Unlikely Pirates lineup pushes the team to first series win in weeks, beating the Red Sox

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Aug 16, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PITTSBURGH — Fan groans were predictable when Don Kelly’s lineup was announced on Sunday morning. Kelly, searching for answers against lefties, rolled out a starting nine that includes Jared Triolo hitting leadoff and a bottom three of Nick Yorke, Billy Cook and Henry Davis, all with sub-.200 batting averages.

Then that group lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 8-3, series-clinching win against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday at PNC Park. The win snapped a streak of seven consecutive losing series for the Pirates (61-65).

The game was delayed for 2 hours, 34 minutes with weather in the area.

The lineup immediately performed against Red Sox lefty Patrick Sandoval. Esmerlyn Valdez, batting second for the first time in his major league career, doubled and scored on Bryan Reynolds’ double. Brandon Lowe hit cleanup despite severe splits against left-handers, yet he followed Reynolds with an RBI single.

The Pirates batted around in the third. Triolo started the rally with an infield single, followed by another Valdez double and consecutive RBI singles from Reynolds and Lowe. Jake Mangum loaded the bases with a single, then Yorke, recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier in the day, added a two-run single against his former club.

After Cook drew a walk, the first of his 87-game major league career (101 at-bats), Davis added a sacrifice fly to bring in a fifth run of the inning and seventh overall.

When the Pirates decided to give Paul Skenes extra rest, pushing his start from Sunday to Wednesday, they set themselves up for a bullpen game. Lake Bachar started it with three scoreless innings, striking out four, before Hunter Barco followed with three innings of relief.

Barco, also recalled Sunday from Indianapolis, allowed a three-run homer to catcher Connor Wong in the fifth inning, but no other damage.

Kirby Yates, Camilo Doval and Mason Montgomery closed it out after the delay.

Prior to the Red Sox series, the Pirates had lost seven of eight starts against left-handed starting pitchers. They won two of three games overall against Boston, beating two lefties with a shutout loss Saturday against right-hander Sonny Gray.

It was over when …

Yorke added an RBI single in the seventh. His three RBIs tied a career-high.

On the mound

Bachar threw 52 pitches in three innings, his longest outing and fifth start of the year. He allowed two hits and a walk.

Barco, who had been scheduled to start on Saturday for Indianapolis before the Pirates changed their plans, also allowed two hits and a walk. He left a 2-0 fastball down the middle for Wong’s homer.

At the plate

The Pirates racked up nine hits in the first three innings. Sandoval stranded two runners in the fourth after walking Reynolds and Rafael Flores Jr.

Eight of nine Pirates reached base against Sandoval, with Davis having a sacrifice fly.

Bucs bites

— To recall Barco and Yorke, the Pirates optioned right-hander Wilber Dotel and infielder Jack Brannigan. Dotel had thrown two innings on Saturday and would have been unavailable.

— No non-pitcher had gone 86 games without a walk (as Cook did) since former Pirate Pedro Ciriaco in 2014.

Up next

The Detroit Tigers come to Pittsburgh for a three-game series on Monday. The opener, which will be nationally televised on ESPN, will start at 7:05 p.m. ET. Left-hander Framber Valdez (7-8, 4.26 ERA) will pitch for Detroit, while the Pirates have not yet announced their starter.

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