Game Log: June 21, 2026 @ Rockies

The Pirates avoided the sweep. After dropping the first two of this series to the worst team in baseball, they finally put a full day together at the plate and beat the Rockies 8-6 to take the finale. It does not erase losing two of three in Denver to a 30-48 club, but it keeps them at .500 and gets them out of town with something.

The day came with a scare. Jared Jones, after a sweaty first inning, was cruising through three innings when a line drive caught him flush on the elbow and knocked him out of the game. The early word is about as good as you could hope for, the x-rays came back negative, and he is set to be re-examined today. Losing him would lead to some interesting decisions regarding who would take his next start or two, but we won’t get ahead of ourselves and wait until he is re-examined.

The bats made sure his early exit did not cost them. Nick Gonzales got it started with a 431-foot two-run homer in the fourth.

From there they kept the line moving. Triolo doubled in Mangum, Callihan singled one home, and Jake Mangum had three hits out of the bottom of the order after a rough day in their 2-1 loss the day before. Then Bryan Reynolds put it away in the seventh with a three-run homer that pushed the lead to 8-1.

Then the bullpen did its thing. With Jones gone after three, the pen had to cover six innings, and to their credit Ramírez and Sisk were terrific over their four scoreless frames. There were some baserunners in there, but they got out of it. Santana, who has struggled at Coors field, gave up a three-run Rumfield homer in the eighth, and then Soto let two more cross in the ninth, turning a comfortable game into an 8-6 sweat before Soto got Castro to ground into a game-ending double play. Still a win, but an 8-1 lead should not become an 8-6 final against the Rockies, though they do have some hitters in their lineup and it is Coors field after all.

So the Pirates head home at 39-39, having done just enough to avoid the embarrassment of getting swept by the Rockies. The Mariners come to PNC on Tuesday for three. A win is a win, and not getting swept is big, but this one may ride on what the doctors say about Jones today more than anything that happened on the scoreboard. On to the next one.