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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.

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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?

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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.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Remaining Schedule And The Trade Deadline

Today the Pirates embark on the final 65 games of the season. They will be on the road against the Guardians and the Yankees, playing them 3 games each. It is always hard to evaluate how difficult a schedule will be because of how long the season is in baseball. A perfect example is if you had looked at the schedule about 6 weeks ago and saw that the Pirates had 6 games with the Tigers and 3 with the Red Sox after the All-Star break, you would have thought that the Pirates would have a chance to really make some hay. There would be a good possibility that the Tigers would not have Tarik Skubal and the Red Sox would not have Aroldis Chapman. Presently, they are both two of the hottest teams in baseball. The Red Sox are closer to the playoffs than the Pirates. That is not to say that you can’t look at the schedule and pretty much say when a critical part of the schedule is coming up. In my view, it is coming up soon. Beginning on July 30th, the Pirates will embark on a 14-game stretch that will have 11 games on the road. It will start with 4 games in Cincinnati and then 4 games in Milwaukee. They will come home for 3 games with the Mets before embarking on a 3-game road trip to Miami. Depending on how they do up to that point, I am not sure they can afford to go even 7-7 in this stretch of games. If the Pirates can hang in there, the good news is that 14 of the 23 games in September are at home.

The trade deadline is August 3rd at 6 PM. There is no way you can try to speculate what the Pirates will do, especially considering the way they think. A prime example is this recent acquisition from the Nationals of one of their first-round busts. I will be a passive onlooker and hope that I won’t be shaking my head at 6 PM on the 3rd. It is much more fun to just go ahead and write what I would do at the trade deadline and how I would move forward with this team. It is going to be very difficult to get bullpen help at the deadline because of the expanded playoffs and how awful the American League is this year. There are very few teams that are really totally out of the playoffs in both leagues. I would look for a mid-rotation starter and make one bold move to improve the bullpen. My main target would be Robbie Ray of the Giants. He is left-handed and having a very solid year with an ERA+ of 119. He is at the end of his big five-year deal and will be a free agent in 2027. He probably would come fairly cheap, with the Pirates only having to give up no more than two mid-level prospects. There are some other guys out there you could go after, but they are right-handed and would likely be more costly. To me, Ray is the perfect acquisition. Then I would make Jared Jones my closer; to me, he is the perfect option. He runs on adrenaline and seems like he likes the big moment. I would change Carmen Mlodzinski to be my main setup man. Gregory Soto would mostly work the seventh inning. You would have Mason Montgomery, Isaac Mattson, and Yohan Ramirez as your main fill-in guys, along with newcomer Brandon Eisert. You would part ways with Dennis Santana. If you wanted to ease Jones into the bullpen role, you could make Mlodzinski the closer and see what happens. Jones would be your eighth-inning man. Either way, the bullpen would look a lot better with those moves.

With the Pirates sweeping the Brewers before the All-Star break, it buoyed everyone’s spirits and put the Pirates in a better position than they deserved. They blew a lot of leads this season. It is always hard to predict what any team will do from this point on. One thing is for sure: the Pirates cannot afford to tread water any more this season. They have to have a solid run if they are going to make the playoffs. I think they will have to go a minimum of 37-28 for the rest of the season. That would put them at 87 wins. I would feel a lot better if they could win even one more game than that. Do I think they can do that? Frankly, no. I hope I am wrong, and they could surprise me at the trade deadline; that might change my mind. At the bare minimum, I would finally like to see meaningful games in September. I am not sure they can even do that.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirate Broadcast Booth Propaganda

We all know that the Pirate broadcast booth is nothing more than a mouthpiece for Bob Nutting trying to convince the public that the Pirates are better than they really are. If you had listened to the opening of the Pirate broadcast over the years and never watched a game, you would have thought that the Pirates had won many division titles and a couple of World Series. Let’s face it, they have to answer to their boss just like everybody else. It is especially bad when your boss is one of the worst owners in baseball. But even allowing for all of that, I still think it is wrong when you cherry pick data or ignore certain aspects of the data just to make the Pirates look good. There were two recent examples of this. One was just a statement that was not backed up. The other was how good the Pirates record was against teams that are over .500. Here are the two examples of Pirate Propaganda.

It was stated by Joe Block that this team is the greatest hitting team in Pirate history. There is one way of looking at this that will show that the 2026 Pirates are the best hitting team in the team’s history. They beat every team when the hitting statistics of each past Pirate team includes the pitchers who batted until the DH came to the National League. Fortunately, Baseball Reference keeps data on teams that does not include the pitchers batting. Granted there were some pitchers on the Pirates over the years that batted better than Henry Davis but that is not the point. There are two ways of looking at how well a team hits. The raw number of OPS and the comparison number of OPS+ which takes into consideration the overall hitting environment of that particular year. There is no question that this current crop of Pirate hitters are having one great season so far. Their current OPS is .768. There were four Pirate teams that finished their seasons with a higher OPS. The 1979, 1960, 1925 and 1927 Pirates all had a higher OPS. The 1990, 1992, 1976, and the 1972 Pirates had an OPS over .750 but below .768. The current Pirate hitters have an OPS+ 110. The 1925 team had an OPS+ of 111. The 1972 Pirates were at 114. The 1990 and 91 Pirates were 113 and 115 respectively. There is the possibility that the 2026 Pirates may surpass these teams. They could go in the other direction too, and there would be some other teams that would past them. This team is doing amazing things at the plate, but they are not the greatest hitting team in Pirate history, at least for the moment.

The second stat the broadcast booth put out that was misleading was the Pirates record against clubs with a winning record. I wish I had copied it down now, but it was several games above .500. In other words it was pretty good or it would have never been brought up. Just because you played at the time a team that was over .500 does not mean that it was a good team especially early in the season. The Pirates have played 9 teams that if the postseason started tomorrow would be in the playoffs. They are the Dodgers, Brewers, Braves, Cubs, Phillies and Marlins in the National League. In the American League it is the Rays, Rangers, and Mariners. Against those teams the Pirates record is 19-22. In my view not a bad record but not above .500. The Pirates first games after the All Star break are against the Guardians and Yankees two other teams that would be in the playoffs. That record will be changing quickly once the season starts up again. As I wrote before this is part of the job description for being a Pirate broadcaster. I watch the Padres broadcasts when I am in San Diego. They give a much better balanced view of the team. The Padres have been struggling this year especially their big stars. They do not try and hide or sugar coat that fact. Of course, the Padres have been trying to win games and make the playoffs for the last 7 years. You cannot say that about the Pirates. Tomorrow I will look at the remaining 65 game schedule and the trade deadline.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Bullpen Woes, We Should Have Seen It Coming

The Pirates bullpen last year was ranked 2nd in overall performance. That is where the crux of the problem lies, overall performance. The bullpen was pitching for a last-place team that could not hit. Many times, the bullpen came into games that were already decided, or the Pirates were at least 2 or 3 runs behind. The Pirates were out of contention for a playoff spot by the middle of May. In the things that really matter, last year’s bullpen was not much better than this year’s bullpen that is ranked 23rd. The 2025 bullpen only had a 58% save percentage, ranking them 24th in the league. This year’s bullpen is worse but not by much, having a 53% save percentage, putting them in 27th place. At the top of the list is the Houston Astros with an 85% save percentage. The Rays, Phillies, and Guardians are all at 74% and above. In allowing inherited runners to score, the 2025 bullpen was worse than this bullpen. Last year’s bullpen allowed 35% of inherited runners to score, placing them 23rd in the league. This year, they have allowed 30% of runners to score, placing them 15th in the league. I am a little upset with myself for not digging deeper into last year’s Pirates bullpen sooner and kept thinking that this bullpen was going to be good this year. However, let’s face it: I am an old retired veterinarian who plays golf every day and tries to keep track of the Pirates the best that I can. What is more alarming is that the Pirate management and analytics team did not seem to realize that this bullpen was not really all that great last year. This is supposed to be their job. It is obvious that they missed this since they did next to nothing to bolster the bullpen and even made it weaker by the end of last season. Let us take a look at each reliever’s body of work and not just when he went through a hot streak. These are the main relievers in 2025 and 2026. It will be a brief synopsis focusing on ERA, FIP, and ERA+ and the years each reliever spent in AAA and how he did. Be prepared not to be impressed.

Dennis Santana: He has a lifetime ERA in the majors 4.34. His FIP 3.89 His lifetime ERA+ is 98 slightly below league average. In 6 seasons in AAA he had an ERA of 5.93. With that background the Pirates eventually made him the closer.

Isaac Mattson: Lifetime ERA of 3.48. He has a FIP 3.94. A lifetime ERA+ of 127. In 6 seasons at AAA his ERA was 3.87. Isaac Mattson has always been Isaac Mattson. He has been a pitcher that seems to thrive on work. The Pirates stop using him as much. His effectiveness declined. What a surprise

Carmen Mlodzinski: By far the best pitcher out of the bullpen that they presently have. Lifetime ERA of 3.24. A FIP of 3.51 and an ERA+ of 134. In 4 seasons at AAA he has an ERA of 3.65.

Yohan Ramirez: Having a better year than I ever thought he would. Still his body of work is far from impressive. Lifetime ERA 4.43, a FIP of 4.58 and an ERA+ of 97. I think he is on a fortunate run right now and should never be trusted to hold on to a lead. However the Pirates have made him one of the mainstays of the bullpen.

The Pirates dumped Kyle Nicolas, Caleb Ferguson, Chase Shugart, and Dauri Moreta. All good movers. Two that they may regret are David Bednar and Colin Holderman. It may be just the volatility of the bullpen, but Holderman is currently having his best year with the Guardians. He has only allowed 2 runs in his last 18 outings. Holderman was always a mystery to me. He had a fastball that would regularly hit 99 to 100 MPH but would rarely throw it. At least he and Cleveland have figured something out for now. David Bednar is showing that the big stage in New York is not bothering him. He has not allowed a run since May 18th. No Pirate reliever can make that statement.

Gregory Soto: The first of the 2026 additions. A lifetime ERA of 4.24. Has not had more than 3 saves in a season since 2022. The Pirates make him the closer when Santana falters. Had some success early but not as much lately. Has had some outings where he has really been fortunate. Not somebody you are looking to put in the bottom of the 9th with a one run lead.

Mason Montgomery: Has some potential but right now the same Montgomery he has always been. Lifetime ERA of 4.66 and ERA+ of 91. He strikeouts a lot of batters and despite more than the average walks per 9 innings has a FIP of 3.23. In three AAA seasons he had an ERA of 5.40. He has had his ups and downs this season. He has not been bad lately and may be someone to look to down the stretch.

Brandon Eisert: Just added to the bullpen and he should fit right in. Lifetime ERA of 4.71 and ERA+ of 89. Lifetime FIP of 4.58. Basically replacing Evan Sisk.

Justin Lawrence: We would be remiss if we did not mention Justin Lawrence. He did not pitch much last year due to injury. In 17 appearances he was dominate only giving up one run. The Pirates were hoping that this was not a fluke. It was. He went back to being the pitcher that has a lifetime ERA of 5.34 and an ERA+ of 89. This all leads to a lifetime WAR of -1.4.

There are other pitchers that have come out of the pen this year for the Pirates, but those are the pitchers that have been doing the bulk of the work for the last 1 to 2 years. With that body of work it should have been no surprise that bullpen would falter. Add that to the fact that the Pirates thought it would be a good idea to put two pitchers who were starters their whole careers in the bullpen to start the season: Hunter Barco and Jose Urquidy. Barco was immediately put into high-leverage situations. Barco is on the IL, and Urquidy is starting to show some life as a starter in AAA, getting his ERA down to 3.67. The bottom line on all of this is that this bullpen does not need a fix but rather a complete overhaul. They did have that very good Saturday against the 1st place Brewers. To me, that was just another fluke. I hope I am wrong. It is going to be very difficult to improve this bullpen at the trade deadline. I will discuss this more on Friday and take a look at the schedule. Tomorrow, I will look at the Pirate propaganda coming out of the Pirate broadcast booth—what they won’t do just to try and sell tickets. They know how to make it up.

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Pirates Morning Report: At The All Star Break

The Pirates stand 50-47 at the All-Star break. Despite all the blown saves, all the poor decisions, and some really horrible losses, this team is still in it. Besides all of that, they have had injuries to many key players, but it still has not slowed this offense down. In fact, this offense is better than it was at the 60-game mark. The pitching has gone in the other direction so much that the Pirates could only muster an 18-19 record. The sweep of the Brewers got them to the point where they are now. Let’s take a look at how much this offense has improved and how the pitching continues to implode.

When we last took a look at the offense, they were 5th in runs per game and 5th in OPS. Now they are tied for 1st in runs scored per game with the Washington Nationals. They are only 2nd to the Dodgers in OPS. The offense is led by none other than Bryan Reynolds. He is having his best year since 2021. Of course, Esmerlyn Valdez has exploded onto the scene. In just 105 plate appearances, he has a slash line of .309/.371/.713 for an Aaron Judge-like OPS of 1.084. It is a small sample size, but he has been something to watch. This team now has 11 players that have an OPS above league average. It would seem very improbable that this team can keep this up even after the injured players return. For the time being, they just seem to feed off each other. The Pirates will have some tough decisions to make when everyone gets healthy. More on that later in the week.

Unbelievably, we now get to the part of the team that is keeping this team from being the No. 1 wild card team and challenging for the division title. The Pirates’ pitching staff continues its downward spiral. At the 60-game mark, they were 14th in baseball in run prevention. They have fallen all the way to 23rd. They were 8th in Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP); today they are 10th. Not much of a fall, but still declining. The bullpen ERA is one of the worst in baseball. This pitching staff has been so bad that it is a miracle that the Pirates are 3 games over .500. One of the big problems for this staff is finding the strike zone. Last season, they gave up the 8th fewest walks in baseball. This year, they have given up the 8th most walks. The Pirates still have an above-average starting rotation, which is ranked 10th in baseball. Last year, they were ranked 4th. You do not need stats to know that the bullpen is well below league average, and they are ranked 23rd in baseball. Even though they were ranked 5th last year, I will show that we should have seen this coming. It is going to be very difficult for the Pirates to correct this problem. Another discussion for later in the week. The Pirates continue to have defensive problems; they are ranked 25th in defensive efficiency. The good news here is that they are really not that far from becoming an average fielding team. It is something they need to improve on, but it seems doable. I am not so sure about the pitching.

The Pirate position players are ranked in the top half of the league except at first base. Spencer Horwitz’s -4 in defensive runs saved so far this year has dropped the 1st base position down to 22nd in baseball. Catching has been the biggest improvement thanks to Endy Rodríguez and the improved bat of Henry Davis. For the first time in his career, he has a positive WAR at 0.6. His career WAR is -0.9. The catchers are ranked 8th in all of baseball. At one time, they were as low as 27th. Left field, where Bryan Reynolds has the most appearances, is the highest-ranked position at 3rd, and 2nd base, Brandon Lowe’s position, is ranked 4th. The Pirates have the 6th best outfield in all of baseball. That is quite a jump from 2025, where they were ranked 27th last year. Of course, our DH is ranked 27th, but that is still better than 29th from last year. It has been one strange season in this regard. Our strength continues to get stronger, and our weakness continues to get weaker. Hopefully, our offense can at least maintain itself for the rest of the season. Somehow, someway the pitching has got to find an answer. So far, they have not come close. They did have a good day against the Brewers on the split doubleheader games. It was probably just a fluke. Tomorrow, an in-depth look at the bullpen.

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Pirates Morning Report: Blow Out Win To Sweep Series

Final Score: Pirates 14 Brewers 5

Why The Pirates Won: Their offense exploded with the bottom of the order shining. Marcell Ozuna went 2 for 5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Jared Triolo went 3 for 5 driving in 2 runs. Henry Davis had the biggest day going 2 for 4 with a home run and 3 RBIs. They accounted for 7 of the 14 runs. Every starter got a hit and either drove a run in or scored a run. The Pirates pounded out 15 hits with 7 of them being for extra bases. They were 7 for 13 with runners in scoring position. It was a nice easy win for Paul Skenes. He went 5 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on just 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 7. The Pirates swept the Brewers and find themselves 3 games over .500 going into the All Star game. They are 2 games out of the wild card.

The Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates caught a break when the Brewers decided to rest Jacob Misiorowski who has arm fatigue. They took full advantage scoring 4 runs in the 2nd inning using a very aggressive approach. The Pirates sent 7 men to the plate that inning and not one batter saw more than 3 pitches. One batter hit the first pitch, four batters hit the 2nd pitch and 2 batters hit the 3rd pitch. In the big 10 run 4th inning the first out was not recorded until after the 10th man in the inning had batted. The Pirates can rest on their laurels until July 17th when they go play the Guardians in Cleveland.

Next Game: On Friday, Guardians in Cleveland. We have a 4 day break for the All Star Game. The game is a little later in the season as far as games are concerned. It is usually around the 90th game of the season. The Pirates have played 97 games. There are only 65 games left in the season. During the next 4 days we will see how this team stands with the rest of the league. What the schedule is like. Some Pirate propaganda. Will the Pirates make a big splash at the trade deadline or even if they can make a big splash. It is going to be very difficult for them to get what they need which is some quality bullpen pitchers. The Pirates may have to think outside of the box to make this a solid bullpen. We all know the Pirates rarely if ever do that. Don’t worry I will take care of that the next 4 days.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Bullpen Shocker

Final Scores: Game 1 Pirates 7 Brewers 6 Game 2 Pirates 3 Brewers 2

Why the Pirates Won Both Games: The bullpen had to cover 8 and 1/3 innings in the two games. That was because both Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler had very inefficient starts. Ashcraft took 98 pitches to get through 5 innings, where he allowed 5 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks in Game 1. Chandler took 97 pitches to get through 4 and 2/3 innings; he was more effective, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 3. The bullpen protected the one-run lead for 2 innings in Game 1. In Game 2, they did even better, protecting the one-run lead for 3 innings. That was the shocking part of the day. Esmerlyn Valdez had quite the 2 games; he went 4 for 8, driving in 8 runs and hitting 3 home runs, including a grand slam in Game 1 that gave the Pirates a 7-6 lead. The worst the Pirates can do is finish one game over .500 at the break. It would be so nice to sweep the Brewers and get 3 games above .500. Even if they lose today, nothing can really dampen the doubleheader win over the Brewers.

Key Moments Of The Games: In game one, the Pirates trailed 6-3 going into the bottom of the 7th. The Pirates loaded the bases with 3 straight singles to start the inning. Bryan Reynolds struck out. This brought Valdez to the plate. He had hit a solo home run earlier in the game. He got ahead in the count 2-0 and 3-1. He took a 99 MPH fastball and drilled it into the right field seats to put the Pirates ahead 7-6. That was the score going into the top of the 9th. Gregory Soto took the mound. He gave up an opening single to Christian Yelich. He got Jackson Chourio to pop out. He walked Brice Turang on 6 pitches. William Contreras hit a little chopper to short that Jared Triolo totally botched up, and the bases were loaded. This brought up pinch hitter Andrew Vaughn. On the 2nd pitch, he hit a ground ball to Nick Gonzales at 3rd. Gonzales stepped on the bag and threw to home to nail the runner at the plate to end the game. In the top of the 5th in game 2, Brice Turang drove in 2 runs to tie the game 2-2 with a 2-out double. This brought in new Pirate reliever lefty Brandon Eisert into the game. He promptly walked 2 batters on 11 pitches to load the bases. This brought up Garrett Mitchell. The first pitch was a called strike, then a ball in the dirt. Mitchell then swung at an inside pitch that barely caught the plate and grounded it right back to the pitcher to end the inning. The Brewers only got one more runner into scoring position the rest of the game, as the Pirate bullpen had their best day of the year.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Pittsburgh. It is quite the matchup today with The Mis going against Paul Skenes. Even though Paul Skenes and Misiorowski are almost exactly the same age you can’t help get the feeling that Skenes is the wily veteran going up against the young upstart. The Pirates will have their work cut out for them if they expect to sweep the series. The game starts at noon today as part of that early opener thing they do on Sunday now. The good news is we won’t have to listen to the Pirate announcers. Even if the Pirates lose tomorrow, it will be a more enjoyable day.

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Pirates Morning Report: One Bad Decision After Another

Final Score: Pirates 5 Braves 10

Why The Pirates Lost: Bad decisions by the management team or who ever makes these asinine decisions. You have to go back to Tuesday for the first dumb decision. Bringing Carmen Mlodzinski into a game that you are ahead 10-2. Even with that dumb decision, he only threw 24 pitches, but they still did not use him yesterday when he was really needed. Starting Tyler Callihan yesterday with an OPS in the last 15 games of .618 over Marcel Ozuna with an OPS of .716 over his last 15 games. Taking Mitch Keller out after throwing 72 pitches in 3 innings. Have you seen the way this bullpen of schmucks performs. Then bringing in Cam Sanders. Oh my God he gave up 3 runs in 2/3 innings of work. What a surprise. Then after the position players battled back to make the score 6-5 you top it off by bringing in Dennis Santana who failed miserably the night before. Mason Montgomery could have pitched. Santana and Montgomery had thrown the exact same number of pitches, 16, the night before. Four of the next 6 batters were left handed. At the very least you should have left Gregory Soto pitch to the first two. He had thrown only 11 pitches the inning before. Here is what Santana did against the left-handed batters. Walk, single, intentional walk, grand slam home run, 10-5 game essentially over. Great job Donnie Kelly. Donnie Osmond could have done a better job.

Key Moments Of The Game: The second inning the Pirates had 2nd and 3rd and no outs and could not score. After all the bad decisions there was still room to make a great one. Bring in Mason Montgomery to face Mike Yastremski with the bases loaded. I am sure that Don Kelly was not aware that this year against left hand pitching Yastremski is hitting .200 and has not hit a home run all season off a lefty. For his career he is hitting .210 with 20 of his 128 homers coming against lefties. Why would Don Kelly know such a thing. It is only his job. What a terrible management team and coaching staff.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. The Pirates are back to .500, what else. One thing is for sure though they are not going into the All Star break at .500. It will be either be 3 games above or below or 1 game above or below. The Pirates lucked out and did not have to face Chris Sale in the Atlanta series. It did them no good they still lost the series. They won’t be so lucky with Brewers as Jacob Misiorowski is going on Sunday. Paul Skenes will pitch for the Pirates. Don Kelly has announced that Dennis Santana will be the closer for the rest of the season. (Not Really) He might as well be. This team has not a chance for the playoffs. The trade deadline will come and go with Pirates doing what they do best, nothing.