Paul Skenes had another disappointing outing for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday afternoon, failing to get through five innings and allowing three earned runs with four walks. Fortunately for him and the Pirates, the bats were able to come alive late against the Detroit Tigers bullpen to produce a 4-3 walk-off win.

Brandon Lowe's home run off the right-field foul pole in the bottom of the ninth proved to be the winning run, but it was an historic day from backup catcher Rafael Flores Jr. that really helped make the difference.

Rafael Flores Jr. comes off the bench to club two home runs for Pirates

Flores Jr. came off the bench in the bottom of the seventh inning as a pinch-hitter and clubbed a 422-foot home run down the left-field line to pull the Pirates to within one run.

It continued what has been an incredible month of August for the rookie as he tries to establish himself as an everyday Major League hitter.

He furthered that push in the bottom of the ninth inning with his second home run of the game, and his sixth of the season, to tie the game.

It was an historic hit as it made him the first Pirates player since at least 1900 to hit two home runs in a game that he did not start. 

The Pirates are still trying to cling to their slim playoff hopes, and taking two out of three from both the Tigers and Boston Red Sox this past week will help them do exactly that. 

And Wednesday's game was in some ways a perfect representation of their season to this point. 

After finishing as the worst offensive team in baseball a year ago, their offense has done a complete 180 this season to be one of the best in the league. It was the pitching staff, led by Skenes, that was supposed to be the strength. But Skenes has badly regressed this season and has not been anything close to the pitcher he was over his first two full years, while most of the other starters (outside of Braxton Ashcraft) have also taken some steps backwards. 

Entering Wednesday, they were just 9-16 in Skenes' starts this season, and only 3-13 in his previous 16. 

When Skenes left on Wednesday, it seemed they were heading for another defeat. Thanks in part to Flores Jr., they were able to steal one from away for themselves.