Pirates fans' ridiculous reactions to D-backs loss couldn't miss the mark any worse

There are frustrating losses, and then there are losses that send certain Pittsburgh Pirates fans into a full-blown existential crisis.

Tuesday night’s 8-7, 12-inning defeat at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks apparently qualified as the latter.

The Pirates made three errors. They wasted opportunities in extra innings. They lost an important game to the team currently occupying the final National League Wild Card spot. The result was maddening, and nobody needs to pretend otherwise.

But some of the reaction afterward — complaints about “moral victories,” declarations that the comeback meant nothing because Pittsburgh didn’t finish the job — completely missed what actually happened at PNC Park.

The Pirates were down 6-0 entering the bottom of the eighth inning. They forced a 12th. That would have been unfathomable as recently as last season.

Pittsburgh scored three runs with two outs in the eighth, then Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds homered in the ninth to erase the remaining deficit against Arizona closer Paul Sewald. Even after the Diamondbacks went back ahead in the 10th, the Pirates tied it again.

They ultimately lost because they didn’t play clean enough baseball. That deserves criticism. But acting like everything before the final run crossed the plate was meaningless is ridiculous.

Pirates' failed comeback vs D-backs still showed exactly why October feels possible

This is exactly the type of fight good teams need over a 162-game season. The Pirates spent seven innings looking dead against Brandon Pfaadt, fell six runs behind and could have quietly played out the final six outs. Instead, they turned a blowout into one of the wildest games of their season.

Lowe offered some much-needed perspective afterward.

“I don't think I've ever seen anybody clinch in July,” Lowe said (via Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). “As much as people want to put high pressure and high stakes on these games, it's still the middle of the season, there’s still a lot of baseball left.”

Exactly. Tuesday wasn't Game 7 of the World Series, nor was it some definitive referendum on whether the Pirates are capable of making the playoffs.

Pirates fans have spent years begging for a team worth investing in during the second half of the season. Now they finally have one that can fall six runs behind in the eighth inning against another playoff contender and still make you believe it might somehow win.

That isn't a “moral victory.” It's evidence of something Pittsburgh hasn't possessed nearly often enough in recent years: a team you simply cannot count out.

The Pirates absolutely should be frustrated they couldn't finish Tuesday's comeback. But the fact that there was even a comeback to finish — and that it took four extra innings for Arizona to finally put them away — showed the kind of fight that belongs in a playoff race.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow