Game Log: June 17, 2026 @ Athletics

The Pirates went into Sacramento, lost the opener in embarrassing fashion, and then turned around and took the next two. The last one was a 12-4 rout. Taking a series on the road, against a team sitting right there with them in the standings, is a good way to leave town.

They got to Civale early and never let up. Reynolds doubled in Horwitz in the first, they put three on the board in the opening inning, and the lead only grew from there. Civale did not make it out of the fourth, charged with six runs on nine hits, which tells you how little resistance he ran into.

The story of the night was Ryan O’Hearn, who has been part of the slumping top of the lineup in a recent stretch of games. He drove in six, the biggest blow a two-run homer in the fourth, and added a double on top of it. Three hits, and six RBI in total.

There was plenty more around him. Marcell Ozuna put a charge into one in the seventh, a 448-foot shot to center that was part of a five-run inning that turned a comfortable game into a rout. Horwitz was on base all night and came around to score three times out of the leadoff spot. Brandon Lowe knocked in two. When this offense is on, the runs really pile up. The top of the lineup went quiet for a stretch, but not tonight. So… slump no more.

Ashcraft gave them exactly what they needed, six innings and seven strikeouts with only two runs against him, one of them unearned behind a Triolo error. The bullpen handed a couple back on solo homers from Bolte and Gelof, but by then the game was long decided.

So they leave Sacramento with a series win and back above .500 at 38-37. It is one series, and the same questions about consistency are still sitting there waiting on them. But the bats were active once again, their starter gave them length, and they won decisively instead of making it a nailbiter. More of that, please.