Pirates finally got their dream September script, then completely butchered the ending

The Pittsburgh Pirates couldn't have scripted the first seven innings of Saturday’s game at Wrigley Field much better.

Paul Skenes looked like Paul Skenes again. Ryan O’Hearn returned from the injured list and immediately supplied the kind of middle-of-the-order thunder Pittsburgh has desperately missed in his absence. The Pirates carried a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning of a game they realistically could not afford to lose.

Then they threw it away.

Skenes delivered seven innings of two-run baseball, allowing just four hits while needing only 82 pitches. He gave Pittsburgh length at a time when both Braxton Ashcraft and Mitch Keller are on the injured list, and he did it in one of the most important starts remaining on the schedule.

O’Hearn did his part, too. In his first game back, he launched a three-run homer in the sixth inning to erase a deficit and give the Pirates a one-run lead.

Pittsburgh needed just six outs from the bullpen.

Instead, Gregory Soto unraveled in the eighth inning, and manager Don Kelly never stopped the bleeding.

Soto allowed a leadoff double, then proceeded to lose the strike zone entirely. He hit two batters, walked two more and allowed Chicago to score twice despite recording only one hit in the inning.

Don Kelly’s baffling bullpen decision wasted exactly the Paul Skenes start Pirates needed

The most frustrating part wasn't necessarily Kelly’s decision to pull Skenes after seven innings. Skenes has surpassed 90 pitches just once in his past five starts, and Kelly said afterward that the right-hander had given Pittsburgh everything he had.

Fine. The far harder decision to defend, though, was allowing Soto to continue once it became obvious his command had abandoned him. Luke Weaver never entered. Mason Montgomery never entered. Yohan Ramírez warmed while Pittsburgh’s lead and perhaps its season slipped away.

Kelly even admitted afterward that, in hindsight, he perhaps should have had Weaver ready. That's the kind of quote that sticks when a season is hanging by a thread.

There will be plenty of games the Pirates can point to this year and say the roster simply wasn't good enough. There will be injuries, offensive droughts and bullpen meltdowns that were difficult to avoid. But Saturday was different.

The Pirates had their ace on the mound. They got a huge swing from one of its best hitters. It carried a lead into the eighth inning against a division rival with only 13 games remaining.

They had everything they needed to win. And in a season where the margin for error has completely disappeared, they still found a way to lose.

If Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes ultimately die over these final two weeks, this is the type of game that will haunt them most.

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