Wednesday night in Kansas City delivered another gut-punch for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Salvador Perez homered twice—including a go-ahead blast in the eighth off Isaac Mattson—and rookie Jac Caglianone belted a 466-foot two-run shot, lifting the Royals to a 4-3 win over the Pirates at Kauffman Stadium.
That defeat marked Pittsburgh’s sixth straight loss and dropped them to 38-56 on the season. The Bucs are now 0-6 on their nine-game trip ahead of the All-Star break after getting shut out three times in Seattle and swept in Kansas City for the second straight series.
Southpaw starter Bailey Falter struggled to find the strike zone in his start, surrendering solo homers to Perez in the second and Caglianone in the fourth. He was pulled after 4⅔ innings of three-run ball, courtesy of the Royals’ power display against a beleaguered Pirates rotation.
Pittsburgh briefly rallied in the top of the sixth, plating three runs. Oneil Cruz grounded out with the bases loaded to make it 3-1, then Ke’Bryan Hayes ripped a two-run single that knotted the game at three apiece. But the bullpen couldn’t hold, as Perez’s second homer in the eighth proved decisive.
Manager Don Kelly lamented the string of narrow defeats, noting how tough it is to follow a six-game winning streak at home with six losses on the road. “It’s another one-run game—frustrating, especially coming up on the short end,” Kelly said. “We can’t get too high when we win, and we have to dig deep and find a way to keep fighting”.
The Pirates’ struggles away from PNC Park have been glaring all year. They sport a dismal 12-35 road record compared to 26-21 at home, posting a .583 OPS on the road versus .700 in Pittsburgh. That split underscores a lineup that has yet to click consistently outside its home confines.
Now the focus shifts north to Minneapolis, where the Pirates will open a three-game series against the Twins on Friday at Target Field. First pitch is set for 8:10 p.m. ET, and Pittsburgh will be desperate to halt its six-game skid against a Minnesota club sitting at 45-47 overall.