The Pirates dropped a heartbreaker on Sunday in San Francisco, as they allowed the Giants to come back and defeat them and take the series. The loss stings because the Pirates felt like they were in the driver’s seat to win and to go 4-2 on the road trip out west before heading back to Pittsburgh. Instead, they go a respectable 3-3 and return home to start a homestand against the Colorado Rockies. Click the links below to listen to Doug and DiNardo break down today’s game in detail:
Here’s my three takeaways from this one…
Yet Another Agonizing Loss
The 2026 Pirates are a blessing and a curse, as they are a competitive baseball team to the point that their losses are games you feel like they should have won. We saw this after they threw away two games against the Cardinals at home last week, and it felt very similar Sunday. The Pirates held a 2-run lead three separate times during Sunday’s defeat and failed to score a run in both the 11th and 12th innings. The team as a whole went 2-15 with RISP and left 13 runners on base. They even had a chance to prevent the walk off, but Ryan O’Hearn didn’t try and throw the runner out at home. They were also mostly undone by Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, journeymen who have had miserable starts to the year and guys you wouldn’t expect to kill us with their 2026 numbers. The ball that Adames hit off of Yohan Ramirez was especially painful because it was a soft blooper off of a 97 mph pitch three inches above the strike zone. The team is going to be fine overall, but throwing away games where you have a 2-run lead in the bottom of the 10th with 2 outs and ending with a loss is devastating when the National League is so competitive this season. It’s going to be an extremely long flight back to Pittsburgh after dropping a tough one like that.
Konnor Griffin is Arriving
Coldest take of the century here, but Konnor Griffin continues to impress as he slowly develops as a major league player. His home run today was a beauty, as he demolished a baseball to dead center with an exit velocity of 110 mph off the bat. He also reached base once more with a walk, and his OPS now sits at .721. As I’ve said on the podcast, Griffin’s litmus test is Bobby Witt Jr.‘s rookie campaign, where he posted a .722 OPS and a wRC+ of 98. Griffin has cut his strikeout percentage to 29% from 35% a few weeks ago, one of the bigger signs that he is becoming more adjusted to MLB pitching. He also is a demon on the basepaths and is going to steal the Pirates a lot of runs with how hard he is to catch stealing. Griffin has 9 stolen bases in only 32 games, and that is with a paltry .321 OBP, something that will only improve with time. He was one of the few joys we got to appreciate in this game while the rest of the team tripped over themselves repeatedly.
Time to Worry About Isaac Mattson?
Isaac Mattson got the ball to start the 6th after Bubba Chandler exited with a solid 5 innings under his belt. Mattson proceeds to immediately cough up the lead and let the Giants tie the game at 4 apiece before Montgomery is called upon to record the final two outs of the inning. Mattson’s fastball is still grading out to be a great pitch, but it’s clear that MLB hitters are wising up to his tricks and he struggling to find other pitches that are good enough to keep batters honest. Here is Mattson’s savant page:
A reliever who isn’t generating whiffs, limiting hard contact, and is an extreme fly ball pitcher is simply a recipe for disaster. His ERA has climbed to nearly 5 after Sunday’s performance, and the underlying metrics suggest he probably should be pitching worse. The staff must work with him to develop and second pitch because currently this Cinderella story is turning sour.
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