Pirates Top Games of 2023: No. 9 — Bucs blast Gallen, Diamondbacks

Our next top game from 2023 comes just a few days after Mitch Keller’s dominant outing in Baltimore.

Still clinging to second place in the NL Central, the Pirates welcomed the Arizona Diamondbacks to PNC Park on May 19 for the first of a three-game weekend series, and while many expected Zac Gallen to trample on the Bucs’ lineup, the opposite occurred.

Tied at one headed into the bottom of the fourth, the Pirates jumped on Gallen for seven runs in the frame.

Joshua Palacios put the Pirates in front with a two-run single to left. Bryan Reynolds walked in another a few hitters later, then Jack Suwinski added two more with a double. Ke’Bryan Hayes capped off the monster inning with a two-run single.

They weren’t done, though, as Reynolds cranked a three-run home run to left center field to put the Pirates up by 10. Ji Hwan Bae and Palacios added the final two runs in the eighth.

Bae, Hayes, Palacios and Andrew McCutchen each finished the game with three hits while Reynolds added two RBI.

Meanwhile, Johan Oviedo tossed six strong innings, striking out seven and allowing one earned run. That being a solo home run by Geraldo Perdomo in the third. Duane Underwood Jr., Yohan Ramirez and Colin Holderman followed with three innings of two-hit, two-run ball.

Everyone in the ballpark loved this game. I would know since I was there.

In a treacherous month of May, this blowout rekindled the spark for the Pirates at the time and it gave fans a look back at the previous month when they finished 20-8 and played like world beaters.

Sadly, they dropped the series to the Snakes, but the series opener was electric.