Jack Suwinski has endured his share of slumps, so the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder is enjoying every moment of a seven-game hitting streak that is giving him a good ending to a roller-coaster season.

By going 2 for 3 with a solo home run Thursday in a 2-0 win over the Washington Nationals, Suwinski is 10 for 24 (.417) with three doubles, two homers and seven RBIs over the span of the streak.

“It means a lot to me,” Suwinski said. “I want to come in and play hard and do my best for the team and be the player that I know I can be. Just go out and compete every day, play as hard as I can and be the guy that I know I can be and help this team.”

Suwinski broke a scoreless tie by hitting Josiah Gray’s first-pitch cutter 366 feet over the Clemente Wall in right field in the second inning for his 25th homer this season, which leads the Pirates.

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) September 14, 2023

After hitting 19 homers in 106 games as a rookie last year, Suwinski broke a tie with Dick Stuart (43, 1958-59) for the second-most homers through the first two seasons with the Pirates. Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner ranks first, with 79 in 1946-47.

“Over the last couple years, I’ve been developing a lot of good power things and being able to hit the ball really well,” Suwinski said. “I think it’s pretty cool, even though a lot of the stuff doesn’t revolve around me trying to hit home runs. That’s just the product of a lot of good things that we work on. I’m pretty excited about it.”

Suwinski also can get a laugh that he’s keeping pace ahead of fellow outfielder Bryan Reynolds, who has led the Pirates in homers the past two seasons and hit his 21st in Wednesday’s 7-6 win over the Nationals.

“I’m not going to let him get too close,” Suwinski said, “because he’ll start rubbing it in my face.”

Actually, the Pirates couldn’t have been more supportive of Suwinski as he dealt with an 0-for-29 slump in June and a dreadful August, when he batted .130 with a .529 OPS and 35 strikeouts. As bad as it was, that isn’t the worst month of Suwinski’s career. He hit .108 with a .493 OPS in 14 games in July 2022, prompting the Pirates to send him to the minors for more than a month.

This time, Pirates manager Derek Shelton gave Suwinski a few days off to work on his swing mechanics with hitting coaches Andy Haines and Christian Marrero. In September, Suwinski is slashing .324/.419/.649 with three doubles, three homers, nine RBIs and an impressive 1.068 OPS.

• .324/.419/.649• 1.068 OPS• 3 SB• 3 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI pic.twitter.com/W1PHBZxQtC

— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) September 14, 2023

No wonder Shelton credited “a lot of hard work” for Suwinski’s response and recent success.

“We went through the stretch where he didn’t play for a few days, and, normally, when you do that, it’s like a ‘We’re going to clear your mind,’ ” Shelton said. “This was, ‘Hey, we’re going to work.’ So he was out every day with Andy and Christian working on things, and I think he’s in a more consistent spot and we’re seeing that. … He’s back to releasing the barrel the way he was earlier in the year.”

Where Suwinski has swing-and-miss statistics similar to All-Star slugger Kyle Schwarber, leading the Pirates with 154 strikeouts, his penchant for power has another benefit. His 70 walks rank second behind Andrew McCutchen, and the Nationals intentionally walked Suwinski twice to load the bases in Tuesday’s 5-1 win to avoid him.

It marked the first time a Pirates player was intentionally walked twice in a game since the Chicago Cubs did it to Josh Bell — once in the 11th inning — in an 8-7 win over the Pirates on Sept. 1, 2020.

Suwinski showed his ability to barrel the ball in his other two at-bats Thursday, despite differing outcomes. Before striking out in the fourth inning, he fouled a 1-0 sinker down the first base line and felt good about barreling a pitch coming off his front hip and making hard contact. Suwinski got the result he wanted in the seventh, when the lefty hitter sent a first-pitch sinker to left field for an opposite-field single.

“I’m not even trying to go the other way. I think that happens naturally when I keep my head in a good spot,” Suwinski said. “A lot of the stuff we’re doing is keeping my head super quiet and trying to keep it up, keep it from diving into the plate as I move, keeping the eyes and the head in a good position. Then I know where my barrel is, I see the ball better and basically everything is a little bit more natural and less forced. So I can stay through the ball a little longer and my bat’s a little better.”

Or, in Suwinski’s case, a lot better.

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