PITTSBURGH _ The Pirates have had strong ninth innings offensively this season.
The problem in most of those efforts has simply been that they were too far behind for their ninth-inning runs to make a difference.
On Thursday against the Minnesota Twins, their late-inning fight finally proved valuable.
Trailing by a run entering the ninth, facing Twins lefty Taylor Rogers, first baseman Colin Moran blooped a single into left field after falling behind in the count. Left fielder Bryan Reynolds didn't waste time in his at-bat, roping a double down the left-field line, bringing Cole Tucker, who pinch-ran for Moran, to third base with no outs.
Right fielder Gregory Polanco struck out before Kevin Newman, pinch-hitting for shortstop JT Riddle, stepped up. With the infield drawn in, Newman, who was hitting .167 entering the game, bounced a ground ball up the middle, and it found a hole. Tucker and Reynolds scored, giving the Pirates (3-10) the walk-off win, 6-5, snapping a seven-game losing streak.
Things looked bleak for the Pirates for most of Thursday's game.
In the top of the first inning, right-hander JT Brubaker, making his first major league start, worked his way into trouble, allowing a single to Jorge Polanco and a walk to Eddie Rosario. Then, Miguel Sano turned on a pitch and sent it over the left-field wall with a loud thud against the empty bleachers. It was the first of three home runs the Pirates allowed Thursday
Brubaker, outside of the home run, actually performed pretty well, given the circumstances.
He was forced into the starting rotation in place of Mitch Keller, who suffered an oblique injury in his last start Sunday against the Chicago Cubs. Brubaker allowed four hits and two walks in the three innings he pitched, but he limited the damage done to just three runs.
It was known prior to the game that Brubaker would not go deep into it. Manager Derek Shelton said as much, wanting to be cautious since Brubaker has been pitching out of the bullpen this season, without the full workload of a starter.
Brubaker's replacement, right-hander Cody Ponce, fared similarly to Brubaker, giving up just two hits and a walk in three innings. The problem, though _ like with Brubaker _ was that those two hits were both solo home runs, off the bats of Rosario and Twins center fielder Byron Buxton.
As it turned out, those two home runs played larger than the first one because, just an inning after Sano went yard, right fielder Gregory Polanco answered back.
After singles from first baseman Colin Moran and left fielder Bryan Reynolds put runners on first and second, Polanco squared up a breaking ball at the bottom of the zone and launched it deep into right-center field. After traveling 446 feet in the air, the ball took a big bounce off the concourse and landed deep in the Allegheny. It was the second time in Polanco's career he has reached the river.
Beyond that quick burst, though, the Pirates got nothing against Twins pitcher Kenta Maeda. Only one other Pirate reached base during Maeda's six innings, when designated hitter Josh Bell drew a walk in the sixth.
The Pirates scratched within one run in the eighth thanks to a heroic individual effort by center fielder Jarrod Dyson. After falling into an 0-2 count to lead off the inning, Dyson drew a walk. He then stole second base and third base before Phillip Evans ground out to third and Dyson scampered home.
That set the stage for the ninth-inning heroics, where Newman delivered, finally getting the Pirates back in the win column.
