Pittsburgh Pirates
· 2026-07-03
The Pittsburgh Pirates won their series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 2, 2026, with a score of 1-6, improving their record to 44-44.
The Pirates split their four-game road series with the Phillies, bookending the trip with wins, and showed plenty of fight after trailing 5-0 on both Monday and Wednesday.
The Pirates fought back to win the first game and put on a valiant effort in the second against one of the National League's best teams.
The Pirates are three games out of the last wild card spot, but as long as they remain engaged, there's a reason to hope for a turnaround, even for the most jaded of viewers.
Paul Skenes, the Pirates' pitcher, had the worst start of his career, but the team managed to battle back for the split with a strong bullpen performance on Thursday.
The Pirates' next opponent is the Nationals, who have hovered around .500 for most of this season, and they split a four-game set in Pittsburgh earlier this year.
The Pirates need any chance they can get to stack wins, and the upcoming series with Washington represents one of their best chances to do so for the month of July.
The Pirates possessed one of the best pitching staffs in baseball last season, but this year's pitching staff has a far higher ceiling than last season's bats did.
And the Pirates' inability to sustain a full all-around performance is a big reason why they're 11 games out of first place and fourth in the NL Central.
But the Pirates' offense has been a bright spot, with 446 runs scored, ranking fourth in MLB, as of July 2.
So the Pirates will look to build on their series finale win and make a push for the playoffs.
The Pirates are currently on a W1 streak, after winning their last game on July 2, 2026.