The Pirates didn’t have much juice in their first game of the final homestand of 2026 as they dropped a 5-1 game to the Brewers. Jacob Misiorowski spun five shutout innings while striking out seven for his 15th win of the season. The Pirates bullpen game was running fine until Gregory Soto entered the 1-0 game and promptly gave up two doubles, two walks and a wild pitch and ended up with four earned runs charged to him putting the game away for the Brewers. Jim and Tyler broke this one down on the NS9 Postgame Show powered by Primanti’s Bros. You can watch/listen here:

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Here’s my 3 takeaways from this dud…

Brewers Do Things Well…Pirates Do Not

Following the Pirates laughable baserunning mistake in the 6th inning, Joe Block said “Well that’s the difference between the Brewers and the Pirates. 100 percent spot on. The Brewers will get a runner on base, move him over and somehow get him home any way they can. Let me break it down: Nick Gonzales and Ryan O’Hearn both single and are in first and second with Rafael Flores up. Flores hits a single that skips off the shortstop’s glove and into left field. Third base coach Tony Beasley gave Nick the stop sign because he lost sight of the ball when it went off the shortstop’s glove. Nicky G holds up and Ryan O’Hearn, thinking that Gonzales easily scored on the play, was cruising to third and he had to hold up and try to get back to second and was thrown out before he could. Just a classic Pittsburgh Pirates blunder. We see crap like this all the time. It should have been 1-1 with the Pirates still threatening and instead they don’t score and the Brewers add on a couple innings later. Here’s the video if you missed it:

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Credit to Beasley for stepping up and speaking to the media after the game about it, but again this is just something the Brewers take advantage of. The Brewers have a solid game that do all the little things correctly and the Pirates somehow find a way to mess up even the simplest of plays. Frustrating beyond belief.

I Don’t Need Soto Back Next Season

It was 1-0 Brewers when Gregory Soto entered the game in the top of the 6th inning…when his pitching line was closed, it was 5-0 Brewers. Game over. Much like it was in his last outing at Wrigley Field when Don Kelly left him in there to blow the game. In the five batters he faced, Soto walked two, gave up two doubles, got a strikeout and threw a wild pitch. He left two inherited runners and they both scored against Wilber Dotel. I’ve seen enough of Gregory Soto for this season and for his Pirates career. He’s worn out his welcome at this point in Pittsburgh. He certainly shouldn’t be pitching in close games anymore. And I don’t want to see him back with the Pirates in 2027 or whenever there’s Major League Baseball again. I’m good. He was only signed to a one-year deal so he should be a one and down here in Pittsburgh and I’m good with that. Don’t bring him back next season, and please stop letting him pitch in one-run games. He’s shown he can’t handle it at this point.

Lowe Hits Number 30

The lone bright spot in this game came in the bottom of the 8th inning when Brandon Lowe clanked one off the RF foul pole for a solo home run. It made the score 5-1 and provided the Pirates with their only run of the game to avoid the shutout. It also was Brandon Lowe’s 30th home run of the season which is significant for him and in Pirates history.

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This is Lowe’s third season of 30 home runs or more after hitting 31 last year and 39 in 2021 both with the Rays. And for the Pirates, he’s the first second baseman in franchise history to hit 30 home runs. Hometown hero Neil Walker was the previous high at 23 before Lowe. It’s also the first Pirates to hit 30 or more home runs in 7 years…you have to go all the way back to Josh Bell‘s 37 home runs he hit in 2019. And before that, it was Pedro Alvarez went he clubbed 36 long balls in 2013.

What else can you say about Lowe this year? Lowe’s been incredible this season. Thirty home runs and still counting with 11 games remaining. That home run was his 86th RBI and he’s worth 4.6 bWAR. Not a bad season. Like Soto above, he’s likely to be a one and done Pirates player too and will go down as one hell of a season for him and the Pirates. I hope it’s not one and done for Lowe in Pittsburgh, but unfortunately I’m just not confident in the Pirates resigning him after the season he’s having.