The Pirates reached the midpoint of their season on Saturday night with a 7-6 loss to the Brewers at Miller Park, as Eric Sogard negated the Bucs’ wild, hitless rally against Josh Hader with a walk-off, two-run homer against right-hander Richard Rodríguez.

Avisaíl García’s pinch-hit, two-run double in the eighth off lefty Nik Turley gave Hader a lead heading into the ninth, but the All-Star lefty had no command of anything when he took the mound, missing wildly as he walked five of the six Pirates he faced. Jacob Stallings’ bases-loaded free pass tied the game and then Adam Frazier took four straight pitches to put the Pirates ahead. Rodríguez walked Jace Peterson, fell behind Sogard then gave up a two-run blast to right-center field.

• Box score

“It was an interesting three half-innings there to close the game,” Stallings said. “We responded well off Hader, and then Sogard hit a mistake. It stinks.”

Here are five things we’ve learned about the Pirates, who are now 9-21 halfway through this shortened season:

1. This is about the future
You’ll hear manager Derek Shelton and general manager Ben Cherington say often that their goal is to “get better” this year. It’s a season centered around development and evaluation. And if that wasn’t going to be the case on Opening Day, it certainly became the focus after the Pirates’ injury-plagued, 4-17 start.

The Pirates have used 28 different lineups in 30 games. They’re moving players around the diamond, with Cole Tucker learning center field on the fly. They’ve used 27 different pitchers. They’ve used mistakes as what Shelton called “teaching points” for younger players.

“I think everyone’s growing,” Stallings said. “Whether you’re doing poorly or well, if you’re at least taking advantage of your failures, you’re still growing.”

2. This season has only created more questions about their lineup
Coming into the year, the Pirates felt good about the top of their order, including Kevin Newman, Bryan Reynolds, Adam Frazier, Gregory Polanco and Bell.

But that group has mostly disappointed, the primary reason Pittsburgh has the lowest on-base percentage and OPS in the Majors. It’s a small sample size, sure, but the results matter as the Bucs are deciding who to build around.

What those hitters have been to this point is not necessarily what they are going to be moving forward, however. Although he’s batting just .217 with a .592 OPS, Bell offered a reminder of his potential Saturday as he went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a 413-foot homer to center.

“For the rest of the year, I’m just going to try to get my ‘A’ swing off and see where it takes me,” Bell said. “If I get 12 really good swings off in the night and I go 0-for, I’m going to be happy. But if I’m out reaching for balls I shouldn’t be swinging at, it’s kind of tough to sleep at night. So I’ll take the first route.”

3. Jacob Stallings has been their best overall player
There is no All-Star Game this season, but if there was, the Pirates probably would be sending Stallings as their only representative.

Stallings is hitting .323 with an .813 OPS, better than anyone on the team besides Colin Moran. He leads the club with 1.0 wins above replacement and a .397 on-base percentage.

“You don’t see him overswing,” Shelton said. “When guys throw away, he takes his hits the other way. When they throw breaking balls, he pulls them. He’s been really consistent with his at-bats.”

But the 30-year-old catcher’s real value has shown behind the plate, where he has by at least one measure been baseball’s best defensive catcher. Stallings entered Saturday with 5 defensive runs saved, the most among Major League catchers.

“I would be hard-pressed to say that anybody’s caught better in baseball,” Shelton said. “When you start to talk about Gold Gloves and handing them out, if he’s not at the top of the list, I think people are missing it. I don’t think anybody’s caught better.”

4. Their planning and preparation really is different
Under former pitching coach Ray Searage, the Pirates featured one of the most fastball-heavy pitching staffs in baseball. That has changed this year, with the Bucs having 49.4% fastballs entering Saturday -- by far their lowest percentage since pitch-tracking data became available. They’re also throwing their fastballs in different locations, focusing more on four-seamers up in the zone rather than sinkers down and in.

That approach is paying off for pitchers like Chad Kuhl, who’s been able to better utilize his slider and curveball. It’s helped JT Brubaker evolve from a straightforward sinker/slider starter to someone with an emerging arsenal that could help him hold on to a spot in the rotation. The rookie gave up two runs and struck out six over five innings on Saturday.

“I thought today was his best outing,” Stallings said. “I thought I did a better job with him, just giving him a chance to do well in terms of mixing more, using the two-seam and four-seam fastball. He pitched at the top of the zone a lot more, which JT hasn’t really done in the past.”

5. We still haven’t learned enough
What happens before 4 p.m. ET on Monday could tell us a lot about Cherington’s timeline for building a contending team.

Cherington said he’s not making anyone off-limits in trade talks, which could make for a busy couple days before the Trade Deadline on Monday. Even players with years of club control remaining might not be around the next time the Pirates truly believe they have a chance to contend, so they could be dealt over the next two days or this offseason.

“We have such a great group of young guys that I'm excited to be around and play with. I love being here. I love being a Pirate,” Bell said Friday. “I'm sure everybody else in the club also said the same thing. But, you know those decisions aren't for us to make. That's above my pay grade.”

There is also more to learn about a number of Pirates pitchers who have been sidelined by injuries, although some players have stepped up in their absence. Brubaker has shown some encouraging signs. Cody Ponce pitched well in his first big league start. Relievers Geoff Hartlieb, Sam Howard and Turley have stepped into bigger roles than expected.

But considering how little they’ve pitched, how can we determine what the Pirates have in Mitch Keller, Joe Musgrove, Kyle Crick, Clay Holmes, Nick Burdi and Michael Feliz? And what can we make of their top prospects without seeing them play?

That group includes third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, outfielder Jared Oliva, starter Cody Bolton, reliever Blake Cederlind and shortstop Oneil Cruz. Some of them could make their debuts in the second half of this season, giving us the opportunity to learn more about the next wave of young Pittsburgh players.