Brandon Lowe didn’t hide what he wants the Pirates to be as the trade deadline approaches: a team that keeps winning, keeps adding, and keeps pushing forward.
“The biggest thing is we keep playing the way that we’re playing and winning ballgames, hopefully we make some additions and we’re buyers,” Lowe said. “There’s not a single sell from anybody in this clubhouse.”
That message matched the night he just put together at PNC Park. Lowe delivered the walk-off single in the 10th inning Monday to lift Pittsburgh past the Diamondbacks, 3-2, after the Pirates erased a two-run deficit.
He finished with three hits, and the win moved Pittsburgh to 13-10 over its last 25 games against teams .500 or better. It also left the Pirates tied with Arizona for the final National League Wild Card spot.
The game had plenty of the stuff Lowe keeps talking about: resilience, execution and a crowd that fed off every late-inning twist. Pittsburgh trailed after Max Kepler drove an out-of-the-zone changeup into the right-field corner for a double against Mitch Keller in the sixth, and the night got even rougher when Esmerlyn Valdez left with an ugly-looking hand/wrist injury after being hit by a pitch in the fourth.
But the Pirates kept finding small ways to stay alive. Billy Cook handled a rundown the right way.
Jared Triolo made a key play at home in the sixth. Mason Montgomery escaped the 10th after inheriting the ghost runner and a Nick Gonzales error, striking out Gabriel Moreno and getting Kepler to line out to center.
“We’re not in [the walkoff] situation if he doesn’t pick us up right there,” Lowe said of Montgomery. “That was probably the biggest point of the game.”
Don Kelly saw the same thing from his club.
“It's going to take all 26 guys to win games and get to where we want to go, and we need everybody pulling in the same direction,” Kelly said. “I think we saw that [Monday].”
Lowe’s own night followed a familiar arc. He struck out in his first two at-bats, then settled in for his second straight multi-hit game. That matters because the last month hasn’t been easy at the plate: over his past 20 games, Lowe has posted a .621 OPS with one home run.
Still, the Pirates have leaned on more than numbers with him. Since Ben Cherington traded for Lowe in December, he’s brought the kind of steady presence teams need when the season starts to squeeze. He was part of the welder’s hood celebration in spring training, and he’s been a voice of perspective when the season has turned rocky - whether Kelly sat him against a lefty in favor of Nick Yorke or when Pittsburgh dropped nine of 13 to open June.
“It’s a long season,” Lowe has reminded people. The message has been simple: stay together, because things can change fast.
“With the guys in this clubhouse,” Lowe said, “there’s always a chance.”
That chance looked shaky in the sixth, when Valdez exited and the Pirates were staring at a messy inning. But Jake Mangum’s single and a throwing error by Merrill Kelly put Pittsburgh in position to score, and Lowe’s ground ball with the infield back brought home the run. Bryan Reynolds then tied it with a double in the eighth, his first RBI in his past 10 games, before Lowe ended it in the 10th by smoking a 2-2 cutter 104.5 mph to score Cook.
If the hit sealed the game, Lowe’s postgame praise told the deeper story. He pointed first to Montgomery, then to Reynolds, whose eighth-inning plate appearance included a pair of questionable check swings and an ejection for Kelly.
“It would be very easy to fold and get [ticked], just throw away an at-bat or let the emotions take over,” Lowe said. “It didn’t seem like it bothered him whatsoever.”
That’s the edge Lowe has been talking about all along - the next-pitch mentality, the refusal to unravel, the belief that this group can keep moving. And with the deadline nearing, his view is clear: the Pirates shouldn’t be thinking about subtraction.
Lowe may be on an expiring deal, but in a season like this, that makes him even more valuable. Kelly said as much afterward.
“He's such a competitor, such a great hitter and means so much to this team with the professionalism of his at-bats and how he goes after it,” Kelly said. “We talked a lot the other day about O'Hearn and the ‘struggles’ he was going through.
“You'd never know it with these guys, the way they show up, work and interact with everyone. They're professionals, and they just compete every single day. You see that in the resilience of individuals and also of the team.”
In Other News...
Pirates Have A Surprising Path To A Blockbuster Without Gutting The Farm
The Pirates are expected to be buyers at the 2026 trade deadline, but that kind of move is never simple when the farm system is thin. Pittsburgh does have one type of asset that tends to travel well in July: young pitching with team control, the sort of arm contenders covet because it can help now and still fit a rotation for years.
Hunter Barco fits that mold in a way that makes him easy to notice around the league, even with the injury interruptions that have shaped his pro path. He has had Tommy John surgery, an elbow issue and a shin injury that cost him time, but the broader appeal is still there for clubs hunting a controllable starter with upside. In a market that keeps putting a premium on that profile, the Pirates may have a path to a meaningful deadline return without stripping the system bare. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Finally Resolve Jose Urquidy Saga With Playoff Stakes Attached
The Pirates have finally closed the book on the Jose Urquidy situation, a move that had lingered after he was designated for assignment and left the club weighing whether there was any real path forward. Urquidy had done enough at Triple-A to at least keep his name in the conversation, putting up a 3.66 ERA across 17 starts in 2026, but Pittsburgh clearly decided the roster question was bigger than the numbers.
What comes back in return is a reminder of where the organization is trying to thread the needle, balancing immediate roster churn against long-term pitching depth. Felix Doroteo is still a young arm in rookie ball and nowhere near helping the big-league club, which makes this less about a quick fix than about clearing the deck and moving on from a decision that had been hanging over the Pirates for days. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Deadline Prediction Would Rip A Productive Bat From This Lineup
With the Pirates hanging around the postseason race, the front office has a familiar deadline task in front of it: find offense without blowing up the roster. That is why any rumor tied to a bat with real production draws attention, especially when the club is trying to decide whether to push in for a run or simply keep building around what it already has.
Stephen J. Nesbitt of The Athletic floated one possibility involving Houston third baseman Isaac Paredes, whose season line includes a .782 OPS and a steady mix of power and on-base skills. Paredes would give Pittsburgh a proven middle-of-the-order presence, and the fit makes some sense given the way the Pirates have been searching for more punch, but the deadline is still ahead and nothing has been confirmed. [Read more 🡒]