middle.
Gonzales uncorked a powerful swing, driving the ball 431 feet for his third homer of the season and a 2-1 Pittsburgh lead.
“That was nice,” Gonzales said. “I don’t know how far I hit it, and I still didn’t think it was a home run when I was running until it went over the fence. Maybe more will come, and I’ll have a little more feel with it. But it felt good to get it over.”
Jared Triolo made it a 3-1 game in the fifth, when he hammered another misplaced pitch from Lorenzen, this one a 1-0 sinker that he lined to right field.
As much criticism as Triolo has received recently, he actually has hits in 10 of his past 14 games while batting .261 (12 for 46) during that time with four doubles, three RBIs and five walks. Triolo also had a 12-game on-base streak that was snapped on Saturday night.
An inning later, the bottom of the order strung together four consecutive hits to extend Pittsburgh’s lead to 5-1. Tyler Callihan drove in the first of two runs by turning on an inside four-seamer and lining a single into right.
Mangum followed by going down to get a sweeper and also lining it that way.
This one became a blowout when Reynolds provided the biggest swing of the afternoon, obliterating another sweeper down into the upper deck in right field for his 11th. The distance provided was 433 feet, though that seemed to be underselling it a bit.
“I was just kinda looking for it,” Reynolds said. “Wound up where I wanted it. Got good barrel to it.”
Maybe not the distances that Gonzales and Reynolds punched up via Baseball Savant, but it’s what the Pirates should’ve been doing the best two games in this ballpark: loud swings that result in a bunch of runs.
As crazy as it sounds for a group that was by far the worst in MLB in 2025, the Pirates began this one sixth in runs, the ability to score serving as a deodorant for bullpen, fielding or even a few starting pitching woes.
For Reynolds, his fourth-inning double extended his on-base streak to 27 games. It’s the second-longest on-base for Reynolds in his career (within a single season) behind a 28-game run from Aug. 29-Sept. 30, 2023.
During that time, Reynolds is hitting .367 (36 for 98) with 10 doubles, seven home runs, 18 RBIs, 15 walks and 22 runs scored.
On the mound
The pain was obvious when Jones was struck in the back of the right elbow by a line drive from TJ Rumfield in the bottom of the third inning. Jones screamed in pain — and understandably so. He stalked off the mound and immediately went down the tunnel, his day done.
Jones gave the Pirates three innings of one-run ball, striking out three, but obviously the greater concern is the health of his elbow given where the ball hit.
“Was told if it was any lower and hit the bone, it probably would have shattered,” Jones said. “But thankfully, I'm so tall and all that stuff that got me into the good part.”
Following Jones, Ramirez delivered a pair of scoreless innings, working around two free passes to start the fourth. Sisk also gave the Pirates two scoreless frames, each striking out two.
“That was huge for us,” Kelly said.
Reynolds’ homer turned out to be clutch, as the Rockies punched back. Dennis Santana allowed a three-run homer to TJ Rumfield in the eighth. Gregory Soto gave up two runs in the ninth before a much-needed double play ended it.
Big picture
The win helped the Pirates salvage a 3-3 road trip, though they surely felt they left some food on table after close losses the past two nights.
They’re 39-39, as they head into Monday’s off day, with three games against the Mariners at PNC Park starting Tuesday.
Mitch Keller will start the first of those, followed by Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler.
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.