Brandon Lowe has brought big swings in a small package to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and his latest was in record fashion.
Lowe set a pair of franchise records with a two-run homer in the eighth inning to boost the Pirates to a 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night before 21,004 at PNC Park.
It was Lowe’s fourth homer in five games, 33rd of the season and broke Brian Giles’ mark for most homers in a season in stadium history (19). It also was the Pirates’ 96th home run at PNC Park, breaking a franchise record for homers in their home ballpark set at Forbes Field in 1947.
The victory pushed the Pirates (78-77) above .500 on the same day they were eliminated from playoff contention.
In the first inning, Oneil Cruz singled, stole second and advanced to third on catcher Carter Jensen’s throwing error but was stranded in scoring position. The Pirates didn’t waste a scoring chance in the second, when Lowe hit a leadoff single and Ronny Simon smacked a two-out shot 393 feet to left field for his first career home run and a 2-0 lead.
The Royals responded after Bubba Chandler struck out the first two batters in the third. Jensen sent his 2-1 fastball 375 feet to right field for his 25th home run to cut their deficit in half. A fan reached over the Clemente Wall to try to catch the ball, but the call was upheld after an umpire review.
Bobby Witt Jr. reached on an infield single up the middle — despite a spectacular stop by shortstop Konnor Griffin — and Jac Caglianone singled to right field. But Chandler got Vinnie Pasquantino swinging at a full-count, 100.3-mph fastball above the strike zone to strand both runners.
Chandler got into trouble in the fourth, giving up singles to Nick Loftin and John Rave before hitting Isaac Collins to bring Jensen to bat with two outs and the bases loaded. Chandler struck out Jensen for a second time, getting him swinging at a 100.3-mph fastball to escape the jam.
The Pirates padded their lead in the fourth, when Nick Gonzales hit a leadoff double and Jake Mangum hammered his fifth homer with a 397-foot shot to left for a 4-1 lead.
But Witt led off the fifth with a single, and Caglianone worked an eight-pitch walk that ran Chandler’s pitch count to 90. The Pirates brought in lefty Brandon Eisert, and the Royals executed a double steal to move both runners into scoring position.
Witt scored on Pasquantino’s groundout to first and Caglianone on a sacrifice bunt by Michael Massey that first baseman Ryan O’Hearn flipped between his legs to Eisert for the out as the Royals cut it to 4-3.
The Royals took the lead in the seventh against Camilo Doval. Witt lined a comebacker off Doval, advanced to second on Doval’s throwing error and scored on Caglianone’s jam-shot single to left to tie the score. Pasquantino singled to put runners on the corners with no outs, and Pasquantino advanced to second on a wild pitch. Loftin hit a one-out single to center to drive in Caglianone for a 5-4 lead.
The Royals brought in righty Steven Cruz, who gave up a single to Rafael Flores Jr. then threw a 1-1 cutter that Lowe sent 401 feet to the center-field seats to give the Pirates a 6-5 lead.
After Caglianone drew a leadoff walk in the ninth, the Royals replaced him with pinch runner Tyler Tolbert who beat a pickoff play to steal second base when O’Hearn’s throw hit Tolbert in his helmet.
Mason Montgomery earned his 15th save by striking out Salvador Perez, getting Maikel Garcia to fly out and Loftin to pop up to catcher Henry Davis, who made a sliding catch in foul territory to end the game.
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