Pirates 13, Giants 3: Twenty Hits and a Bullpen Break in San Francisco

The lead

May 9, 2026 - San Francisco - The Pittsburgh Pirates treated Oracle Park to a parade of line drives and a bullpen meltdown by the home team. Nick Gonzales and Joey Bart each had four hits, Brandon Lowe drove in four runs, and Pittsburgh collected a season-high 20 hits in a 13-3 win over the San Francisco Giants, per the Associated Press recap on CBS Sports.

Every Pirates starter recorded a hit. Oneil Cruz added three hits, while Ryan O’Hearn chipped in two.

How the game turned

The game stayed scoreless until Pittsburgh capitalized on the Giants’ pen. Starter Landon Roupp (5-3) struck out eight in four-plus innings but exited after Joey Bart opened the fifth with a single. Ryan Borucki recorded only two outs before Ryan Walker had to finish the frame—then Bryce Eldridge, the Giants’ 21-year-old DH in his first week in the big leagues, answered leading off the bottom half with his first career homer to get San Francisco on the board.

Walker gave up consecutive run-scoring hits to Konnor Griffin and Bart in the sixth to make it 4-1 Pirates. The seventh is where the crowd turned: four runs off JT Brubaker and two more off Gregory Santos pushed the lead to 10-1 as boos rolled through the bayside seats.

Pitching and matchup notes

Braxton Ashcraft (2-2) worked seven innings, scattering six hits and one earned run while striking out six—the kind of length that lets a road offense keep applying pressure inning over inning.

Christian Koss left in the ninth after taking a shoulder HBP, one more sour note on a long night for the Giants. Bubba Chandler and Tyler Mahle were scheduled Sunday to close the series.

Bats that changed the board

Lowe finished 2-for-4 with a double and a triple in the CBS lines, cashing chances when San Francisco’s bullpen strayed into hittable counts. Gonzales and Bart set the table repeatedly—Bart scoring three runs from the catcher’s spot—while the middle innings turned a competitive start into a wipeout.

AthX Engine fantasy angle

Pittsburgh’s 26 AthX Engine team FP on May 9 sat second on the daily team board, with Braxton Ashcraft adding 21 pitching FP and Brandon Lowe (11 hitting FP) among the names climbing the hitter ladder. Volume hitting nights still move AthX Engine totals even without a team-wide home-run binge. AthX Engine differs from dynamic pricing.

What comes next

Sunday’s finale gives both clubs a chance to reset: Pittsburgh riding a 20-hit rush, San Francisco needing cleaner relief innings after the middle frames got away.

*Sources: MLB.com schedule, MLB gameday wrap, CBS Sports recap, Associated Press via CBS, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*