The Pittsburgh Pirates ended up winning two series on their road trip, despite a rough start.
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ recent three-city road trip always had the potential to make or break the team’s season.
While it certainly got off to a frustrating start with a series sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Pirates ended their stretch away from home on a high note with impressive series victories over the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals.
The Pirates are headed home on a high note after an impressive 5-4 win over the Cardinals, in which Pittsburgh started the scoring early and didn’t take its foot off the gas.
Pittsburgh’s scoring came courtesy of Esmerlyn Valdez and Jared Triolo, who each hit home runs, and Brandon Lowe, who gave the Pirates an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning, which ended up being the difference-maker in the game and series.
What had manager Don Kelly most impressed about his team was the way that his team fought, not just on Sunday, but during this road trip as a whole.
The Pirates lost the opening game in all three series during this road trip. Still, Pittsburgh found a way to come away with a 4-5 record over the three-game series. Of course, the team would’ve wished this could be better, but it was shaping up to be much worse.
Aug 29, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Rafael Flores Jr. (43) is congratulated by left fielder Bryan Reynolds (10) after hitting a three-run home run against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fifth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Puetz-Imagn Images“That was a huge win [on Sunday],” Pittsburgh’s skipper said. “To come back in the series, win this one, win the one in San Diego, too, after a tough start in uh LA against the Dodgers and to come back and win those two series to finish up a long road trip. The fight was really good today.”
At this point in the season, saying the Pirates are a playoff team is a little bit more wishful thinking than reality; they’re still 6.0 games back of the Wild Card.
However, that’s not going to change Pittsburgh's mentality the rest of the way.
“We got to go, man. I mean, it doesn't matter who you're playing in this league, every single day, you got to show up and we've talked a lot about it going 1-0 every single day,” Kelly said.
“That's been the mindset, and it doesn't matter who we're playing against; we need to continue in that mindset, continue to fight and grind every single day.”
Pittsburgh will need a lot of external help to reignite its playoff dreams. That said, this team could still do its best to ruin the postseason hopes of some of its National League counterparts over the final month of the season, and this road trip proved that.
Who knows, if they go 1-0, as Kelly said, the rest of the season, maybe the Pirates will be playing baseball in October after all.
