Lineup Construction · Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh's Bottom Third Just Made the Lineup Argument
The Pirates beat Miami 13-1 while the final three spots in their order produced eight hits, eight runs and 10 RBIs. The useful response to Paul Skenes' diminished margin is a deeper lineup, not louder anxiety.
The loud score concealed the useful detail
The Pittsburgh Pirates beat Miami 13-1 on Thursday, which is the sort of score that invites everyone to admire the fireworks and misplace the blueprint. The useful part was not merely 13 runs. It was where so many of them came from.
Jake Mangum, Jared Triolo and Rafael Flores occupied the final three spots in Pittsburgh's order. Together they produced eight hits, eight runs and 10 RBIs. Triolo homered and drove in three. Flores hit two home runs and drove in six. Mangum reached three times, scored three times and supplied the traffic. The bottom third did not wait politely for the recognizable names to rescue the inning; it became the inning.
That is the lineup argument Pittsburgh needs after weeks of turning every Paul Skenes start into a referendum on one right arm. A club cannot control whether its ace arrives with every old weapon at full volume. It can control whether spots seven through nine function as an exit ramp for opposing pitchers. On Thursday, they were a tollbooth with a broken gate.
Skenes should not need perfection as protection
The concern around Skenes is real enough without turning it into theater. AS reported that Pittsburgh had lost four consecutive Skenes starts entering Thursday. His season ERA stood at 3.88, and his four-seam fastball had averaged 96.9 mph in 2026 after averaging 98.8 as a rookie and 98.2 last season. In Tuesday's loss at Miami, his hardest pitch was 96.5 mph.
Those figures deserve attention. They do not grant the rest of the roster permission to become scenery. Skenes has said he is healthy and does not need maximum velocity to be effective, according to the same report. The Pirates should test that claim through careful pitching decisions, not amateur diagnosis. Their hitters have a simpler assignment: stop making every reduced fastball look like an organizational emergency.
Thursday showed the alternative. Braxton Ashcraft threw all nine innings, allowed three hits and struck out 10. The offense gave him a margin so wide that every pitch did not require a committee hearing. That does not diminish the pitching. It lets good pitching operate without pretending a 1-0 lead is a luxury suite.
One blowout proves nothing; the distribution can prove plenty
The obvious counterargument is correct: Miami used four pitchers, allowed 16 hits and was buried by the fourth inning. One afternoon against a team that finished the day 62-60 cannot certify Pittsburgh's lineup for September, much less October. Baseball occasionally hands out 13-run games like an airline voucher: valuable, welcome and suspiciously difficult to redeem twice.
So do not preserve the score. Preserve the labor. Mangum created baserunners. Triolo converted them. Flores supplied the biggest damage. Nick Gonzales and Esmerlyn Valdez added two hits each ahead of that group, while Spencer Horwitz collected two from the leadoff spot. Pittsburgh scored 13 even though Bryan Reynolds went hitless and Brandon Lowe had one hit in six at-bats. That distribution is the point.
The Pirates' own midseason review said the offense had scored 516 runs before the All-Star break, 56 more than in any previous first half in club history, and had matched its entire 2025 home-run total in 92 games. Thursday was therefore not evidence that a dead offense suddenly inhaled. It was evidence that a legitimately improved offense can still become too dependent on its famous names unless the club rewards the combinations that lengthen innings.
The next lineup card is the consequence
Pittsburgh left Miami at 59-64. A 12-run margin does not erase five games below .500, and it does not restore a mile per hour to Skenes' fastball. It does give the coaching staff a clean decision: treat the production from Mangum, Triolo and Flores as information rather than a souvenir.
That means keeping on-base ability in front of the lower-order power, resisting the reflex to scatter productive hitters simply because the traditional stars occupy traditional slots, and judging bench choices by how they affect the next turn through the order. Flores will not drive in six every day. Mangum will not score three. The mechanism can survive the smaller numbers: reach base low in the order, force the pitcher back into traffic and make the top work with runners rather than expectations.
The Pirates do not need Thursday to become their new normal score. They need its lineup depth to become normal behavior. If Skenes must learn how to dominate at 96 instead of 99, Pittsburgh's offense should learn how to win without asking one player, one inning or one part of the order to carry the whole summer.
2026 season
MLB standings
American League
East
| # | Team | GP | W | L | Diff | Pct | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Tampa Bay Rays |
130 | 77 | 53 | +44 | .592 | W L L L W |
| 2 |  New York Yankees |
130 | 74 | 56 | +100 | .569 | W W W L W |
| 3 |  Boston Red Sox |
130 | 71 | 59 | +99 | .546 | W L W W W |
| 4 |  Toronto Blue Jays |
132 | 64 | 68 | -55 | .485 | L W L W L |
| 5 |  Baltimore Orioles |
131 | 63 | 68 | -35 | .481 | L L W W L |
Central
| # | Team | GP | W | L | Diff | Pct | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Chicago White Sox |
130 | 68 | 62 | +43 | .523 | L L W L W |
| 2 |  Cleveland Guardians |
131 | 65 | 66 | -9 | .496 | L W W W W |
| 3 |  Minnesota Twins |
131 | 63 | 68 | -54 | .481 | W W L L L |
| 4 |  Detroit Tigers |
130 | 61 | 69 | +73 | .469 | L L L L L |
| 5 |  Kansas City Royals |
132 | 58 | 74 | -91 | .439 | W W W W W |
West
| # | Team | GP | W | L | Diff | Pct | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Houston Astros |
131 | 65 | 66 | -44 | .496 | W L L W L |
| 2 |  Texas Rangers |
131 | 65 | 66 | -46 | .496 | L W L W W |
| 3 |  Seattle Mariners |
131 | 62 | 69 | -61 | .473 | W L W W L |
| 4 |  Los Angeles Angels |
131 | 52 | 79 | -70 | .397 | L W W L L |
| 5 |  Athletics |
131 | 51 | 80 | -187 | .389 | L L W L W |
National League
East
| # | Team | GP | W | L | Diff | Pct | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Atlanta Braves |
131 | 76 | 55 | +110 | .580 | L W L L W |
| 2 |  Philadelphia Phillies |
131 | 73 | 58 | +27 | .557 | W W W W W |
| 3 |  Miami Marlins |
131 | 67 | 64 | +21 | .511 | L L W W W |
| 4 |  Washington Nationals |
132 | 61 | 71 | +10 | .462 | W L L L L |
| 5 |  New York Mets |
131 | 59 | 72 | -40 | .450 | L W L W L |
Central
| # | Team | GP | W | L | Diff | Pct | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Milwaukee Brewers |
131 | 81 | 50 | +161 | .618 | L W W W L |
| 2 |  Chicago Cubs |
131 | 75 | 56 | +115 | .573 | L W L L W |
| 3 |  St. Louis Cardinals |
132 | 66 | 66 | -2 | .500 | L W L L L |
| 4 |  Pittsburgh Pirates |
132 | 63 | 69 | +25 | .477 | W W L L L |
| 5 |  Cincinnati Reds |
131 | 62 | 69 | -94 | .473 | W L L L W |
West
| # | Team | GP | W | L | Diff | Pct | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Los Angeles Dodgers |
131 | 80 | 51 | +151 | .611 | W W W W W |
| 2 |  San Diego Padres |
131 | 71 | 60 | +16 | .542 | W L W W W |
| 3 |  Arizona Diamondbacks |
131 | 69 | 62 | +9 | .527 | L W W W L |
| 4 |  San Francisco Giants |
130 | 52 | 78 | -80 | .400 | W L L L L |
| 5 |  Colorado Rockies |
130 | 50 | 80 | -136 | .385 | L L L L L |
