Brandon Lowe's fourth homer in five games leads Pirates to 6-5 win against Royals

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sep 19, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PITTSBURGH — One two-run homer wasn’t enough. Two wasn’t either. Brandon Lowe offered a third.

Lowe blasted a two-run homer, the Pirates’ third of the game, in the eighth inning, leading the Pirates to a come-from-behind, 6-5 victory against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night at PNC Park.

Lowe has homered four times in his last five games. He’s up to 19 homers at PNC Park this season, the most in the stadium’s history. His homer gave the Pirates 96 at home this season, a franchise record.

Ronny Simon and Jake Mangum added two-run homers, both off of Royals lefty Noah Cameron. Simon’s blast was the first of his career.

Bubba Chandler started for the Pirates and allowed eight hits in four-plus innings, but left having allowed just one run. But two of his inherited runners came home to score against Brandon Eisert.

The Pirates led 4-3 heading into the seventh inning. Right-hander Camilo Doval allowed four singles in five batters, plus his own throwing error, to give up the lead.

But Lowe came to the rescue. Rafael Flores Jr. singled to start the eighth inning against right-hander Steven Cruz, then Lowe launched his homer to right-center to put the Pirates ahead for good.

It was over when …

Mason Montgomery extended his scoreless streak to 23 consecutive appearances with the save in the ninth. He allowed a leadoff walk and a stolen base, but retired the final three in order to clinch it.

Henry Davis had a sliding catch on a foul ball to end it, sliding near the Royals’ dugout.

On the mound

After leaning on his slider heavily in his last start, Chandler primarily threw fastballs on Saturday. He threw it for 58 of his 90 pitches, racking up all six strikeouts and seven of his nine whiffs on the pitch.

Seven of the nine Royals to face him hit left-handed.

The Royals had plenty of contact, but apart from Carter Jensen’s solo homer in the third, he largely got out of it. He was pulled after allowing a single and a walk to start the fifth, his only walk of the night.

Lake Bachar and Luke Weaver also threw scoreless innings as the Pirates threw four consecutive trade additions out of their bullpen. Chandler and Montgomery were the only pitchers who started the year with the club.

At the plate

Beyond the homers, it wasn’t a particularly busy day for the Pirates offense.

Oneil Cruz went 2 for 3 with a hit by pitch, singling twice against Cameron. Flores went 2 for 3 with a walk.

Bucs bite

— Weaver earned the win, his first with the Pirates.

Up next

The Pirates conclude their three-game series against the Royals on Sunday at 1:35 p.m. Right-hander Michael Wacha (9-9, 3.34 ERA) will start for Kansas City, while the Pirates have not yet said who will start a bullpen game.