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Lowe leads Pirates to come-from-behind win over Diamondbacks

National League Baseball

By Mirror, wire reports 4 min read

PITTSBURGH -- Brandon Lowe singled home Billy Cook in the bottom of the 10th inning to rally the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night.

Lowe finished a three-hit night by lacing a line drive off Diamondbacks reliever Taylor Clarke (2-2) that smacked off the glove of Arizona first baseman Ildemaro Vargas and rolled away, allowing Cook to race home as the Pirates pulled even with the Diamondbacks for the National League's third wild-card spot.

"We never gave up. We kept on going. We got a great offense here and we win sometimes when things aren't going great," Lowe told a television reporter after the game. "We understand what we can do here. We want everybody here to be excited about that."

Mason Montgomery (4-3) worked around an error by third baseman Nick Gonzales and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the 10th to earn the victory. The Pirates' bullpen, which has been a sore spot much of the season, tossed 4ª scoreless innings.

Bryan Reynolds delivered a game-tying RBI double in the eighth for Pittsburgh, which lost promising rookie outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez to a left-hand injury in the fourth inning after getting hit with a fastball by Arizona starter Merrill Kelly.

Kelly allowed one unearned run in 5ª innings, walking one and striking out six while lowering his ERA to 4.86, the lowest it has been since early April.

Pittsburgh's Mitch Keller had his second straight solid start coming out of the All-Star break, giving up two runs in 5• innings, his only real mistake coming in the sixth when three singles loaded the bases, and Max Kepler followed with a rope to the corner in right that gave the Diamondbacks the lead.

Kepler finished with three hits for the Diamondbacks, who lost for just the fifth time in 15 games. Arizona catcher Gabriel Moreno went hitless in four at-bats, but extended his on-base streak to 24 games with a first-inning walk.

Valdez injured

Valdez, who has 14 homers in limited playing time this season, was visibly in pain after getting smacked in the area around his left wrist. The 22-year-old Valdez, who entered Monday with 24 RBIs in July, winced in pain while being tended to by medical staff. He walked slowly toward the Pittsburgh dugout and was replaced by Jared Triolo.

Valdez's emergence has helped the Pirates stay in playoff contention despite injuries to outfielder Oneil Cruz, shortstop Konnor Griffin and first baseman Spencer Horwitz. Valdez is one of six players since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920 to have at least 14 home runs and 36 RBIs in his first 37 games.

Team notes

The Pirates ended the rehab assignment of catcher/first baseman Endy Rodriguez Monday (left glute strain) and reinstated him from the 10-day injured list. Pittsburgh designated catcher Shawn Ross for assignment.

Rodriguez appeared in two rehab games with Indianapolis, going 1-for-7 with a double, an RBI and a walk. He played in his last Major League game on July 5 at Washington before being placed on the injured list on July 8, retroactive to July 6.

Rodriguez has gone 26-for-100 (.260) with six doubles, five home runs, 16 RBI, 21 walks, two stolen bases, an .858 OPS and 15 runs scored across his 35 games with Pittsburgh this season.

Additionally, the Pirates acquired outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez from Baltimore, in exchange for cash considerations. He was assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis.

The 26-year-old Rodriguez has appeared in 51 Major League games with Cleveland (2024-25) and Baltimore (2026). He batted .270 (58-for-215) with 14 doubles, four home runs, 22 RBI, 36 walks and 28 runs scored in 62 games with Triple-A Norfolk this year.

Up next

The series continues on Tuesday when Arizona's Brandon Pfaadt (5-1, 4.43 ERA) gets the start against Pittsburgh's Bubba Chandler (3-8, 4.47).

Starting at /week.