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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.

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Pirates Morning Report: Just Can’t Seem To Do It

Final Score: Pirates 0 Braves 3

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates offense was shut down. They had only one at bat with a runner in scoring position. They struck out 11 times. They did not get a hit in the last 3 innings of the game. The bullpen gave up the big hit. Joey Bart of all people, hit a 2 out 2 run homer in the top of the 8th to break the scoreless dead lock. Jarod Jones pitched 6 perfect innings. He struck out 8 while throwing 77 pitches. We know that hitting can be a sometime thing, but the offense really looked bad yesterday. This team just cannot seem to get on a roll. The loss sets up the rubber match this afternoon. With Brewers coming to town this seems like a must win.

Key Moments Of The Game: If this game was going to go into extra innings 0-0, the bullpen needed to come from another team. Dennis Santana started the 8th inning. He got the first two batters on 6 pitches. The brought up Mike Yastremski. Even though he has the famous name he has a slash line of .228/315/.348. On a 2-2 pitch Santana grooved a slider right down the center of the plate. Yastremski hit it off the Clemente wall for a double. Joey Bart had hit a ball off Jones that sent Bryan Reynolds right to wall in left, just missing a home run. The pitch was thrown knee high left center of the plate, a 90 MPH slider. Santana’s first pitch to Bart was a 93 MPH sinker almost in exactly the same spot. This time he did hit it out. You can’t make this stuff up. Isaac Mattson gave up a run in the 9th. The Braves bullpen, which is ranked 5th in baseball, made it hold up, not allowing the Pirate offense to even sniff a run.

Next Game: This afternoon, Braves in Pittsburgh. For the 2nd time this season, Mitch Keller is paired with a pitcher that has almost identical stats. It was the Twins Bailey Ober on May 30th. Today it will be Bryce Elder. The last time this happened the two pitchers combined to give up 15 runs. The Pirates were fortunate to win the game 10-9. They better have that same good fortune today. The Pirates need this game badly.

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Pirates Morning Report: Maybe O’ Hearn Should Be An All Star

Final Score: Pirates 12 Braves 4

Why the Pirates Won: Ryan O’Hearn had one of the best offensive games in MLB history. He hit one grand slam and two three-run homers to knock in 10 runs in the first six innings. The Pirates scored a run in the seventh and eighth to make the final total 12. They collected 14 hits and walked seven times. Paul Skenes did not pitch great but pitched better. He gave up eight hits in six innings, walking one but limiting the damage to only two runs. It was a much-needed quality start with a victory for both him and the team. He should be feeling good going into the finale with the Brewers. It was a rousing start to the homestand. Hope the Pirates will continue to roll.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Braves had two out lightning in the first inning to get a run. The Pirates tacked on 4 in the first, thanks to the O’Hearn grand slam. The top of the 3rd started with a Michael Harris double. Ozzie Albies singled to center to make it 4-2 Pirates. Neither ball was hit very hard, going less than 74 MPH. You thought, here we go again; the dark cloud is still hanging over Skenes. The heart of the order was coming up for the Braves. Matt Olson hit a lazy fly ball to left for one out. Drake Baldwin hit an 0-2 mistake pitch sharply on a line at 100 MPH, but Esmerlyn Valdez was able to track it down for out number two. Skenes struck out Mauricio Dubon on 8 pitches. Dubon battled hard but eventually was called out. The top of the 5th opened with 2 singles. Skenes got Albies to pop out. Matt Olson hit the ball hard on the ground at 108 MPH, but right at O’Hearn, who threw to second for one, and Jared Triolo made a nice throw to Skenes covering the bag to turn a beautiful double play. In the 6th inning, the Braves could not push home a one-out double. In the bottom of the inning, O’Hearn hit his third home run, making it 10-2.

Next Game: Tonight, Braves in Pittsburgh. Jared Jones will be going for the Pirates. It is time for him to get that ERA down under 5. Yesterday the Pirates got the bad news that Konnor Griffin will be out for an extended period due to a torn tendon in his finger. At least for one game the Pirate offense did not miss a beat. The Pirates have won 3 in a row. The Braves are reeling right now because of injuries and babies. They have 5 players on IL or paternity leave, including Ronald Acuna Jr. Hopefully the Pirates can take advantage of all this and sweep the Braves.

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Pirate Morning Report: All Star Snubs and Home Stand

Only one Pirate made the All-Star team, Paul Skenes. He is not even the best pitcher on the Pirates right now. Braxton Ashcraft has pitched better than Skenes, although it is closer than you think. Skenes does lead Ashcraft in FIP, WHIP, and strikeouts per nine. Ashcraft has pitched more innings and has a lower ERA. He is ahead of Skenes in ERA+. Nothing compares to Brandon Lowe being left off the All-Star team. The two second basemen on the team are Ozzie Albies and Luis Arraez. Lowe has a better WAR than both, and he is the best fielder of the group. Arraez has a better OPS than Lowe, but only by .16. I did not think I could make a case for Bryan Reynolds to make the team, but when you add up the numbers, Reynolds comes out ahead of Brandon Marsh, who is starting. He also compares favorably with James Wood because Wood is such a terrible fielder. His defensive runs saved is -4. Compare that with Pete Crow-Armstrong at +21. Reynolds is at +2, which is one of his better fielding seasons. All three Pirates simply fell victim to the fan voting. When it came to picking the reserves hitting seemed to be the biggest criteria. I don’t know what the Philadelphia fans saw in Brandon Marsh, but he finished 8th in the statistical comparisons of the seven outfielders that made it, along with Reynolds. Skenes is pitching Sunday, so Ashcraft could still be added to the team. There could be nagging injuries that could cause some players to drop out, allowing either Lowe or Reynolds to make the team. The selection process has always looked at star power rather than who is having the best year. I guess that’s why they call it an All-Star game.

There are six more games for the Pirates until the All-Star Game. For me, the Pirates have to win at least 2 of the six games. One thing the Pirates have going for them is that the Braves have just been mediocre since June 1st, going 12-15. They have had 11 games where they have given up 6 or more runs. They are not as fortunate when it comes to the Brewers; they are 21-12 during this same time frame. They have given up 6 runs 7 times during this stretch. Of course, the Pirates have not been exactly lighting it up during this time frame. They are 14-17 and have given up 6 runs or more a whopping 16 times. The Pirates have faced the Brewers only 3 times this year. If you are looking for some hope, the Pirates took 2 out of 3 from them in Milwaukee. The Pirates have 11 more games against the Brewers. If the Pirates could sweep the Brewers, it may make them start thinking a little too much when they are playing the Pirates. We have been talking about the minimum the Pirates have to do in order to stay in the wild card race at the break. The maximum they could do would be to win all 6 games and have an 8-game winning streak going into the break. Obviously, the pitching would have to find itself, especially against the Brewers. What do I think will happen? The Pirates will be the Pirates and go 3-3. It would be nice to be wrong and see them have an above .500 home stand. Time will tell.

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Pirates Morning Report: Good Finish To Road Trip

Final Score: Pirates 11 Nationals 5

Why the Pirates Won: The Pirates’ offense lit it up at the beginning and at the end to score 11 runs. For the game, they had 13 hits and 6 walks. They were 5 for 15 with runners in scoring position to cap off another outstanding offensive performance. The bullpen did a nice job limiting the damage in a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation and holding a very good offense to just one run over the last 5 innings. Bubba Chandler was back to being “Old Bubba.” He was staked to a 4-0 lead but could not protect it. He went 4+ innings, giving up 4 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks. He struck out no one and threw 86 pitches to get through the 4+ innings. The score remained 4-4 going into the top of the 8th. The Pirates put a big 5-spot on the board. Konnor Griffin drove in the first two runs with a bases-loaded single. This was followed by a 3-run homer by Brandon Lowe. Griffin made two diving catches on little bloopers to help keep the Nationals in check. The bullpen, for the 2nd day in a row, held the vaunted Nationals offense pretty much in check. The game took 3 hours and 28 minutes to play in the grueling heat of D.C. The Pirates finished the road trip 4-3 and get a day off before the big homestand leading up to the All-Star break.

Key Moments Of The Game: The score was 4-3 going into the bottom of the 5th inning. Bubba Chandler had given up a 2-run homer in the 3rd and gave up a run in the 4th without giving up a hit. He walked the leadoff hitter and wild-pitched him to 2nd. Two ground balls later, it was 4-3. Chandler threw 4 out of 13 pitches in the strike zone to start the 5th inning. One of those pitches was hit for a single that was sandwiched between two walks to load the bases with nobody out. I have to give Don Kelly credit here. He brought in one of his high-leverage relievers, Mason Montgomery, in the 5th inning. It paid off. Thanks to one of Griffin’s spectacular catches, he was able to get out of the inning with only one run scoring. Isaac Mattson, despite giving up 2 hits, pitched a scoreless 6th inning. He got James Wood to ground out to 3rd to end the inning with a runner on 2nd base. Kudos again to Kelly for going with Mattson after having a bad outing 2 games ago. Gregory Soto pitched a clean 7th to get to the 8th-inning explosion. The Pirates scored 2 more in the 9th to win going away.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Braves in Pittsburgh. More on this game and the homestand tomorrow. Yesterday’s win was big because it gave the Pirates just a little wiggle room as they go up against two division leading clubs. You would like to see the Pirates do better than this but going 2-4 over the next 6 games would put them one game below .500 at the break. Not great but they would not fall out of contention for the wild card. Anything worse than that and the Pirates could be looking at a meaningless trade deadline. Will the Pirates finally show that they can play with the big boys? It should be an exciting week.

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Pirates Morning Report: We Are Not In Philadelphia Any More Donnie

Final Score: Pirates 7 Nationals 1

Why the Pirates Won: The Pirates took advantage of a very fortunate 2nd inning, scoring 4 runs. For a change, they made it hold up with a good overall pitching performance to win rather easily. The Pirate bullpen did not give up a hit for 3 and 2/3 innings, but somehow still made it interesting. The vaunted Nationals offense could not really get untracked. They hit into 3 double plays and only had 5 at-bats with runners in scoring position. James Wood took Braxton Ashcraft’s first pitch of the game and drilled it 428 feet for a home run. After that, the Nationals could not do much with 5 hits and 5 walks, thanks to those double plays. The Nationals helped out the Pirates with some questionable moves and plays something that the Phillies hardly ever do.

Key Moments Of The Game: The score was tied 1-1 going into the top of the second. The Pirates did not hit a ball over 88 MPH but managed to score 4 runs. It was Nick Gonzales’s opening ground ball single that went 88 MPH. Jake Mangum got hit by a pitch on the 7th pitch of his at-bat. Tyler Calihan bunted for a single down the 3rd base line to load the bases. Henry Davis hit a weak 38 MPH ground ball that the 3rd baseman could not handle to score a run. Konnor Griffin struck out on a 9-pitch at-bat by swinging at 3 balls that were way out of the strike zone. Brandon Lowe hit a kind of knuckling looper at 87 MPH into centerfield for a single scoring 2 runs. Bryan Reynolds popped out for the 2nd out. Esmerlyn Valdez hit this pathetic 77 MPH low blooper that fell in at 243 feet for a single, driving in the 4th run of the inning. For the next 5 innings, the Pirates got 1 hit and 1 walk. Going into the bottom of the 7th, the score was still 5-1 Pirates. Yohan (I Want Unlimited Challenges) Ramirez had relieved Ashcraft in the 6th inning, getting the final out. He started the bottom of the 7th. He walked the first two batters. He threw 12 pitches, and only 2 were in the strike zone. This brought up the weak-hitting Nasim Nunez. The first pitch to him was a ball nowhere near the plate. He swung at the next pitch that was borderline low and grounded into a double play. Take sign anyone? Ramirez walked James Wood, which was probably not a bad idea. The Pirates pulled him to bring in Mason Montgomery. For the record, Ramirez threw 26 pitches, with only 9 finding the strike zone. Then the Nationals made a Pirate move. They pinch-hit for Luis Garcia Jr., who hits lefties at a .242 clip, with a right-handed batter who is hitting .159. Montgomery struck him out. Great use of analytics there, Nationals. The Pirates added 2 in the 8th, and this game was over.

Next Game: This afternoon, Nationals in Washington D.C. The Pirates have a chance to win the series and have a 4-3 road trip, which is something I did not think they would do. Even if they lose today, 3-4 is not too bad. With the next 6 games against the Braves and the Brewers, it would be a big win today. They would pick up a full game on one of their wild card competitors. While the Pirates have been treading water, their opponents have been getting hot and are now 4 games out of the wild card. This is the furthest out they have been all season. At the very least, they need to tread water over these next 7 games. Lose the next 5 or 6 games, and the trade deadline could become insignificant.