PHILADELPHIA — The Pirates this season have talked a lot about resilience, highlighting how they’ve kept fighting and battled back while refusing to let negativity linger.
They might’ve provided their best example of the season Monday in Philadelphia.
Facing a five-run deficit and seemingly tracking toward another ugly loss at Citizens Bank Park, they exploded for eight runs during a two-inning stretch and avoided cracking like the Liberty Bell down the stretch, earning an 11-7 win in the opener of a four-game series.
All while doing it against arguably the hottest team in baseball.
"A lot of times you get down five on the road like that, you can get down," Pirates manager Don Kelly said. "There’s a lot of fight in this team. The way we’ve gone through this season, the ups and downs ... the game [Monday] was a microcosm of that."
Things were certainly tense before Endy Rodriguez’s three-run homer in the top of the ninth off former Pirate Chase Shugart. The Pirates catcher crushed an 0-1 sweeper left over the middle of the plate for his fourth of the season, allowing the Pirates to breathe easier.
Evan Sisk worked around traffic in the seventh. Gregory Soto allowed two runs in the eighth before Yohan Ramirez issued a walk and threw a wild pitch ... but held the line. Mason Montgomery pitched a scoreless ninth.
"It was early," Rodriguez said of the Pirates' 5-0 hole. "We knew there was a lot of game left."
The only thing hotter than Esmerlyn Valdez right now might be the heat expected to arrive here later this week, as the Pirates rookie led the way with a homer, a double and two RBIs. Of his 13 MLB hits, 10 have gone for extra bases.
"I hate that kid," Rodriguez said. "Makes me feel stupid. He’s 22 years old. He has more homers than me already."
Added Konnor Griffin: "He’s got some of craziest pop that we have in our organization."
Six different Pirates drove in runs. Jared Triolo homered, and several Phillies mistakes led to that elongated fifth.
Meanwhile, after giving up three home runs through three, Braxton Ashcraft did a swift 180, shutting the Phillies down and striking out eight over six innings to earn an unlikely win.
The win helped the Pirates improve to 43-42, snapping a three-game losing streak against a Phillies team that became the first in MLB history to rebound from 10 games under .500 to 10 games over before the end of June.
As for Ashcraft, he hung a curveball to Trea Turner for the first of three home runs. Brandon Marsh hit a pretty good pitch, a slider low, before Bryce Harper turned on an inside fastball for a three-run shot.
No problem. Ashcraft settled down and retired 11 of the final 12 Phillies he faced to improve to 8-3.
"It really just boils down to making better pitches," said Ashcraft, who felt if he could do that, the offense would respond.
"Our guys do a really good job of scratching across runs. It’s our job as pitchers to shut down the next inning. Really proud to be able to do that."
With the Pirates staggering around the ring, Bryan Reynolds and Valdez brought them back to life in the fourth. Reynolds led off with a double before Valdez homered for the fourth time in as many games, the first Pirate to do that since Corey Dickerson in July 2018.
Hanging curveball. Valdez hit it 411 feet to left to become the third Pirates rookie since 1901 to homer in four consecutive contests, joining Dick Stuart (1958) and Garrett Jones (2009).
"It feels great to be able to help the team," Valdez said, with Major League coach Stephen Morales translating. "The staff has helped put me in this situation, and it feels really good."
Triolo led off with his first homer of the season, hammering a 3-1 sinker 419 feet to center. It continued some recent improvement for Triolo, who had three hits Saturday and has produced a .789 OPS over his past 10 games prior to Monday.
Jake Mangum doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly. Ryan O’Hearn tied the game at 5 when he smacked a single the opposite way to left — 2-2 sinker, the type of swing O’Hearn consistently delivers when he’s on.
At that point, Phillies fans were frustrated, and it got worse when Rodriguez drew a bases-loaded walk for a 6-5 Pirates lead. The boos reached full volume when Turner botched what should’ve been an inning-ending double play.
Instead, Tyler Callihan was safe, and his bouncer to first resulted in a pair of runs, extending the Pirates’ lead to 8-5.
"We were staying positive in the dugout," Valdez said. "Everybody is giving their 100%. That’s another thing that helps a lot. Staying positive is huge for us."
Around the horn
Ashcraft struck out eight, had 18 whiffs and fired first-pitch strikes to 18 of 24. ... Griffin has a nifty bunt single in the fifth that Kelly said was the rookie's call. ... Triolo made a huge play to end the seventh and strand two. "Play of the game for me," Kelly said.
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.