Cole Young hits clutch homer in homecoming as Mariners beat Pirates, 3-2

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Jun 23, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PITTSBURGH — The small pocket of fans sitting just behind the first-base dugout — a group of 25 that included his parents, other relatives and even his high-school baseball coach — immediately rose in hopeful anticipation as the ball left Cole Young’s black Marucci bat.

It sounded like a hit on impact, looked like a homer in its trajectory and felt like a catharsis when it landed three rows from the top of the stands for a go-ahead two-run homer.

Young’s personal cheering selection exploded into a joyful jumping and hugging celebration. Despite Young’s best effort to remain serious, he couldn’t hide a grin as he rounded the bases.

Was this real life?

Growing up 15 minutes north of Pittsburgh in Wexford, Cole Young would come to Pirates games as a kid and chase down home run balls during batting practice in the right field stands during batting practice and watch games from wherever they would let him sit.

On Tuesday night, he played his first game at PNC Park and delivered what would be the game-winning hit in the Mariners’ 3-2 come-from-behind victory.

Down 2-1 going into the seventh against Pirates starter Mitch Keller, Luke Raley led off with a double to right-center.

It brought Young to the plate for the third time, he had hit ground balls to second base in his previous two plate appearances on pitches away and off the plate.

So when Keller hung a slider in the middle of the plate, Young jumped on the cookie. Sending his seventh homer deep into the right field seats. The blast measured 382 feet. It wasn’t quite deep enough to leave the stadium and bounce into the Allegheny River behind the right-field wall.

Mariners starter George Kirby earned his “quality start” in an outing where everything seemed to be difficult, including routine plays and quick innings.

Kirby battled his way through six innings, allowing just two runs (one earned) on eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts to pick up the win.

The Mariners committed three errors during his time on the mound — though one of them was his own when he dropped a sure out at first base during a rundown.

Pittsburgh put at least one runner on base in each of Kirby’s six innings pitched and multiple runners in four of those innings.

The Pirates picked up a run in the second on Marcell Ozuna’s RBI single to center. Pittsburgh added another run in the third on J.P. Crawford’s throwing error on a soft bouncer in the infield.

Cal Raleigh cut the lead to 2-1 in the fourth inning, smashing a solo homer to deep right-center. It was his first homer since returning from the injured list.