Posts

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: One Tough Loss

Final Score: Pirates 7 Diamondbacks 8 in 12 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: The Diamondbacks got off to a great start against Bubba Chandler. It was also a very fortunate start. With the exception of a triple in the first inning, they blooped and broke their bats for 8 hits scoring 5 runs in 4 innings. They scored a 6th run in the sixth inning when the Pirates decided to play their infield back. The Pirates made a spectacular comeback scoring 3 runs in the eighth and 3 in the ninth to send the game into extra innings. A major failure in situational hitting in the 11th and 12th cost them the game. The Pirates had a lot of bad luck in this game but in the end they failed miserably in basic baseball and strategy.

Key Moments Of The Game: There were many big moments in this game. The two out hitting in the eighth and the big home runs by Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds that enabled the Pirates to tie the game and send it into extra innings. The game boiled down to the eleventh and twelfth innings. The Pirates were able to hold the Diamondbacks scoreless thanks to an intentional walk and double play. The Diamondbacks pulled the same strategy and got the same double play. The Diamondbacks scored in the 12th inning with a bunt and a base hit. Nick Gonzales opened the bottom of the 12th by swinging at the first pitch and grounding it to third without advancing the runner. Endy Rodriguez struck out. This brought up Tyler Callihan who for some strange reason pinch ran for Marcell Ozuna in the 8th inning. He was 0 for his last 13 with 8 strikeouts. He made it 0 for 14 with 9 strikeouts to end the game.

Next Game: This afternoon Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. This is a significant game because if the the Pirates win they will have the tie breaker against the Diamondbacks. Lose and they will have a 2-4 home stand going into a stretch where they play the next 11 of 14 games on the road. This is the 15 game stretch that will make or break the season. In the middle of all this is the trade deadline. Will there be meaningful games in September. Stay tuned.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Didn’t Give This One Away

Final Score: Pirates 3 Diamondbacks 2 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Won: The bullpen did the job. They held the Diamondbacks scoreless over the last 4 and 2/3 innings of the game. They held them to 2 hits while only walking one. Mitch Keller had his second good start going 5 and 1/3 giving up 2 runs on 6 hits while walking one. The whole staff came up big when they needed to, allowing only 2 hits in 14 at bats with runners in scoring position. The Diamondbacks left 10 runners on base. Brandon Lowe had a big game going 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs, including the game winner. Bryan Reynolds drove in the tying run in the bottom of the 8th. The Pirates did not give this one away. Maybe this will start a trend.

Key Moments Of The Game: Keller was doing well going into the top of the 6th. Things began to unravel as the inning opened with 2 singles. Keller struck out the next batter. An infield hit loaded the bases. Max Kepler took a low changeup and ripped it down the right field line for a double to drive in 2 runs. I was a little surprised it did not clear the bases. In came Yohan (Doing Better Than I Thought He Would) Ramirez. He got Tyler Locklear to ground out to Jared Triolo who threw the runner out at the plate. He battled Adrian Del Castillo for 8 pitches getting him to ground out to first to end the inning. In the top of the 10th Mason Montgomery over came a Nick Gonzales throwing error to hold the Diamondbacks scoreless. This put runners on second and third with one out. In a battle royal Montgomery struck out Gabriel Moore on an eleven pitch at bat. He fouled off 7 pitches. On the first pitch of the at bat, Max Kepler hit a solid line drive but right to Jake Magnum in center to end the inning. Brandon Lowe got the game winner and the Pirates had a big win. Two more to go.

Next game: Tonight, Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. Bubba Chandler goes for the Pirates. Chandler has pitched better the last 6 weeks culminating with his best performance of the year against the Yankees limiting them to just 2 hits in 6 and 1/3 innings. He walked just one. After the debacle with the Cubs the Pirates really need a sweep. No sense speculating on the Esmerlyn Valdez wrist injury. We can just hope it is nothing serious. Can the Pirates keep this going?

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Eight Runs Just Enough To Avoid Sweep

Final Score: Pirates 8 Cubs 7

Why The Pirates Won: The bats came out of their slumber to score 8 runs on 11 hits to go along with 3 walks. Recent call up Shawn Ross, who has a career minor league batting average of .188 hit a big 2 run home run in the bottom of the 2nd to get the Pirates rolling. Earlier in the inning Esmerlyn Valdez hit a solo homer to tie the game 1-1. Ryan O’ Hearn hit the big blast in the bottom of the 3rd, a grand slam to give the Pirates a 7-1 advantage. In the bottom of the 5th Valdez drove in the 8th run which proved to be the deciding run. The trio of Braxton Ashcraft, Carmen Mlodzinski and Mason Montgomery came close to blowing the lead. Combined they gave up 7 runs on 12 hits while walking 2. However the Pirates held on to avoid a disastrous sweep and keep the wild card a distinct possibility.

Key Moments Of The Game: You cannot over emphasize how big the 2 run homer by Ross was. There were 2 outs when he took a 3-2 cutter and drilled 438 feet into the left field seats. After giving up 3 runs in the top of the 4th Ashcraft really settled down to retire the side in order the next two innings. In the top of the 8th Mlodzinski started the inning giving up 3 straight hits. This made the score 8-5 with the Cubs having runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out. Mlodzinski was able to retire the next 3 batters with no further damage. Montgomery, after giving up a lead off single was able to strike out Pete Crow-Armstrong for the first out in the top of the 9th. He then threw a 1-1 curveball right down the middle to Seiya Suzuki and he hit it into the seats to suddenly make the score 8-7. Michael Busch battled for 8 pitches but finally grounded out to first. This brought up Pirate killer Ian Happ. Montgomery mowed him down on 5 pitches and the Pirates had a much needed win.

Next Game: Tonight Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. It’s Keller vs. Kelly in the first game of the series. The Diamondbacks are the team directly in front of the Pirates for the final Wild Card spot. A sweep here would take some of the bad taste that the Cubs series left. It was good to see the bats wake up. They need to continue to do so if the Pirates are going to pull off the sweep.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: This Is Why You Do Not Give Games Away

Final Score: Pirates 0 Cubs 11

Why The Pirates Lost: The offense continues to slump. One run in the last 27 innings of regular baseball. Paul Skenes pitched a great 4 innings but then fell apart for the next 1 and 1/3 innings. The bullpen stunk giving up 6 runs in 3 and 2/3 innings. The only pitcher not to give up a run was Tyler Callihan. Of course, he is not a pitcher. Ron Marinaccio showed how great waiver deals are. He pitched 1 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and did not have a ball hit under 90 MPH. The new Pirate pitching theory, pitch to hard contact. Look, blowout games are going to happen. That is why giving away games like the Pirates have all season will come back to haunt you.

Key Moments Of The Game: Skenes had struck out the side in the top of the 4th. The top of the fifth started off harmlessly with a pop out to Henry Davis. Then 4 straight hits and before you could say this game is over it was 3-0 Cubs. Two of the hits were weak liners under 80 MPH but were placed perfectly. After that our waiver built bullpen did their thing and the rout was on.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Pittsburgh. The offense is going to have to come out of their funk or the Pirates will be swept today. Jameson Taillon is pitching for the Cubs. The Pirates have hit him pretty well at times. The Pirates lose today and you can feel the season slipping away.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Give Another One Away But This Was A Total Team Effort

Final Score: Pirates 2 Cubs 3 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: Everyone contributed to this loss. The offense could not get runners in from 3rd with less than 2 outs. The manager made his usual horrible decisions. The bullpen gave away the deciding run. Only the starting pitching namely Jared Jones could hold its head up high. He went six innings giving up one run on 2 hits, walking 1 and striking out 5. He threw 83 pitches. Unfortunately one of the hits was a solo homer by Pete Crow-Armstrong. The Pirates had their chances but could only plate 1 run despite getting 8 hits and 3 walks in regulation.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the bottom of the 5th the Pirates opened the inning with 2 walks, a bunt single, and an infield single to plate 1 run. They had the bases loaded with nobody out and the top of the order up. Jake Magnum and Nick Gonzales both hit very short fly balls to the outfield that could not advance any runners. Bryan Reynolds struck out. Crow-Armstrong hit his homer the very next inning to quickly tie the game. In the bottom of the 7th the Pirates had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Gonzales hit a 266 foot fly ball to left. Ian Happ made a great throw to nail Henry Davis at the plate. Yohan Ramirez pitched the top of the 10th. He got 2 outs sandwiched between an infield single putting runners on 1st and 2nd. That’s when Ramirez started to lose control. Don Kelly paid no attention. He fell behind Dansby Swanson 2-0. He threw a fastball right down the middle and Swanson drilled it 105 MPH into center field to score the go ahead run on a bang-bang play at the plate that was not overturned. Ramirez then threw 2 straight balls to Crow-Armstrong that weren’t even close, eventually leading to an intentional walk. This is where Ramirez should have been taken out. Kelly sat on his hands. After all the game was only on the line. Ramirez walked Seiya Suzuki on 4 straight pitches with only one being remotely close to the strike zone, walking in the deciding run of the game.He had thrown 8 out of 9 pitches for balls. He should have never been allowed to that, hence, a 3-2 loss.

Next Game: Tonight Cubs in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes goes for the Pirates tonight. He has won his last 3 starts and they all have been good but not dominant. The Pirates need to bounce back from that gift wrapped win they gave the Cubs last night. The offense has been held pretty much in check the last 2 games. This can happen to any offense. Hopefully they will snap out of it soon.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Their Newest Acquisition

The Pirates acquired relief pitcher Ron Marinaccio from the San Diego Padres on, what else a waiver deal. The best thing you might say about the deal is it got them to DFA Dennis Santana. At first glance Marinaccio doesn’t seem much better. He has appeared in 33 games for the Padres and has an ERA of 4.79. However, he had two bad outings where he worked a total of 2 innings and gave up 9 runs. Take out those two outings and that brings his ERA down to 3.20, which is more in line with his lifetime ERA of 3.50. No matter what, this is not a deal you can get all that excited about. Hopefully the Pirates can do better than this. I am sure Marinaccio will be put to the test this weekend. The last time he pitched was the 18th so he is well rested. You never know though. I am sure Don Kelly is just itching to put future DFA candidate Brandon Eisert back into a high leverage situation with the game on the line. The wild card home stand starts tonight..

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Being Shutout Makes Another Horrible Decision Tolerable

Final Score: Game 1: Pirates 5 Yankees 3 in 10 innings

Final Score Game 2: Pirates 0 Yankees 2

Why The Pirates Won One And Lost One: Both starting pitchers were taken out of the game too early. In the first game, Mitch Keller had thrown only 75 pitches through 5 innings. He had not allowed the Yankees to score, giving up only 3 hits and walking 2. In game 2, Bubba Chandler was doing even better through 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up 0 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk. He had thrown only 84 pitches. Here is the thing: Both of these pitchers, when they have struggled, have thrown as many as 95 to 100 pitches through as little as 4 or 5 innings. So why is it not okay for them to throw that many pitches AT LEAST when they are mowing the opposition down? Taking Keller out almost cost them game 1. Taking Chandler out in game 2 definitely cost them at least extending game 2 into extra innings. Not only did they take Chandler out in the 7th inning, but replaced him with one of their two worst relievers, the lousy left-hander Brandon Eisert. He immediately gave up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning, sending his sparkling ERA to 6.68. There were other options out there. In game 2, the Pirates’ bats were silenced to the tune of no runs on just 3 hits and 3 walks. The fact the offense was shut out made the awful decision just a little more tolerable, but just barely. The road trip ended with a 3-3 record, knowing that the Pirates really gave away 2 of those games. With the proper managing, they could have been 5-1.

Key Moments Of The Games: In game one, Gerrit Cole did not allow a baserunner for the first 4 and 1/3 innings. Nick Gonzales broke that up with a single, and Jacob Gonzalez followed with a line drive home run to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead. Greg Brown, earlier in the broadcast, wanted everyone to know that the two were not related. No kidding, Brown; they spell their names differently. In the top of the 10th, Jared Triolo and Jake Mangum put two singles together to drive in two runs, giving the Pirates a 5-3 lead. Lowe walked to load the bases with just one out. Bryan Reynolds and Esmerlyn Valdez both struck out, and you thought that would come back to haunt the Pirates. Gregory Soto pitched a solid 9th to preserve the lead, and the Pirates won game 1. In game two, before the 7th inning debacle where the Yankees scored 2 runs, the Pirates had a chance in the top of the inning to take the lead themselves. Jared Triolo opened the inning with a single. Bryan Reynolds struck out on a 3-2 pitch; Triolo stole 2nd and went to 3rd on the errant throw. Valdez walked, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Ryan O’Hearn, who had a bad day going 0 for 8 with 5 strikeouts, was up next, followed by Marcell Ozuna. Both had horrible at-bats. O’Hearn struck out, swinging at a ball out of the zone for strike 2. Ozuna was even worse. He took two called strikes, fouled one off that was in the strike zone, and swung and missed a ball that was a foot outside to strike out. In the top of the 9th, they had a mild threat going, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. Of course, O’Hearn made the last out of the game on a bang-bang play at first base that was upheld on replay. When it is not your day, it is not your day.

Next Game: Friday night, Cubs in Pittsburgh. You can call this the wild card home stand. The Cubs are 4.5 games ahead of the Pirates for the Wild Card. The Diamondbacks are .5 games ahead of the Pirates. If there ever was a time for the Pirates to win 6 in a row or at least 5 of 6 this is it. They have to do at least better than 3-3 on this homestand. Playing .500 ball at home against your main wild card competition is simply not good enough. Even though the road trip could have been better being .500 against the Guardians and the Yankees on the road is acceptable. Can this team finally do something that makes it seem that they can really make the playoffs. Stay tuned.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: You’re Not In Cleveland Any More Donnie

Final Score: Pirates 5 Yankees 8

Why the Pirates Lost: In a very odd game where all the scoring took place in the first three innings, the Yankees simply out-hit the Pirates. Braxton Ashcraft could not keep Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the ballpark, as he hit two home runs, driving in five runs. He wasn’t the only problem for Ashcraft, as he gave up seven more hits and three more runs in just three innings of work. The Pirates scored three in the second inning and two in the third. Esmerlyn Valdez hit a two-run homer in the third to continue his incredible start in the big leagues. After the third inning, the Pirates were shut down, getting only three hits and three walks over the last six innings. Wilber Dotel returned to form, pitching three innings, giving up one hit and striking out five. Dennis Santana got into an altercation over a batter trying to psyche him out over the pitch timer. Santana really thinks that anybody would need to psyche him out the way he pitches. The Pirates are now 2-2 on the road trip. I wonder if Greg Brown still thinks the Pirates are “surging,” now that they are 7-4 in their last 11 games.

Key Moments of the Game: The Pirates looked like they might get something going in two innings. In the top of the 4th, Henry Davis singled, and Billy Cook got on when the third baseman muffed a ground ball. Nick Gonzales grounded into a routine double play, and Brandon Lowe struck out to end the inning. In the top of the 8th, Ryan O’Hearn singled to open the inning. He was immediately erased when Marcell Ozuna grounded into a double play. Jacob Gonzalez singled, but Tyler Callihan struck out pinch hitting for Henry Davis. The Pirates went down in order in the 9th.

Next Game: Tonight, Yankees in New York. Bubba Chandler will start for the Pirates. He has been looking better lately and he will need to be tonight. The Pirates need to win at least one of the next two games. It would be nice if they won both so they can go back to “surging”. Don’t look now but I would say the Red Sox are surging by winning 14 in a row. Despite their issues the Pirates have risen to a 3 way tie with Cardinals and the Marlins for the final wild card spot. The pressure will continue to ramp up on this team to perform and make a move at the trade deadline. How will they do? Stay tuned.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Cooking The Guardians

Final Score: Pirates 7 Guardians 1

Why The Pirates Won: Yesterday I wrote that if the Pirates have a chance to win today’s game, Paul Skenes would have to go 8 innings. He went 7 innings. What I did not know would happen is that Billy Cook would have the best game of his career. He went 3 for 4, with two singles and a triple. He scored 2 runs and drove in 2 runs. He stole a base and threw a runner out at the plate in the bottom of the 4th, thanks in part to the Guardians’ apparent aversion to sliding into home. This was the second time in as many games. The Guardians made many other baserunning blunders that made Paul Skenes’ outing better than it really was. The word “gem” was thrown out there again by the Pirates’ website. This outing was far from a gem. The Indians could only muster 1 run on 7 hits and two walks. Besides the horrible baserunning of the Guardians, Skenes was aided by some great defense by the Pirates. This is to take nothing away from Skenes’ performance. It was a solid outing, but it was not any kind of gem. This is one of the worst hitting teams in baseball, and they knocked Skenes around pretty good. Even though this game ended up being a blowout, by definition, it could have turned in a heartbeat in those first 6 innings.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates led 1-0 going into the bottom of the 3rd. The Guardians got two singles wrapped around a strikeout to put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Steven Kwan laid down a perfect bunt to drive in the run, and when Henry Davis let the shovel throw home get by him, the runner on first went to third. Travis Bazzana worked the count to 3-2. He struck out, and Kwan was thrown out at 2nd trying to steal to end the inning. The score was tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the 4th. Skenes gave up a walk and single to start the inning, putting runners again on 1st and 3rd with no outs this time. Kyle Manzardo lifted a fly to center field that was not deep at all. The Guardians elected to send the runner. Billy Cook made a good throw, but if the runner had slid home, I think he would have been safe. It was a moot point because he went in standing up, and Davis tagged him out for the big double play. Wow! Skenes struck out the next batter to end the inning. The Pirates were able to score in the top of the 5th, thanks to a Billy Cook leadoff triple. He came home when the catcher tried to pick him off 3rd and threw the ball into left field. Skenes walked Gabriel Arias to start the bottom of the 5th. He moved to second base after 2 outs. Henry Davis tried to pick him off 2nd, and the ball went out to centerfield. Arias, however, in his haste to get back to second, overran the base and never touched it again on his way to third. Skenes threw to second before the next pitch, and he was out to end the inning. Here we thought the Pirates were the only ones to make bonehead plays like that. In the top of the 6th, the Pirates added 3 runs, with Billy Cook driving in one and scoring one. In the bottom of the 6th, Steven Kwan tried to stretch a little blooper to left into a double and was thrown out, thanks to instant replay. One out later, Chase DeLauter laced a double to left field. Skenes struck out the next batter. Kahlil Watson got a one-out double in the 7th and proceeded to get picked off by Skenes. Does this sound like a gem to you? This game could have been a lot closer, but the Guardians made sure they were never in this one after the top of the 6th.

Next Game: Tonight, Yankees in New York. The Pirates open a 3 game series against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium. The Pirates should have won all 3 games in Cleveland. They will now have to beat the Yankees 2 out 3 if they are going to have a winning record on this road trip. The Yankees are 10th in league in runs scored and 6th in OPS. They are 4th in run prevention and 3rd in FIP. The Yankees are without some of their big players. Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, left hand pitchers, Max Fried, and Carlos Rodon are all on the IL. The Yankees have played 2 games under .500 since June 1st. The Pirates at the bare minimum have to win one game in New York. They need to win 2 out of 3. Will they ever get bullpen help?

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Management And The Bullpen Blow Another One.

Final Score Game 1: Pirates 7 Guardians 1

Final Score Game 2: Pirates 3 Guardians 5

Why the Pirates Won One and Lost One: The Pirates won Game 1 by going long ball three times, accounting for five of their seven runs. Newcomer Jacob Gonzalez hit a two-run blast in the second. Esmerlyn Valdez hit his two-run shot in the sixth, followed one batter later by Nick Gonzales’s solo home run to make the score 5-1 Pirates. They added two runs in the eighth. This was all backed up by good pitching. Jared Jones pitched five innings, Carmen Mlodzinski three innings, and Isaac Mattson one inning, combining to give up only one run on six hits. They struck out 13 and walked just one. Using Mattson instead of Dennis Santana in Game 1 when you had a 7-1 lead would prove costly in Game 2. The bats went fairly silent in Game 2. The Pirates could only get three runs on six hits, and one of those runs was very lucky. The Guardians lost a pop-up in the night sky, which allowed Nick Gonzales to score. Khristian Curtis, who was the 27th man call up, pitched an outstanding five innings after Mason Montgomery opened the game with a scoreless inning. Curtis gave up zero runs on two hits while walking two and striking out four. The Pirates had a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the eighth. The bullpen needed to get six outs. Technically, they only got three outs. They gave up five runs in one and one-third innings. Because management insists on using Mlodzinski in this ridiculous piggyback role and putting in better pitchers in low-leverage situations, that when the game is tight, all they have left to put in the game are their most ineffective relievers. This has cost them many games, including Game 2 yesterday.

Key Moments Of The Game: In game one, in the bottom of the 7th, the Guardians had a runner on second with two outs. The Pirates were leading 5-1. Patrick Bailey hit a wicked line drive down the first base line that Tyler Calihan made an outstanding catch on. That would have made the score 5-2. The Pirates added those 2 runs to make it 7-1. If the Pirates had taken Mlodzinski out to pitch the 8th, he would have only thrown 28 pitches instead of winding up with 41. In game 2, it was decided to put Dennis Santana in to pitch the 9th in a 3-3 tie. Weak-hitting Patrick Bailey fouled off two pitches, then hit a 97 MPH ground ball to right field for a base hit. Steven Kwan fouled a ball and then placed a line drive down the left line that went all the way to the corner. Bailey was waved home and was thrown out mainly because he did not slide. Travis Bazzana hit a 414-foot home run to right center field on the first pitch he swung at. Dennis Santana threw 9 pitches. All 6 of his pitches that were swung at, the Guardians made contact. Three foul balls, a single, a double, and a home run. If the home run had not been a walk-off, he may have pitched for the cycle. It is bad enough that he is even on the team, but why is he put in the game in key situations? The Pirates ended the game with 2 members of the bullpen with an ERA of over 6. This team is not going to make the playoffs.

Next game: This afternoon Guardians, in Cleveland. Thanks to the Pirates give away last night the Guardians now have a chance to win the series. Paul Skenes is going for the Pirates. Unless Skenes can come up with an 8 inning performance it is very unlikely the Pirates will win today. The Pirate bullpen can’t even protect leads against one of the weakest hitting teams in baseball who is missing their superstar Jose Ramirez. They are 29th in baseball in runs scored and OPS. Beginning of this week the Yankees are looking forward to late inning batting practice.