On a big night of firsts for several players, the Pittsburgh Pirates won 4-1 on Wednesday night to complete their sweep of the Kansas City Royals.

Pirates starting pitcher Andre Jackson earned his first career Major League Baseball win, and struck out a career high 7 batters in the victory.

For Jackson, it’s the latest in a stretch of solid performances on the mound for Pittsburgh, who need all the help they can get from their pitching staff.

His ERA since joining the Pirates is now just 3.46 over 6 games as a Bucco.

But Jackson wasn’t the only one to have to have a first on Wednesday night. The much maligned Vinny Capra, whose mere presence on this team is questioned due to reasons that aren’t all his fault, got his first career major league RBI on Wednesday, driving in Liover Peguero on a double.

Capra would himself reach home thanks to a Jack Suwinski single, who had a big game when he needed to most.

Suwinski hit his first home run since July 24th, over a month ago, and also had his first multi-hit game since July 29th.

Suwinski’s hits last night brought his August total to 10, still a very damning stat for Suwinski, whose struggles have earned him some more time in the dugout in recent weeks.

With a miserable August finally over, maybe Suwinski is able to turn a corner as the Pirates enter the home stretch of 2023, but only time will tell.

Bryan Reynolds also homered in the game, hitting his 19th ball out of the park on Wednesday night. He was the only other Pirate to have a multi-hit game, also knocking in a line drive single to right field.

After Jackson came out, the bullpen held down the fort, with solid performances by Ryan Borucki, Thomas Hatch, and Colin Holderman.

Closer David Bednar earned his 29th save to seal the 4-1 win, and the sweep, for Pittsburgh.

The Pirates now stand at 61-73, with just 28 games left to go in the season. If they finish out the year playing .500 ball, they would finish the year at 75-87, which would be a 15 win improvement from 2022, and would be oddly close to their 2012 season, the year before the playoffs.

(Featured photo by Jay Biggerstaff/USA Today Sports)