Pirates

Inside the Clubhouse: Burrows Makes First Start, Pirates Finally End Streak

Published

4 weeks ago

May 23, 2025

PITTSBURGH — It was the night of firsts for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park on Thursday.

Mike Burrows made his first big-league start. Spencer Horwitz hit his first Pirate home run. And for the first time in a calendar month, the Pirates scored five runs in a game.

Burrows was on the hook in the Pirates’ 8-5 loss to the Brewers after allowing four runs in 5.0 innings. After surrendering a pair of home runs in the first two innings, the right-hander settled in and held the Brewers scoreless over his final three frames.

“Just trying to settle in and make sure we are throwing strikes early and getting quick outs,” Burrows said on his outing. “I felt like I could have gone 7, just gave the team what they needed. Tried to get through as many as I can before DK shakes my hand.”

As for Horwitz, the Pirates’ first baseman belted a 409-foot home run to right-center field off Brewers starter Aaron Civale. Now in his sixth game since he was activated from the injured list, Horwitz carries a respectable .278/.350/.444 batting line.

“Good at-bats. Squaring balls up. Obviously the home run today was impressive,” manager Don Kelly said on Horwitz. “Having really good at-bats. He hit the double-play the other day that was a rocket right at the second baseman. He continues to have at-bats like that. He’s a really good hitter and we’ve seen what he can do on defense as well.”

While his homer was the loudest swing, Horwitz’s biggest moment came in the bottom of the ninth inning. With two runners on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Horwitz drove in the elusive fifth run for the Pirates on a groundout to short.

The RBI snapped a streak of 26-straight game of scoring four runs or fewer, which tied an MLB record.

Horwitz finished the game 2 for 5 with a pair of RBI and a run scored.

“You’ve just got to play the long game,” catcher Joey Bart said of the offense. “It’s really easy to look at a week or a good game and get real high or real low but it’s a long season. Everybody picking it up and trying to do it together. Obviously, hitting is contagious. We’ve just got to keep working and things will get better if we go about the process.”