Pirates Series Takeaways: No House of Horrors This Time, Griffin Getting Going, ‘Pen Lights Out

Photo provided by Matt Lynch

The stadium formerly known as and more appropriate named Miller Park — now called America Family Field — has notoriously been an incredibly difficult place to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates hadn’t finished better than .500 in Milwaukee in a single season since 2018, and to be honest, I’m surprised it hadn’t been even longer ago than that.

The Brewers seem to always have the Pirates’ number when playing on their home field, but this series, it was the Pirates who were in control for the majority of the weekend.

The Pirates led wire to wire on Friday. They didn’t ever trail in Saturday’s win in extra innings. Milwaukee, meanwhile, didn’t lead for the first time until fourth inning on Sunday.

Did it end the way they would’ve wanted? Of course not, but a series win is a series in. And a series win in Milwaukee means a little bit more.

A couple more takeaways from a successful weekend.

Griffin Getting Going

Konnor Griffin’s birthday weekend was his best stretch of play so far as a big-leaguer.

Griffin, who turned 20 on Friday, slugged his first-career home run in the first game of the series. It was an impressive opposite-field blast off veteran right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who is having a solid year and has had a successful big-league career.

The blast was part of a night that included a career-high three hits and three RBI and was only the beginning of a roaring start to his 20’s.

Griffin ended the series with five hits in 11 at-bats. He homered, drove in four runs, stole two bases and drew a walk. He raised his batting average from .182 to .224.

There’s a reason Griffin has been considered the top prospect in baseball. Although it’s been a slow start to his career, which shouldn’t be a surprise, you can see see the talent that makes him so intriguing.

There will almost certainly be more growing pains, but I have a feeling this is the start of better play for Griffin.