Lowe's 9th inning homer lifts the Pirates past the A's 6-5

PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - The Pirates erased a 4-0 deficit in the first inning and beat the Athletics 6-5 thanks to Bryan Reynolds' two home runs and Brandon Lowe's 9th inning go ahead homer.

Mitch Keller struggled finding the zone in the first inning. He walked three of the first four batters to load the bases with one out. He got Carlos Cortes to chase a curveball lin the dirt for out number two. Zack Gelof hit a hard hit grounder to Spencer Horwitz, he dove and made a great stop, but airmailed the throw to Keller covering first and the Athletics scored two runs. Jacob Wilson was obstructed at third base by Nick Gonzales and he scored on the play to make it 3-0. Lawrence Butler ripped and RBI double to left to make it 4-0 after one inning.

Despite the tough first inning, Keller was able to lock in and pitch into the 6th inning. He gave up 5 runs (4 earned) on 5 hits, he struck out 7 and walked 4 in 5.1 innings pitched.

"Mitch going out, tough first inning there. For him to bear down and get into the 6th inning as efficient as he was after the first showed a lot. To keep it within striking distance and as a team continuing to drive and coming up with big hits," said Don Kelly. "He got into more attack mode after the first inning. It looked like he was attacking, started throwing the curveball a little more it seemed. I just thought he attacked more after the first inning."

Bryan Reynolds lined a single in the top of the fourth inning and moved to third on a Ryan O'Hearn single. Gonzales grounded out to first base for a fielder's choice out and Reynolds came in to score to get Pittsburgh on the board.

The Pirates had two on with two outs in the top of the fifth but Brandon Lowe struck out to end the inning.

In the top of the sixth, Reynolds hit a solo home run to center field to make it 4-2 Athletics. O'Hearn roped a double to right field. That ended the night for Perkins. He pitched 5+ innings, allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, he struck out 6 and walked 2.

Justin Sterner entered the game for the Athletics in relief of Perkins. Endy Rodriguez drove home O'Hearn from second with an RBI double. Jake Mangum worked a 9-pitch at bat and reached on an infield single. Rodriguez rounded second and headed for third and Wilson saw that he wasn't going to throw out Mangum and had Rodriguez hung up in a rundown for the third out.

Keller hung a curveball to Gelof and he blasted it over the left field wall for a solo home run to give the A's a 5-3 lead. Evan Sisk entered the game in relief of Keller.

Reynolds continued his hot month of June with a 2-run opposite field home run to tie the game in the top of the seventh inning. He homered from both sides of the plate in the game and it's his 9th career multi home run game. He went 4 for 5 with 3 RBIs. Reynolds has the average up to .297 in June.

"The game tonight was enormous, the home run from both sides, just the way he's swinging the bat lately, barrelling everything up and the line drives, it's not like he's trying to go deep, he's squaring the ball up and had a huge game tonight," said Kelly.

Reynolds averages in June throughout the years:
2026: .302
2025: .256
2024: .330
2023: .268
2022: .333
2021: .376

Despite the struggles in June for Lowe, he came up huge and blasted his 18th home run of the season to give the Pirates a 6-5 lead in the top of the 9th.

Nick Kurtz hit a one out single in the bottom of the ninth and Langeliers followed with another. With runners on first and second down one, Tyler Soderstrom looks at a 3-2 fastball for strike 3 from Gregory Soto for out number 2. He got Wilson to fly out to right to end the game. Soto picked up his 11th save of the season. The bullpen was dominant for the Pirates, they didn't allow any runs.

The rubber match is Wednesday night at 9:40. Braxton Ashcraft (5-3, 3.30) vs Aaron Civale (5-2, 4.20). Despite Pirates Twitter thinking the season ended after the first inning, the Pirates are (37-37).