Pirates lose a heartbreaker 17-16 to the Rockies on Aug 2, 2025, despite homers from Oneil Cruz & Andrew McCutchen. Read about the historic 9-run lead collapse.
StatPro MLB Beat Reporter
There are bad losses, there are gut-punch losses, and then there is what happened Saturday at Coors Field. The Pittsburgh Pirates put on an offensive clinic, jumping out to a 9-0 first-inning lead, only to watch it all crumble away in a stunning, soul-crushing 17-16 walk-off defeat to the Colorado Rockies. It was a game that had everything, and for Pirates fans, ended with nothing but heartbreak.
It's unacceptable. We have to be better than that.
For a while, it looked like a dream. The Pirates came out swinging, with Liover Peguero launching a leadoff home run to set the tone. Before the first inning was over, Oneil Cruz had blasted a grand slam and Andrew McCutchen had added a three-run shot of his own. A 9-0 lead before the Rockies even recorded three outs. It was the kind of offensive explosion that wins you a series, let alone a single game. Sixteen runs, three homers, and yet, it wasn't enough.
As the offense sizzled, the pitching fizzled, culminating in a catastrophic bullpen meltdown. The Rockies chipped away all game, but the ninth inning was the final dagger. Holding a 16-12 lead, the Pirates bullpen surrendered five runs. Dennis Santana was tagged with the loss, giving up a game-tying homer to Hunter Goodman before Brenton Doyle sent a two-run walk-off shot into the Colorado night. The collapse highlighted the fragility of a bullpen that was already stretched thin, with four relievers having thrown over 25 pitches the night before.
This wasn't just a bad loss; it was one for the record books, and not in a good way. The 16 runs are the most ever scored by the Pirates in a loss, and the nine-run lead is one of the largest blown in franchise history. The defeat underscores the urgent need for stable pitching—a need so great that the team optioned top prospect Thomas Harrington to Triple-A Indianapolis after a recent rough start. While the club remains high on Harrington's future, his demotion, coupled with journeyman Beau Burrows' recent tour of every minor league level, paints a picture of an organization desperately searching for answers on the mound.
Manager Derek Shelton's postgame assessment was blunt: 'unacceptable.' Now, the Pirates have to pick up the pieces. With Dauri Moreta joining the club, the immediate challenge is to stabilize a shell-shocked bullpen and flush the memory of this historic collapse. One game rarely defines a season, but a loss like this tests a team's resilience. How the Pirates respond tomorrow, and in the weeks to come, will tell us everything we need to know about the character of this club.
