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Pirates Morning Report: Long Ball To The Rescue

Final Score: Pirates 4 Tigers 3

Why The Pirates Won: What looked like it would be another frustrating loss turned into a walk-off win thanks to three late home runs. Rafael Flores hit a solo shot in the bottom of the 7th to make the score 3-2. In the bottom of the 9th, Flores hit another home run with one out to tie the game 3-3. One out later, Brandon Lowe hit the right field foul pole to win the game. All of this offset a terrible starting lineup the Pirates threw out there, with the last 3 batters having OPS’s of .667, .621, and .567. The league average is .719. The worst team OPS in the MLB is .682, by the Toronto Blue Jays. I have withheld the names of the players to save their families further embarrassment, and it is not their fault that they were forced to play. One was fortunate because Flores pinch-hit for him in the 7th inning. One of the players was pinch-hit for by a player with a worse OPS than his. Paul Skenes had another subpar outing, throwing 81 pitches in 4 and 1/3 innings of work. He threw 46 of those pitches for strikes. Compare that with Braxton Ashcraft the day before, where he threw 61 strikes on 80 pitches. Skenes walked a Ramirez-like 4 batters. Skenes’s miss is mostly on his arm side, off the plate. His release point is 3 degrees higher than it was last year. I am writing this so the Pirates coaching staff will realize this and help Skenes out. They must not be aware of these issues that Skenes has, or you would think they would correct it. Maybe their solution will be to rest him for 10 days, the wild card race be damned.

Key Moments Of The Game: After giving up a double and a walk, followed by a strikeout and a single that made the score 2-1, Skenes was taken out in the top of the 5th. There were runners on 1st and 3rd with one out when Gregory Soto entered the game. On the very first pitch Soto threw, Kevin McGonigle rifled a drive into right-center field that short-hopped the wall. Oneil Cruz and Nick Gonzales combined on a great relay to throw the runner on first out at the plate by a country mile. Soto got the next batter to fly out to Cruz, and the Tigers could only get the one run. It eventually wound up costing them the game. Things got a little dicey in the top of the 9th. Mason Montgomery came on in the 9th and immediately gave up a single, a strikeout, and another single to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. He struck out Hao-Yu Lee on four pitches. Eduardo Valencia was called on to pinch hit. He battled hard, and on the 6th pitch of the at-bat, Flores tried to pick the runner off 1st, and the ball went into right field. The runners could only advance one base, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd. Valencia hit a ground ball to the right side that Spencer Horwitz made the play on and tossed to Montgomery to end the inning. The Tigers missed some opportunities, and the Pirates were able to pull out the win in the bottom of the 9th.

Next game: Friday night, the Dodgers in L.A. The Pirates embark on a 9 game road trip where they play the Dodgers, Padres and Cardinals. The Pirates have 3 things they HAVE TO DO if they want to get back in the race or at least play some meaningful baseball in September. They cannot get swept by the Dodgers and they have to sweep the Padres and the Cardinals. That is a very tall order. That would make a 7 and 2 road trip. Their record would stand at 70-68. They would have 24 games left in the season. They have 15 of those games at home. They would have to win at least 16 of those 24 games which would set their record at 86-76. That might get them in the playoffs. It is a monumental task but that is the position they have put themselves in. They did move up to 5.5 games behind in the wild card. They have to go on a tear right now against some of their toughest competition of the year. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Ashcraft Does It Again

Final Score: Pirates 4 Tigers 1

Why the Pirates Won: Ashcraft backed up his complete game gem with a spectacular 8-inning performance, throwing only 80 pitches. The only reason it was not another complete game was that the Pirates were too foolish to let him come out for the 9th inning. Even though Mason Montgomery overcame an opening error by Brandon Lowe to mow down the next three batters, it was a wasteful use of the bullpen when you have a 4-1 lead going into the 9th. Ashcraft should have been allowed to come out for the 9th, and if he let a guy on base, then bring Montgomery in. Ashcraft gave up 1 run, again on a solo home run, on 5 hits, striking out 4 and walking none. Of the 80 pitches he threw, 61 were for strikes. Talk about pounding the strike zone! The Pirates made the most of their 6 hits to push across the 4 runs. Oneil Cruz made his first start in 2 months and hit a long home run in his second at-bat to give the Pirates the lead, 2-1. They put men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs in the same inning but needed a 2-out hit by Spencer Horwitz to score another run. They added another run in the bottom of the 8th to make it 4-1. It was a good win to even the series.

Key Moments of the Game: After the Cruz homer in the 5th, Jake Mangum got a bunt single, and Rafael Flores doubled down the left field line that hopped into the stands to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Jacob Gonzalez showed why the White Sox got rid of him by swinging at 5 pitches out of the strike zone on an eleven-pitch at-bat. He hit a 49 MPH ground ball to first with no runners advancing. Jared Triolo grounded out to 3rd, with Mangum being thrown out at the plate when he failed to touch home plate and then did not scramble back to touch it. Spencer Horwitz saved the day by taking a 1-2 pitch and getting a single into right field to score a very important 3rd run. After the Pirates took the lead, Ashcraft did not let the Tigers get anything going, allowing only one runner to get into scoring position in the last 3 innings he pitched. It was a no-stress win for the Pirates.

Next Game: This afternoon, Tigers in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have a chance to win their second series in a row. Paul (Mystery Man) Skenes goes for the Pirates today with a couple of day extra rest. We will see if it makes a difference. Skenes has had a mediocre season so far and no one is talking. Skenes has had the deadly combination of a lack of velocity and lack of command. No one is saying he has any injuries even something minor. Skenes has said it is more mental but really does not elaborate. Obviously, the pitching coaches are clueless because it would be fixed. The Pirates are still 6.5 games out of the wild card as the Phillies and Padres stay hot. The Diamondbacks are faltering right now losers of 3 in a row. The Pirates need to get super hot and hope another team falters. Their odds stayed at 1.1% to make the post season.

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Pirates Morning Report: Another Starting Pitcher Failure

Final Score: Pirates 5 Tigers 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Carmen Mlodzinski had his third bad start in a row. In 8 and 1/3 innings he has given up 13 earned runs, a whopping 20 hits, walking 5 and striking 5. This 2 year experiment of making Mlodzinski a starter should end immediately. Why it was done in the first place I will never know. After falling behind 8-1 the Pirates rallied to make the score 8-5 in the bottom of the 6th. The Tiger bullpen really shut down the Pirates the last 3 innings. The Pirates only had two base runners on a walk and an error in the bottom of the 7th. They went down in order in both the 8th and the 9th. The Pirate offense tried to stay aggressive but fell back into some old habit. Esmerlyn Valdez, who was 0 for 5 with 3 strike outs had one at bat where he looked at all 4 pitches with 3 being called strikes. Bryan Reynolds was 0 for 5 with 3 strikeouts. He was at least in the aggressive mode, swinging at most of the pitches that were in the zone. It was another disappointing lost for the Pirates.

Key Moments Of The Game: Not starting with an opener for Mlodzinski was the big key to the game. I have written about this many times. They have done that two times with Mlodzinski and he has pitched his best, 11 innings giving up just 2 runs. Don’t do it management team. Just continue having no chance of winning games that he starts. Mlodzinski walked the first batter of the game. Looked like it was not going to hurt him getting the next two outs. He gave up 3 singles in a row and Tigers got out to a 2-0 lead. In the top of the 2nd, they made it 4-0 on a single and a home run. In the top of the 3rd, he gave up 2 more singles, but the Tigers did not score. He wound up throwing 59 pitches for the 3 innings. The Tigers were able to add on against Isaac Mattson and Yohan Ramirez. Ramirez was particularly wild walking 3 batters in one inning which helped the Tigers to score 3 runs, which proved to be the margin of difference. It led to that familiar Pirate pitching line of 3 runs on 2 hits. Another game where the entire Pirate team looked lost, and the other playoff contender they were playing looked focused and ready to play.

Next Game: Tonight, Tigers in Pittsburgh. Braxton Ashcraft will go for the Pirates tonight. It will be interesting to see if Ashcraft can back up his outstanding last performance. It is sometimes not the easiest thing to do. The Pirates continue to muddle along going back and forth between winning and losing. It seems they have been doing this for the last 4 months with losing becoming more frequent lately. They are now down to having a 1.1% chance of making the playoffs. The Pirates are tied for last in the division and 6.5 games behind in the wild card with 4 teams to plow through to make the playoffs. They have a brutal 9 game road trip coming up. It will be interesting to see how the Pirate broadcast booth spins all of that. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: See What Happens When You Swing At The Ball

Final Score: Pirates 8 Red Sox 3

Why the Pirates Won: The Pirates did a complete reversal hitting-wise from Saturday night. They went aggressive at the plate, and it paid off. In the first inning, Valdez doubled on the 3rd pitch. Reynolds doubled on the 1st pitch. Lowe singled on the 1st pitch, and the Pirates had a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 3rd, Triolo singled on the 3rd pitch. Valdez doubled on the 3rd pitch. Reynolds singled on the 2nd pitch. Lowe singled on the 1st pitch. Mangum singled on the 2nd pitch. Yorke singled on the 3rd pitch. Davis hit a sacrifice fly on the 2nd pitch, and before you could say, “Why did you not do this on Saturday night?” the Pirates led 7-0. The bullpen game worked out well with the 7-run lead. Lake Bachar pitched 3 scoreless innings. Hunter Barco gave up a 3-run homer in the middle inning of the 3 innings he worked. Then the rains came for a 2-hour and 34-minute delay. The game was officially played in 2 hours and 34 minutes. Pretty neat, huh? I wonder if that has ever happened before. The Pirates won their first series since beating the Guardians 2 out of 3 coming out of the All-Star break. It was a good win but not good enough with the hole they have dug. I hate being the bearer of bad news, but the Diamondbacks, Padres, Cardinals, and the Phillies all won. The win did get the Pirates out of last place, but they are still 6.5 games out of the last wild card spot.

Key Moments Of The Game: Not taking anything away from Lake Bachar, but the Red Sox did squander some opportunities. In the 2nd, they had a walk and a single to start the inning but grounded into a double play on a 3-2 pitch that was right down the middle. The next batter struck out. In the top of the 3rd, they opened the inning with a double but could not get the runner around. After the 3-run homer, they never really threatened to make a game of it. The Pirate batters started out aggressive and had a great offensive performance. Will they remember this and continue that approach? That kind of strategy may not work with all pitchers, but hopefully the Pirates will know when to use it again. What am I thinking? They will probably never do this again. I think we have more of a chance of them using an opener for Mlodzinski.

Next Game: Tonight, Tigers in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have had great success against the American League. They are 21 and 12 against the Junior Circuit. It gives one hope for a sweep against the Tigers. The pressure will be equal if not a little more on the Tigers. They are in the wild card race being one game out of the last spot. They have also lost 3 in a row, having just been swept by the White Sox at home. If there was ever a team that was ripe for the taking it is this team. Plus, they were sellers at the trade deadline trading Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize their two best starters. This could start the amazing charge. If it is ever going to start this has to be it. So, you are saying there’s a chance. Just listen to Dumb and Dumber in the Pirate broadcast booth tonight if you do not think so. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Another Big Game Failure

Final Score: Pirates 0 Red Sox 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates had a lousy game plan against one of the best pitchers in baseball, Sonny Gray. Gray is known for throwing the first pitch over for a strike. The Pirates stood there and looked at it for most of the game. During Gray’s 7-inning stint, the Pirates took 12 called strikes on the first or second pitch of the at-bat. Great scouting report and execution, Buccos. Four of the Pirates’ 6 hits came on the 1st or 2nd pitch. Even that did not seem to sink in as the way to attack Sonny Gray. The result was no runs on 6 hits and a walk. The Red Sox’s A team out of the bullpen did not allow a hit in the last two innings. Jared Jones pitched a good 5 innings. He gave up one run on what else, a home run. He wiggled off the hook twice, having runners on 2nd and 3rd, once with one out and once with nobody out. He did not allow a run either time. Luke Weaver gave up 3 runs in the top of the 9th. The Pirates had a chance to make a statement and essentially stood there with their bats on their shoulders. They remain firmly entrenched in last place in the Central Division and 6.5 games out of the wild card.

Key Moments Of The Game: If the Pirates had won the game, it would have been those two big jams that Jared Jones worked out of in the 3rd and 4th innings. He gave up a one-out walk and double in the 3rd. He struck out the next two batters. In the top of the 4th, things looked even worse. The inning opened with a walk and double, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Jones bore down and got a ground out, strike out, and fly out to end the inning. The Pirates’ big chance came in the bottom of the 5th. After one out, the Pirates strung two singles together, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Jared Triolo came up to “bat”. He stood there and looked at 5 straight pitches to strike out. In his next at-bat, he took the first 4 pitches, with 2 being strikes. He flied out on a pitch out of the strike zone. He swung at one pitch out of 10, and it was not in the strike zone. Spencer Horwitz followed Triolo’s horrible at-bat with a walk to load the bases. Brandon Lowe came up. He took a strike, did not swing at a ball in the dirt, and swung at a pitch about chin high. He took a ball low and inside. He swung at the next pitch that was exactly in the same place, low and inside, to strike out. I guess you could say he at least tried to get a hit. The Pirates got 1 hit in the last 4 innings.

Next Game: This afternoon, the Red Sox in Pittsburgh. The Pirates are going to open with Lake Bachar today and after that who knows what they are going to do. Yesterday was disappointing not so much that they lost but the fact that it looked like they had never heard of or seen Sonny Gray before. This season has shown that the Pirates do not continue to do something even when it is successful. We are getting close to the point where the Pirates will start to play meaningless games. They are in danger of losing their 8th series in a row. They will play the injury card. In reality it has been poor management and bad decisions that put the Pirates where they are today. They would have to win at least 10 in a row or 13 out of 15 just to get back in the hunt. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Win Two In A Row

Final Score: Pirates 8 Red Sox 4

Why The Pirates Won: The bats continue to look better, scoring 8 runs on just 9 hits. Brandon Lowe hit a big 3-run homer in the bottom of the 5th with two outs to give the Pirates a 7-2 lead. Rafael Flores Jr. continued to swing a hot bat, going 3 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Bubba Chandler pitched a very strong 4 innings, but the walk problem appeared in the top of the 5th, allowing the Red Sox to cut the lead to 4-2. Chandler went five innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 5. The bullpen wound up surrendering the final 2 runs but did not do a bad job overall. The ninth was a little interesting as Kirby Yates gave up 3 straight singles after two were out. Mason Montgomery was called in to get the final out. All in all, it was a good start to the homestand. The Pirates have a big two-game win streak.

Key Moments of the Game: With the score 1-0, the Pirates opened the bottom of the 4th with a single, double, and double to take a 3-0 lead. Esmerlyn Valdez looks like he is getting his stroke back, hitting that 2nd double and driving in 2 runs. One out later, Rafael Flores singled Valdez home, and the Pirates had a 4-0 lead. Chandler could not stand prosperity and walked the first two batters in the top of the fifth, which helped cut the Pirate lead in half. Then Lowe hit the big homer in the bottom of the inning, and the Pirates had a nice cushion to work with. The closest the Red Sox would get was 7-3 in the 6th and 8-4 in the 9th. The Pirates have a chance to win their first series after 7 series losses in a row.

Next Game: Tonight, Red Sox in Pittsburgh. The game is on Fox tonight so will not be starting until 7:15. Sonny Gray is going for the Red Sox tonight. He is having a great season with a 14-3 record and ERA of 2.79. The Pirates were able to beat the Red Sox’s left handers last night. They will need to do the same against the Red Sox ace. Jared Jones will go for the Pirates coming off a very poor outing. The Pirates have to go on a roll right now. Nothing else will suffice. They really have to win every game of this home stand if they are going to have any chance at all to get back in the playoff race. Stay tuned.

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Pirate Morning Report: Can The Pirates Only Blow Teams Out

Final Score: Pirates 13 Marlins 1

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates have won 2 of their last 9 games. The combined scores of the two wins have been 22 to 1. I can’t put too much significance on the wins. Giving credit where credit is due, Braxton Ashcraft pitched himself one hell of a game, going the distance in just 85 pitches while giving up 1 run on 3 hits. He struck out 10 and walked one. The Pirates got 5 of their runs against a position player. Beyond that, there was no question the bats came alive for the 2nd time in 9 games. The Marlins still won the series to keep the Pirates at bay. The Pirates will open a 6-game homestand against the Red Sox and Tigers.

Key Moments of the Game: Ashcraft got the Marlins to ground into three big double plays. He walked the second batter of the game in the first but two pitches later, got the next batter to ground into the double play on a very nifty play by Jared Triolo. After an opening single in the fourth, he induced the second double play three pitches later. This was still when the game was scoreless. With the score 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth, there was a third double play after a leadoff single. In the top of the sixth, the Pirates put a three-spot up on the board to take a 5-0 lead. Ashcraft retired the side in both the bottom of the sixth and seventh. The Pirates really broke the game open in the eighth and ninth, leaving the only question: would Ashcraft get his complete game? He did with ease, giving up a bottom of the ninth home run. The Pirates will have a well-rested bullpen going into the homestand. Will Don Kelly know how to use it? Highly unlikely, but we will see.

Next game: Tonight, the Red Sox, in Pittsburgh. The Pirates face another team that is fighting for a playoff spot but in the American League. The Red Sox are holding down the 2nd Wild Card spot by 5 games and trail the Yankees by 3 games for the top wild card spot. They have rattled off 15 game and 9 game winning streaks over the last 6 weeks. However currently they had lost 5 in a row but snapped the losing streak yesterday by beating the Blue Jays. This could be good for the Pirates. They need to get on a roll just to save some face. Bubba Chandler is going for the Pirates, with the Red Sox countering with lefty Jake Bennet. As we all know the Pirates have trouble with lefties. Let’s hope they get over it. Stay Tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Perfect Example

Final Score: Pirates 2 Marlins 8

Why the Pirates Lost: Another bad day for the offense. They could only muster 2 runs, and one of those was a gift from the Marlins. They managed only 6 hits for the game and just 2 hits for the last 18 outs of the game. The pitchers did not fare much better, giving up 8 runs on 9 hits and walking 8. Don Kelly did exactly the same thing he did a few games ago against the Mets, which was a disaster then, and it was a disaster last night. With the game in doubt in the 3rd inning, he made the same wrong move he made against the Mets. The Marlins had just made the score 2-1 and had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. With the exception of Yohan Ramirez, Kelly had his entire bullpen at his disposal. Who does he bring in, AGAIN? Evan Sisk, who failed miserably in almost the exact same situation. Against the Mets, he gave up a bases-loaded double that cleared the bases. Last night, it was much more painful to watch. He walked a batter to load the bases. He hit a batter to make the score 3-1. He walked another batter to make the score 4-1. The Marlins hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1. They scored 3 runs and did not get a hit. Again, he had practically the whole bullpen at his disposal. The game was on the line. I just can’t write any more about this. Let’s just move on. It is truly beyond comprehension.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates proved once again that Carmen Mlodzinski is really not a starting pitcher. They refuse to use the opener where Mlodzinski has followed the opener with two of his best performances. The Marlins had gifted the Pirates a run in the top of the second on an errant throw by the shortstop. In the bottom of the second, the Pirates essentially gifted the run right back when Mlodzinski was slow to cover first base on a hard-hit shot up the first base line that Spence Horwitz made a great play on. The Pirates actually manufactured a run in the top of the fourth. Nick Gonzales doubled. Lonny Simon hit a ground ball to the right side of the infield, moving Gonzales to third. Esmerlyn Valdez was robbed of a home run, but it was good enough to score the run. Lake Bachar immediately gave up a home run in the bottom of the inning, allowing the Marlins to take the lead 6-2. For the second game in a row, the Pirates never threatened to make a game of it. The Pirates will lose their seventh series in a row. They are six games out of the wild card. They are six games under .500. It looks like the last 2 wild card spots are going to boil down to a three-team dogfight between the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Phillies. Even if the Pirates got red hot, they would have to bump out two of those three teams to get into the playoffs. What are the odds of that happening? Baseball Reference puts their chances at 1.8%. It looks like the Steelers aren’t the only ones who are going to be playing exhibition games in August.

Next Game: This afternoon, Marlins in Miami. The Marlins go for the sweep today and I would not bet against them. They look so much better than the Pirates. The Pirates just have a lackadaisical look to them. Combine that with the strange thinking of the Pirate management team and you can see why this team is folding up like an accordion. Putting Evan Sisk in the same situation where he failed miserably just a few days before is a perfect example. It shows a lack of understanding of what high leverage means, and bullpen mismanagement that has been going on since opening day. What will they do next? Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Shutout To Go Further Into The Abyss.

Final Score: Pirates 0 Marlins 2

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirate bats were completely stifled getting only 4 singles and not getting a runner in scoring position the entire game. One of the hits did not even result in a runner being on base as Ronny Simon tried to go to second on a chopper down the left field. He was thrown out by a mile. The Pirates struck out 10 times and the first 5 batters in the lineup went 0 for 18 with a walk and 8 strikeouts. Paul Skenes went 5 innings throwing only 65 pitches. He gave up 1 earned run on 5 hits. He walked one and hit a batter which eventually scored the 2nd run of the game. Skenes’ velocity continues to go down with no explanation from him or the Pirates. Another unsolved mystery that involves the pitching staff. Yohan Ramirez had a nice 3 innings of work giving up 0 runs and 0 hits to lower his ERA to 2.67. Meaningful games for the Pirates continue to be a problem in performance. Another couple of weeks of this and the pressure will be off.

Key Moments Of The Game: I do not know if there was a key moment in this one. The Pirates never really threatened to score the whole game. The Marlins hit a home run in the 3rd inning and the Pirates gifted them a run in the 5th. The Pirates bats were so inept that the Marlin did not feel threatened all night. The bottom line is that the Pirates are now 5 games under .500 and are slowly but surely sinking right out of playoff contention.

Next Game: Tonight, Marlins in Miami. Carmen Mlodzinski will start for the Pirates. The Pirates continue not to use the opener which has proven to be so effective when they used it with Mlodzinski. The Marlins are countering with Jason Junk. The only good news that came from last nights game was Esmerlyn Valdez got a line drive single and hit two other line drive outs. Will tomorrow be the turn around day for the Pirates. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Being Wrong, Being Right, And An Unsolved Mystery

The Pirates open a three-game series against the Marlins tonight. It is a series where nothing less than a sweep will be satisfactory. Anything less, and the Pirates’ slim playoff chances become ever more remote. I thought this would be a good time to look at one thing I was wrong about, one thing that I was right about, and the unsolved mystery of this team that essentially is keeping them from making the playoffs.

I was wrong about the Pirates signing Yohan Ramirez. When they signed him to a one-year major league contract, I could not believe it. There was nothing in his resume that would indicate that he was capable of improvement. He proved me wrong. He got off to a great start but then ran into a bit of a rough patch that I thought might get me off the hook, but he has righted the ship to have an even better July and August. He has already faced 278 batters this year, which is the most in his career. Some of his stats are worse than they have been in the past. Like all the Pirate pitchers, he has had trouble finding the plate, averaging 5.5 walks per 9 innings. His career average has been around 4 per 9 innings. His strike out rate is down from last year, when it was 12.2 to 10.4 per 9 innings. Where he has excelled is in overall run prevention. When he has pitched in 25 games or more, he has not had an ERA under 3.67. Last year, his ERA was 5.40. With his recent success, he has his ERA down to a career-best 2.80. His WHIP is a career-best 1.290. His hits allowed per 9 innings of 6 is his best since 2022. Granted, he has not been in that many high-leverage situations, but he has served this team well by eating up relief innings and keeping the Pirates in most ballgames when he is called upon. His ERA+ of 155 is the highest he has ever had, except for a 16-game sample from his first year in the majors back in 2020. If every Pirate pitcher had improved as much as Ramirez, the Pirates would be in first place.

I was right about the Marcell Ozuna signing. I did not like it because it took all of the flexibility out of the Pirate lineup. Before Ozuna was signed, you looked at the 13 position players and could see a bevy of players that would be DHing for the Pirates: Brandon Lowe, Oneil Cruz, Ryan O’Hearn, Spencer Horwitz, Bryan Reynolds, and Endy Rodriguez. It would be a way to give a player a rest but still use him. Now you could throw Nick Gonzales into the mix the way he has been fielding this year. It was a way to keep your best hitters in the lineup and really stretch the lineup out. Once Ozuna was signed, that all ended. We signed a player that could do one thing only, and that was DH. If the Pirates were going to go that route, then they should have just signed Andrew McCutchen. Ozuna got off to a horrible start, which made matters worse. Ozuna batted in 25 of the first 30 games of the season. He got hits in only 10 of those games for a very Henry Davis-like OPS of .470. In the next 32 games, he batted in 22. For that stretch, he got hits in 14 games and raised his OPS to .582. Then the Pirates only used him in 12 of the next 31 games. He got hits in 7 of those games, raising his OPS to .613. One thing is for sure: no player is going to get better if he is not given the opportunity, even a veteran. I am not saying he might have really come on and started hitting like he did his whole career, but basically, the Pirates never really gave him a chance to do so. Ozuna had 277 at-bats. Other Pirate players have had 250 DH at-bats. The Pirates are ranked 29th in baseball at the DH position. The DH problems of the Pirates are not all Ozuna. I would have felt that the Ozuna signing was bad even if it had worked out better. The way the Pirates managed Ozuna during the season made a bad situation even worse. Not a surprise there.

Of course, the unsolved mystery of the season is what in the hell is wrong with the pitching staff. This is a staff that has digressed more than anyone could have imagined. This staff was ranked the 3rd best pitching staff in all of baseball in 2025. This was a staff that pitched for the entire season under little or no run support. It was felt that if the Pirates could hit just about league average, or a little below that, they would easily make the playoffs. Despite this recent dry spell by the offense, they are still way above league average as an offense. They are 3rd in all of baseball in runs per game. The pitching staff this year is ranked 16th overall in a 30-team league. The bullpen has had many failures this year; they have blown 20 saves. League-leading Houston has only blown 7. They have more losses than saves, with only 2 other teams, the Angels and the Tigers, having done that. The one big issue seems to be control. So far this season, the Pirates have walked 437 batters; for all of 2025, they walked 473. Only one pitcher improved from 2025, and that is Braxton Ashcraft. He walked 3.1 per 9 innings last year and has dropped that to 2.2 this year. Jared Jones is exactly the same as he was in 2024, with a 2.9 rate for 9 innings. Gregory Soto is basically the same as he has been for his career, a 3.6 per 9. The rest of the staff has gotten worse, and some significantly so. None worse than Bubba Chandler. In 2025, he had the excellent rate of 1.1 walks per 9 innings; now he is at 4.8. Wow! Dennis Santana doubled the other team’s pleasure by walking 4.5 batters per 9 compared with 2.2 this year. Paul Skenes and Carmen Mlodzinski each walk a half a batter more per 9 innings than they did last year. The pitching staff has been hurt a little more from the long ball, giving up 125 so far this year, ranking them currently 9th. They gave up 153 last year to finish 3rd best in the league. The real mystery here is why? They cannot play the injury card as they can and do with the position players. This has been one of the healthiest staffs in all of baseball. It is easy to blame the new pitching coach, and I am not going to completely discount it. There has been a lot of chatter that pitching in the World Baseball Classic ruined Paul Skenes for the season. Now, granted, he was pitching real baseball in late February or early March, but he threw 8 and 1/3 innings and around 120 pitches total in the two games he pitched. If that is all it takes, then there is something wrong. Unless the Pirates come up with some new information, or if we hear a lot of negatives about the new pitching coach, which we have not, this decline in what was thought of as the best young pitching staff in baseball will most likely remain an unsolved mystery. I guess it wouldn’t hurt if one of the coaches just said, “Just throw the damn ball over the plate.” Could it be that simple? If there is a solution, the Pirates better find it fast. If they don’t, they will go through another September just being the spoiler.