Don't look now, but the young Pittsburgh Pirates are on a roll, and boy has it been fun.
After sweeping the Dodgers in Los Angeles, the Pirates headed home and after what seemed was a reality check on Friday losing to Arizona on Friday, the Bucs walked it off on Saturday and shut out the Diamondbacks on Sunday to take another series.
The Pirates have now taken 8 of their last twelve, are now 24-28 and third place in the National League Central, seven games back of the first place Brewers and two and a half games ahead of the fourth place Cubs.
While it's still early June with plenty of games left, the Pirates are slowly climbing up the Wild Card standings, tied with Philadelphia 4.5 games back of the second spot, currently held by St. Louis.
While they're still under .500 and have a long way to go until they're considered a contender, this team has been fun to watch because they're scrappy and young.
It's the young Bucs that are getting the job done, especially the past two games.
It was rookie Jack Suwinski who hit the walk-off on Saturday and on Sunday the middle to bottom of the order were the guys to get it done.
On Sunday, it was Suwinski's three hits, Diego Castillo's sac-fly and rookie Cal Mitchell got the scoring started his first career home run.
The pitching has also been pretty good, especially on Sunday, Zach Thompson blanked the Diamondbacks over five innings, striking out four, picking up the win, with David Bednar closing the door for the save.
MLB Prospects expert Jonathan Mayo believes the Pirates could be a pain for contending teams to play next season and that things could get "really exciting around here" by 2024.
As these young Pirates' prospects continue to make their way up the minors, it should continue to be exciting to see these 2022 Pirates.
