Pirates dominant in home-finale win against Athletics

Colin Beazley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sep 21, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2025 season has ranged from disappointing to disastrous. Their home finale was, in a word, dominant.

The Pirates crushed the Athletics 11-0 on Sunday afternoon in their final game at PNC Park this season. They led 4-0 after two innings, 7-0 after four and 10-0 after the fifth.

Four pitchers combined for a shutout, the Pirates’ second consecutive shutout and their MLB-leading 19th of the season. The Pirates had lost 11 of 12 before taking two of three from the A’s.

“It was a great day to come out in a rubber match and put it on them,” catcher Joey Bart said. “To put a goose egg up is big.”

Designated hitter Andrew McCutchen, playing in possibly his final game at PNC Park, started the Pirates with an RBI single in the first inning. The 38-year-old McCutchen, who has said he wants to play in 2026, is a free agent after this season. He received an ovation before and after his final at-bat, where he was called out on strikes on a pitch at the edge of the zone.

He downplayed the at-bat’s importance postgame.

“Every at-bat is special to me,” McCutchen said. “I try not to put one over the other. I try not to take it for granted, the first at-bat or the last one. They’re all special. Obviously, not the way that I wanted that at-bat to go. From the first pitch, I knew it was going to be a battle. I tried to do my best to have a good at-bat but ended up losing that battle. ABS [an automatic balls-and-strikes system] is coming, so I can’t wait.”

Third baseman Jared Triolo went 4 for 5 with a single, a double and a two-run homer off Athletics starter Mitch Spence in the second inning.

Bart finished 4 for 4 with two singles, a double and a three-run homer off reliever Osvaldo Bido in the fifth. The homer, a no-doubt blast to left field, was Bart’s fourth of the year and second of the homestand.

“When that last game is over in Atlanta, it's over, but until then, I'm preparing every day to play,” Bart said. “Whether I'm coming off the bench, whatever, just bringing everything I got every day to try to win and make this last week a lot of fun. That's kind of my mindset with it.”

Center fielder Oneil Cruz was 1 for 5 but had a two-run single off Spence in the fourth. Cruz took second when right fielder Carlos Cortes misplayed the ball.

Every Pirate in the starting lineup had a hit except for first baseman Spencer Horwitz, who walked twice and scored a run. Horwitz added an RBI groundout in the eighth, when first baseman Nick Kurtz made a sprawling stop of a grounder up the line.

The Pirates finished their home slate with a 44-37 record at home, but currently have a 23-52 record on the road.

“Obviously, we've got a lot of things ahead of us and goals ahead of us, but I think it's something that we played our best ball here in front of our fans,” Bart said. “So I think that's important. I'm sure you guys have all the numbers ... but all I know is we played some really good ball here.”

It was over when ...

Cruz hit his two-run single. His liner through a drawn-in infield put the Pirates ahead 6-0.

On the mound

Mike Burrows started for the Pirates and threw four scoreless innings, allowing five hits but striking out three. All five hits he allowed were singles.

Carmen Mlodzinski followed with three scoreless innings of relief, allowing two hits. He earned the win, improving to 5-8. Yohan Ramirez and Dauri Moreta closed out the game with scoreless innings.

Like Saturday’s 2-0 victory, the Pirates didn’t walk anyone.

“We see the way the stuff plays when they’re in the zone,” manager Don Kelly said. “I think when we get outside of that and start trying to strike guys out and spraying the ball around and getting behind, major league hitters can hit that.”

At the plate

The Pirates left six runners on base and went 6 for 12 with runners in scoring position.

Most valuable player

While both Bart and Triolo had three RBIs and finished a triple short of the cycle, Bart also earns the nod for catching nine shutout innings.

Bart joked he’d need a special kind of hit to complete a cycle.

“I just like to see it hit the grass and nobody's there, you know what I mean?” Bart said. “Yeah, for me to hit a cycle, it'd have to bounce off the wall and roll across the field and [I’d] just put my head down and run and get to third.”

Up next

The Pirates are off Monday before beginning their final road trip of the year, playing six games in six days in Cincinnati and Atlanta. They’ll start Tuesday against the Reds at 6:40 p.m. ET, when Johan Oviedo (2-0, 3.52 ERA) will face Reds right-hander Brady Singer (14-10, 3.86).

____