Pirates 13, Marlins 1: The late innings became a demolition

Pittsburgh Waited Until Waiting Was Over

For four innings, the Pirates and Marlins played a game that looked like it might require patience. Pittsburgh had no runs. Miami had no runs. Then the fifth inning arrived, and the definition of patience changed to “allowing the other team to finish arranging the furniture before moving the whole house.”

Jared Triolo’s solo homer started the damage in the fifth. Pittsburgh added three runs in the sixth, two in the eighth, and seven in the ninth. The Pirates did not merely win the late innings; they made the late innings the entire story.

Flores Turned Power Into a Full Sentence

Rafael Flores Jr. homered twice and drove in six runs. His two-run homer in the eighth stretched the lead, then his three-run homer in the ninth made the final inning look less like baseball and more like an accounting error Miami was required to acknowledge.

Pittsburgh finished with 16 hits and four homers. Jared Triolo had three hits and three RBI, and Jake Mangum added three hits. That is a lineup finding multiple contributors at once, which is how a quiet game becomes a score that starts making demands of the standings.

Ashcraft Closed Every Exit

Braxton Ashcraft completed the game, allowing one run on three hits with 10 strikeouts. Miami’s lone run came in the ninth, long after Pittsburgh had created a margin big enough to make the answer academic. Ashcraft did not need a dramatic escape because the offense kept widening the runway.

The complete game matters here because the Pirates did not have to trade the offensive explosion for bullpen risk. One night supplied both the avalanche and the person willing to stand outside afterward with a broom.

The Desk Has Ruled

The Desk’s Late-Inning Run Share is 13 of 13. Pittsburgh scored every one of its runs after the fourth inning, then finished the job with a complete game from Ashcraft and a 12-run victory.

The ruling: the Pirates did not gradually take control. They waited until the Marlins had no more quiet innings left and then collected all of them at once.