PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh, meet Konnor Griffin and the 2026 Pirates.

The Pirates got the home portion of their schedule and the Griffin era off to a strong start on Friday afternoon at PNC Park in a 5-4 win against the Baltimore Orioles. Griffin reached base twice, including an RBI double, and shone in his major league debut.

It was a far more optimistic start than 2025. This year, a sellout crowd of 38,986 fans were treated not only to a Pirates win, but to realistic reasons for optimism.

Griffin started his major league career with a bang, hitting a two-strike double to left-center field off right-hander Kyle Bradish to score Ryan O’Hearn from first. The hit sparked a four-run frame, as Jared Triolo’s single scored Griffin, Henry Davis’s double scored Triolo, and Oneil Cruz’s single scored Davis.

The Pirates largely held on from there. Mitch Keller was his typical self with a solid six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and four walks. He struck out four.

He only ran into trouble in the fifth, when the Orioles scored two runs on RBI doubles from Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman.

The Pirates tacked on a run in the sixth, capitalizing on three walks from Orioles lefty Dietrich Enns for an O’Hearn sacrifice fly, but the Orioles got the run back against Yohan Ramirez in the seventh. Ramirez allowed his first runs of 2026 on an RBI double from Taylor Ward that Cruz took a bad route to.

The seventh was the Orioles’ best opportunity. Ramirez allowed a single, a run-scoring double and a walk before he was pulled, but Mason Montgomery came in and got a groundout from Rutschman and struck out Samuel Basallo to strand the tying run on second.

With the win, the Pirates have a record above .500 for the first time since Aug. 4, 2024.

It was over when …

Gregory Soto pitched the ninth. He allowed a solo homer to Gunnar Henderson on what would have been the final strike of the game, but struck out Pete Alonso to end it.

On the mound

Keller has started 2026 with consecutive quality starts, pitching six innings and allowing fewer than three runs in both. Despite his record last year, he still finished seventh in the majors with 17 quality starts in 32 outings.

At the plate

Triolo was the lone Pirate with multiple hits, singling twice to right field. Brandon Lowe reached twice, doubling in the first inning and walking in the second.

The Pirates had just one hit after the second inning: Triolo’s single in the fourth.

Most valuable player

Griffin. Griffin was the man of the hour and performed like it, scoring his run and saluting the sellout crowd.

Up next

The Pirates and Orioles continue their three-game series at 4:05 p.m. Saturday. Carmen Mlodzinski (0-0, 4.15) will make his second start of the year against Orioles right-hander Shane Baz (0-0, 6.75).

©2026 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.