PITTSBURGH – For nearly the entire night, the Pirates were in control. A nine-run third inning lasting more than 30 minutes ballooned an early six-run lead, one that should have been plenty for a team in postseason contention.
The lead dwindled to five as both sides traded runs, and an eighth-inning meltdown from the bullpen created a tie score. In a contest in which both the Pirates and the Giants struggled on the pitching side and offenses erupted, Rafael Flores Jr. walked it off with an infield error from Osleivis Basabe for the 13-12 win on Tuesday night at PNC Park.
On paper entering the game, it looked to be a pitchers’ duel with both sides’ aces, Paul Skenes and Logan Webb, taking center stage. It was anything but.
Pittsburgh’s nine-run third inning with no extra-base hits created a lead that looked insurmountable, especially for a team struggling as badly as San Francisco. But as Skenes faltered early, and the Pirates’ bullpen allowed seven runs across the sixth and eighth, all of a sudden the score was tied.
The Giants put the go-ahead run on third base in the top of the ninth against reliable lefty Mason Montgomery, but Montgomery worked out of the jam. Then came the Pirates’ offense, which came up clutch once again to carry Pittsburgh to a needed victory to start September.