Trevor Williams was beaming in the clubhouse late Wednesday evening — and probably more than he ever had been following an outing in which he was charged with seven earned runs.

Williams had just watched the Pittsburgh Pirates complete their biggest comeback in almost 11 years, erasing a six-run deficit for an 8-7 win against the Detroit Tigers.

Though the victory was just their third in a 12-game span and improved them to 9-20 over the month’s span between May 19 and June 19, Williams repeatedly insisted Wednesday will be a night that the 2019 Pirates look back on as the season’s pivot.

“With how we came back, how we responded to adversity — especially after a tough (blown-lead) loss (Tuesday) and how we didn’t let ourselves get buried, I think this is a turning point for us as a ballclub,” Williams said.

The Pirates remain in last place, they have the National League’s second-worst run differential, and they have only once put together consecutive victories since May 19.

But is Williams on to something? Can such a satisfying comeback win — even against a bad opponent — galvanize a team and ignite a season turnaround?

The Pirates, coincidentally, had a previously scheduled team-bonding outing after the game Wednesday. Can things come together as much on the field as much as the players seem to be gelling off of it?

“The offense has been hot lately,” outfielder Corey Dickerson said, “and if everything clicks at one time, why not?”

Many might brush off the Pirates’ optimism by pointing to objective metrics such as the minus-77 run differential or the 27th-ranked ERA (5.12). But that doesn’t mean there are some glimmers of hope for the second half. Here are three of those reasons:

1. Bat men

The Pirates have one of the National League’s best offenses. During June, the Pirates are fourth in the NL in runs (5.5 per game), third in batting average (.287), third in on-base percentage (.338), fourth in slugging percentage (.478) and third in OPS (.816).

It’s not a small sample-size, either: they were in the top four in the NL for runs and average in May, too. On days when Gregory Polanco is not in the lineup, six of their eight position players rank better than league average offensively (per baseball-reference.com’s OPS+ tool) for the season.

The Pirates have scored at least four runs in 17 of their past 21 games. That is more than good enough to collect victories.

2. Nowhere to go but up

The reason the Pirates are languishing at the bottom of the NL Central, though, is their pitching has been so awful. For the season, the Pirates rank 27th in ERA, 26th in OPS against and 28th in runs allowed. That latter figure is worst in the National League — worse even than the Rockies, who call Coors Field home. In June, things are worse: 5.90 ERA, 107 runs allowed in 17 games and a MLB-worst .883 OPS against.

How can all this negative be construed into a positive? In short, things can’t be worse when it comes to run prevention. Even if the Pirates improve to, say, a slightly below-league-average, that would work wonders for their ability to win games considering their offense. And many of their most important pitchers are performing at levels below what their career track record suggests, indicating they will be better in the months ahead.

3. Health, at last?

The Pirates were hit harder by injury than arguably any team over the first 2½ months of the season. But, assuming their luck changes and no one else gets hurt, many of their important players are poised to return to action soon. Already, Corey Dickerson, Williams, Polanco, Marte, Kevin Newman, Jung Ho Kang, Chris Archer and Kyle Crick have come off injured list stints.

Indications are the likes of Francisco Cervelli, Erik Gonzalez and Jordan Lyles aren’t far behind. The prognoses for Jameson Taillon and Keone Kela — two important arms — are more murky. But if they are able to come back (and perform well) and no one else of prominence gets injured, it’s possible the Pirates of the second half could win many more games than the Pirates of the first half.

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