For seven-plus innings, the Pittsburgh Pirates couldn’t get a runner past second base, let alone score a run against the Kansas City Royals.

One Ke’Bryan Hayes swing changed everything.

The Pirates third baseman continued his blistering August by blasting a two-run home run in the eighth inning, and Liover Peguero crushed a three-run homer in a four-run ninth as the Pirates rallied for a 6-3 win Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Hayes, who was 4 for 4 with an RBI double and a run scored in Monday’s 5-0 win over the Royals, has six homers and 20 RBIs in 24 games. Pirates manager Derek Shelton credited Hayes with being consistent in his timing and his load during his hot month.

“He’s getting the ball out front and I think that’s why we’re seeing the power,” Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “I think we knew that he had it. We saw it a bit in 2020. He had a good June, when he was healthy. The biggest part of this is he’s healthy and we’re seeing him move the way we know he can move.”

Royals left-handed starter Cole Ragans struck out nine in seven shutout innings, holding the Pirates to three hits and one walk while throwing 72 of his 108 pitches for strikes. When asked how the Pirates’ offense came alive late, Shelton heaped praise on Kansas City’s budding ace.

“Um, Ragans was out of the game,” Shelton said, with a laugh. “To be quite honest, that’s really good stuff. Left-handed fastball at 97-99, with the changeup, cutter and breaking ball. That’s a good young pitcher. You talk about good, young starting pitchers in the game and be able to execute to both sides of the plate, that’s what we saw tonight.”

Lefty Austin Cox replaced Ragans in the eighth, and Peguero (3 for 4) led off with a bunt single. After Cox got Jack Suwinski to fly out and struck out Ji Hwan Bae, the Royals turned to righty Carlos Hernandez.

Hayes faced Hernandez on Monday night, seeing all three of his pitches in drawing a walk. So he didn’t even have to look at the iPad for a refresher. Hayes just wanted something up and out over the plate. Hayes got just that and hit an 0-1 slider 424 to left for his 13th homer.

“It was awesome,” Hayes said in an on-field interview with AT&T SportsNet. “Hernandez is a really good closer. I faced him (Monday) night, so I felt pretty confident going into that at-bat. … I definitely wanted to respect the heater, so I was able to get a slider that backed up and I was able to put a good swing on it so that felt really good.”

Ragans was 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA in six starts for the Royals after being acquired from the Texas Rangers, along with Roni Cabrera, in exchange for reliever Aroldis Chapman on June 30. Ragans was averaging 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings for Kansas City after fanning a career-best 11 at Boston on Aug. 7 and again at Oakland on Aug. 23.

Against the Pirates, Ragans relied heavily on a four-seam fastball that sat at 96.6 mph and touched 98.7. The 25-year-old Ragans got 19 called strikes and 16 whiffs, impressing the Pirates with his command and composure.

But the Pirates kept the game close.

“There’s going to be nights when you don’t get anything going in the beginning of the game, but the pitchers did a really good job of keeping it at 1-0,” Hayes said. “Anytime the game’s 1-0, you have a chance to tie it up. It was just a big credit to them, keeping us in the game. Late in the game, we were able to get some runs across.”

Pirates right-hander Colin Selby served as the opener and was efficient in throwing 12 of his 18 pitches for strikes while recording two strikeouts in a pair of perfect innings. Luis Ortiz replaced Selby in the third inning but ran into trouble in the fourth.

Bobby Witt Jr. hit a leadoff single, then went to third when Salvador Perez ripped a slider at a 104.7-mph exit velocity and off the back of Hayes’ glove at third. Ortiz walked Nelson Velazquez to load the bases, and Witt scored for a 1-0 lead when first baseman Connor Joe knocked down a Drew Waters liner and Bae backed him up to get the groundout. Ortiz limited the damage by striking out Freddy Fermin to strand runners at second and third.

It was the lone run allowed by Ortiz (3-4) in five innings, where he gave up three hits and two walks while striking out five to earn the win.

“Ortiz was outstanding,” Shelton said. “He was in total control of his delivery, which I think the last time out we saw him not be in control of his delivery. The big inning was when he got out of the bases-loaded jam. He gave up the one run but stayed composed and really did a nice job.”

Ragans was perfect through the first four innings before Joe drew a leadoff walk in the fifth. Peguero hit a two-out single to right but Ragans got Suwinski swinging at a slider low and away for a strikeout.

After Hayes gave the Pirates the lead, they padded it against righty Steven Cruz in the ninth. Endy Rodriguez doubled and Joshua Palacios drew a walk to put a pair of runners on for Peguero, who blasted an 0-1 slider 416 feet to left for his sixth homer and a 5-1 lead.

Suwinski followed by going opposite field with a shot that ricocheted off the top of the rail atop the left field fence for a triple, then scored on Bae’s grounder to short that saw Witt charged with an error. The Pirates batted through the order, loading the bases when Hayes and Andrew McCutchen drew walks. The Royals turned to Tucker Davidson, who struck out Joe to strand the runners.

The Royals scored two runs against Cody Bolton with one out in the bottom of the ninth. MJ Melendez singled to center and Velazquez doubled over Bryan Reynolds in left, and both scored a single to right by Waters to cut it to 6-3.

“This team doesn’t take a break. This team is always trying to find ways to keep improving and keep it moving forward,” Peguero said. “As long as we’ve got the chance, we’re going to take it and we’re never going to settle down.”

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