With his team beginning a series with the Kansas City Royals on Friday, manager Don Kelly was aware of the Pirates’ precarious playoff position.
Yet there was no need to emphasize the goals for that day. Those have been established.
“Going out there every night, it’s still the same mindset of, ‘Win that game. Win the game that day,’ ” Kelly said. “Guys have done a really good job focusing on that and continuing to grind through it.”
Pittsburgh’s 8-5 victory at PNC Park offered plenty of examples of grinding through and ignoring outside noise — which later meant playoff elimination when the Padres beat the Marlins.
However, the Pirates didn't let the possibility of that happening affect how they approached the task of finishing the season strong.
Trailing 4-0 in the third and 5-2 in the fourth, the Pirates scored six unanswered runs to climb back to .500 on the year at 77-77. They also got key hits from Henry Davis and Spencer Horwitz, two players who’ve worked through their fair share of struggles this season.
Davis, who began the game hitting .167, lined a two-strike sinker located middle-away to right field for an RBI double in the fourth.
Horwitz, who was hitting just .169 in 33 games since coming off the injured list, put the Pirates in front, 7-5, in the seventh by lining a two-run single to left, putting a solid swing on an 0-1 four-seamer located middle-away.
The way Horwitz sees it, battling back and treating each game in isolation is simply part of the culture created by Kelly. One the Pirates very much want to continue.
“It’s playing good baseball,” Horwitz said. “We had high expectations and high hopes for ourselves this year, and we've fallen short of that. We've got to be better in every aspect of the game.
“But I think we’ve also learned a lot and [have] shown that we’ve gotten better. We're going to keep learning and keep pushing one game at a time.”
Another example came in the bullpen, where Brandon Eisert, Yohan Ramírez and Gregory Soto delivered three shutout innings to allow for the comeback.
Looking at FanGraphs’ calculation of wins above replacement for relief pitchers, the Pirates were tied for 19th at 1.1 prior to the All-Star break. They were also tied for the fourth-most blown saves with 16.
Since the break, the Pirates (4.4) lead all MLB teams in bullpen WAR while enduring seven blown saves. Only 10 teams have had fewer.
“I know it sounds cliché but our goal every day is to show up to win that day,” Kelly said. “At the end of the year, you can look back. But I feel the effort the guys are giving and the way they are competing … we’re going to win as many games as we possibly can with the way we’re grinding it out and fighting.”
Looking again at the micro, Eisert is up to six straight scoreless appearances covering 9 1/3 innings (since July 28), walking one and striking out 10 during that time. In his first six outings with Pittsburgh, Eisert allowed a total of six earned runs. He has absolutely improved.
Ramirez, who’s been designated for assignment nine times, is having a career year. He’s been worth 1.0 fWAR compared to -0.3 combined from 2020-25.
Since June 6, Ramirez has made 36 appearances and has a 1.55 ERA in 46 1/3 innings, striking out 56 during that time. That includes seven in a row without allowing a run.
Gregory Soto struggled against the Cubs and Milwaukee, but those were also the only times he’s been scored upon in his past 15 appearances dating back to Aug. 14.
Perhaps bigger than the bullpen, the Pirates got seven hit from Konnor Griffin and Oneil Cruz combined, two gigantic pieces that haven’t spent nearly enough time together this season.
Brandon Lowe also hit his 32nd home run to continue his historically impressive season. By the way:
• Lowe's next homer at home will set the PNC Park single-season record. Lowe currently has 18.
• Lowe has 91 RBIs, which qualifies as the second-most by a primary Pirates second baseman since RBI became an official stat in 1920.
• His 62 extra-base hits are the most for a Pirates middle infielder since Jack Wilson had 64 in 2004.
“I think [Lowe’s homer] broke the ice a little bit,” Kelly said of the 417-foot shot that made it a 4-2 game in the third and reinforced the Pirates’ belief. “ When you get down four, you can’t score four all at once. You have to chip away and find a way to score one at a time. To get two back right there was really big.”
It’s all part of the same mindset, really.
The possibility of the postseason might be over for the Pirates. However, that shouldn’t stop them from ingraining good habits and developing them further, things like going 1-0 each day, showing resilience inside of games and players fighting through ruts that inevitable over the course of a season.
They did plenty of those things Friday and got rewarded for them. Now, they need to keep it going over the final eight games to try and eclipse the .500 season mark for the first time since 2018.
“This is the best record this team's had in a long time, and I think that shows growth in not just the team but the organization,” Horwitz said. “We want to keep heading in the right direction. We have a core group that’s going to return. We're obviously going to focus on now and keep pushing and growing and learning. But we want to keep this group together and get another crack at it as soon as we can.”
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.