The Pirates decide to give fans a sliver of hope as they comfortably handle the Red Sox on Friday night 8-4. The offense came back to life behind the bats of Rafael Flores and Esmerlyn Valdez as the rookies carried the team to an easy 4-run victory. Bubba Chandler had a solid start and even got hopping mad that he gave up 2 runs to begin with. The Pirates sit 5.5 games out of a wild card, and the prayer is that they can take advantage of the Sox being ice cold. Watch Dinardo and Tyler break the game down in further detail here:

Tonight Was a Rookie Showcase

In true Pirates fashion, tonight was a time to get excited about the future. Bubba Chandler was unlucky to only go 5 innings ,but looked good. Rafael Flores, Esmerlyn Valdez, and Jacob Gonzalez combined for 5 hits, 4 RBI, and 3 runs. The first 2 broke the game open to an early 3-0 lead by the 4th inning, and the team never looked back. It was nice to see from this trio. Especially since they have struggled mightily to perform in the month of August specifically. While the team has slipped out of realistic playoff chances, the fans still around can try to find joy in the young talent that is on the active roster. Gonzalez and Flores becoming useful pieces in 2027 would help fill holes on the roster much easier on a Bob Nutting-sized budget. We can dream that these guys help us get back into competitive baseball.

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We Have Failed Brandon Lowe

The most surprising part of tonight is that the team actually won a game when Brandon Lowe hit a big home run. His 3-run nuke in the 5th put the game completely out of reach, and the Red Sox never came close to matching the Bucs after going down by 5 runs. Lowe is a streaky hitter, but he has been the most clutch player on the team, and we simply haven’t given him the help he deserves. I’m sure it has to pain him a little on the inside to have this disappointing year while his old team has the best record in baseball. He hit home run number 26 tonight and is going to easily hit 30 bombs with elite defense to boot. He has finally stayed healthy for a full season, and it is all going to be for nothing. I hope they can extend him because he deserves to have Buctober more than almost anyone else on this team.

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Will We Ever See Luke Weaver in High Leverage?

So far, Luke Weaver has been on a Yinzer vacation instead of being a pitcher. Tonight he featured for an inning and looked elite. He finished off his inning on 11 pitches, and there were 9 strikes along the way. He makes pitching look relaxing, which is a major shift away from the majority of the bullpen. However, we have yet to see him close or even pitch in a game that’s competitive because of how bad the team has been recently. I want to see him shut the door on an opponent in a close game so I can feel good about our closer situation going into next season. Let me see a pitcher not named Gregory Soto try to close out a 1-run game in the 9th, please!