Pirates rally – Gregory Soto sealed the Pirates’ 6-5 win over the Athletics after Oakland led by four. The comeback flipped after a sequence of key hits, including a Marcelo 18th-inning home run by Brandon Lowe and solo blasts by Bryan Reynolds and Zack Gelof.
By the time the Pirates were staring at a four-run deficit, the night already felt like it had slipped away. Then everything changed inside the innings where the ball kept finding the gaps and the bullpen kept getting sharper.
The Athletics had struck first and twice made their edge look comfortable. Early. Zack Gelof drove in two with a double to left for Athletics. 4-0. and Henry Bolte was part of the chaos defensively—Horwitz made a diving stop at first but threw wide to Mitch Keller at first. turning it into a three-run swing. Athletics, 3-0. Later, the momentum kept marching: Evan Sisk replaced Keller after 5 1/3 innings.
The scoring kept stacking, and the turning point didn’t arrive as one big moment—it arrived as a series of them.
In the sixth, Bryan Reynolds launched a two-run shot to the opposite way to tie it at 5-5. Reynolds then added another jolt in the ninth, when Brandon Lowe crushed home run No. 18 into the bullpen in right, putting the Pirates ahead 6-5. Soto began warming in the bullpen, already knowing the thin margin was about to be tested one last time.
Before the game got to that final, the Pirates had chipped away and the Athletics had answered in bursts. In the sixth inning, Endy Rodriguez singled to score Ryan O’Hearn from second, making it Athletics, 4-3. O’Hearn doubles made it 4-2, and that was when Justin Sterner entered.
Reynolds’ earlier solo homer mattered, too. He led off the sixth with a solo shot to center—his ninth of the season—making it 4-2 after Keller started the inning allowing a one-out walk and then dealing with what came next.
Even as the Pirates fought back, Mitch Keller’s line told its own story. He finished the night passing Steve Blass for seventh place on the Pirates’ all-time strikeouts list. And while the runs mounted early, Keller showed bounce-back stretches that kept the deficit from becoming uncatchable. There was a seven-pitch inning after the 38-pitch first. and when he began the sixth. he did it with a steadiness that let the comeback have a base to build on.
In the middle frames, the Athletics made their own mistakes—some ugly, some almost predictable. A wild pitch “was as predictable as they come,” and Keller’s walks kept shaping innings. He walked the bases loaded and later another walk from Keller after missing with the fastball and curve. There was also a moment that felt like a trap: Keller went ahead of Cortes before getting him to swing through a 2-2 curveball for the second out.
Then came the Pirates’ fourth inning surge. Pirates get one back as Reynolds scores from third on a Gonzales groundout, making it Athletics, 4-1. The inning had “something cooking” after back-to-back singles by Reynolds and O’Hearn put runners on the corners with one out.
By the fifth and beyond, the matchup sharpened into a late-game test of sequencing. The Pirates got runners via a hit and two walks in the fifth but couldn’t generate any runs. In the seventh. Alika Williams led off with a double to left off Sisk. giving the Athletics a runner in scoring position immediately for the top of the order. That’s when the game’s tension tightened—because for a comeback to hold. it needs late relievers to do what they’re paid to do.
Soto closed it out as the Pirates rallied from a four-run deficit to win 6-5. The final push included a huge strikeout of Soderstrom after falling behind 3-0. and it wasn’t just the strikeout—it was how the at-bats were handled. Sinkers on the inner part of the plate were used against both Kurtz and Langeliers. Langeliers followed with a single to center, and runners reached first and second for Soderstrom.
Soto’s final frame also had its own small swing-and-sentence drama: Soto gave up a one-out single to Kurtz. After that, Gregory Soto kept the game from drifting any further. Sisk struck out Kurtz for the first out earlier in the inning, then exited with Yohan Ramirez facing Langeliers.
The night’s final line didn’t just show a win—it showed a sequence of swings and bullpen decisions that kept the Pirates from collapsing when they looked too far behind. The Pirates’ offense found the timing in the sixth and ninth. and Soto made sure the last inning didn’t turn into another late-night regret.
For the record, the game began at 9:40 p.m. Eastern at Sutter Health Park in 85 degrees and sunny conditions. with Jack Perkins starting on the mound for the Athletics against Mitch Keller for the Pirates. Streaming was listed as SportsNet Pittsburgh and NBCSCA, with radio on the Pirates Radio Network and satellite on SiriusXM 176/861. The boxscore identifier was DKPS.
Pirates lineup: Spencer Horwitz, Brandon Lowe, Bryan Reynolds, Ryan O’Hearn, Nick Gonzales, Endy Rodriguez, Tyler Callihan, Jake Mangum, Jared Triolo.
Athletics lineup: Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Tyler Soderstrom, Jacob Wilson, Carlos Cortes, Zack Gelof, Lawrence Butler, Henry Bolte, Jeff McNeil.
As the final out landed, it didn’t feel like a routine comeback—it felt like the kind that happens only when the deficit breaks at exactly the right moment. And this time, it did.
Pirates vs Athletics Gregory Soto Mitch Keller Jack Perkins Bryan Reynolds Brandon Lowe Zack Gelof MLB Game 74