Brandon Lowe's Homer Lifts Pirates Past Royals, 6-5

Brandon Lowe’s two-run homer in the eighth inning lifted the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Kansas City Royals 6-5 at PNC Park. Lowe, who has homered in four of his last five games, finished with two hits and 33 home runs this season, while Ronny Simon hit his first career homer and Jake Mangum also went deep for Pittsburgh. The homer was the Pirates’ 96th at PNC Park this season, setting a franchise record for home runs in a season at their home stadium. Kansas City rallied to take a 5-4 lead in the seventh, but Nick Loftin had four hits and Bobby Witt Jr. went 3-for-5 with two runs as the Royals lost their sixth game in seven. Pittsburgh improved to 78-77 and moved above .500 while continuing its pursuit of its first winning season since 2018, though the team had already been eliminated from playoff contention.