Kansas City Royals at Pittsburgh Pirates

· Major League Baseball

Kansas City Royals

67-87, 28-51 Away

Final
5 - 8

Pittsburgh Pirates

77-77, 40-36 Home

Konnor Griffin has 4 hits as the Pirates rally past the Royals to reach .500

Michael Massey goes yard off Paul Skenes

Pittsburgh churned out 15 hits against Kansas City to overcome an early four-run deficit to move back to .500 (77-77) in its bid for the franchise's first winning season since 2018.

The 20-year-old Griffin, who missed two months with a left-hand injury that coincided with a summer swoon that saw the Pirates' playoff hopes evaporate, posted the third four-hit game of his young career. His RBI single in the seventh off reliever Nate Pearson (2-2) capped a three-run rally.

Yohan Ramirez (7-4) retired all four batters he faced in relief to pick up the win. Gregory Soto worked the ninth for his 15th save, but just his first since Aug. 1.

Vinnie Pasquantino and Michael Massey homered for the Royals, but Kansas City couldn't take advantage of a so-so performance by Pirates ace Paul Skenes.

The reigning NL Cy Young winner scuffled at times during his likely next-to-last start of the season. The 24-year-old right-hander was tagged for five runs in six innings with a walk and seven strikeouts but found a rhythm late, retiring nine of the final 10 batters he faced. Still, his ERA ticked up to 3.91, nearly double the 1.97 he posted a year ago while becoming the first Pirate to win pitching's biggest award since 1992.

Kansas City starter Randy Dobnak, a Pittsburgh native, struggled in his second career start in his hometown. The 31-year-old allowed four runs on seven hits with two walks and a strikeout in 3 2/3 innings, his shortest outing since making his debut with the Royals in July.

Up next The series continues Saturday. Noah Cameron (9-8, 3.84 ERA) was set to start for the Royals against Pittsburgh's Bubba Chandler (8-9, 4.28).

How can I watch Kansas City Royals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates?

TV Channel: Royals at Pirates 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Tolbert struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Tolbert hit for Isbel
	9th Inning	Loftin doubled to right.
	9th Inning	Collins struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Collins hit for Rave
	9th Inning	Perez flied out to center.

Statistics

KC		PIT
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	2
7	Ground Balls	17
11	Strikeouts	7
5	Runs Batted In	8
1	Sacrifice Hit	0
8	Hits	15
0	Stolen Bases	1
2	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
5	Runs	8
0	Ground Into Double Play	2
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
33	At Bats	37
2	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
8	Runners Left On Base	26
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	5
16	Fly Balls	13
0	Caught Stealing	0
141	Pitches	155
0	Games Started	0
2	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
16	Total Bases	23
36	Plate Appearances	42
324.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
4	Extra Base Hits	6
4.7	Runs Created	9.6
.242	Batting Average	.405
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.485	Slugging Percentage	.622
.303	Secondary Average	.324
.286	On Base Percentage	.476
.771	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	1.098
0.4	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.3
4.9	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	10.8
38.0	Batter Rating	61.0
16.5	At Bats Per Home Run	37.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.92	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.69
.242	Isolated Power	.216
0.18	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.43
.056	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.071
.061	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.081
10.0	Runs Produced	16.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.5	Patience Ratio	0.7
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.5
84.8	MLB Rating	107.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0