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Pirates Morning Report: All Cylinders Firing

Final Score: Pirates 9 Mets 0

Why The Pirate Won: The Pirates’ pitching staff threw their first shutout since May 20th. It was their 7th shutout of the season. Last season, the Pirate pitching staff threw 19 shutouts. Last season, they held opponents to 1 run 24 times. This season, so far, they have done it 15 times. Bubba Chandler pitched a solid 6 innings, giving up only 3 hits and a walk. The offense came alive last night too, scoring 9 runs on 12 hits to go along with 9 walks. Of course, one time they had 2nd and 3rd with no one out and did not score. The Pirates wanted everyone to know that even on a good night, they could not situationally hit. But hey, a win is a win is a win. A much-needed win at that.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates got off to a great start. Jake Mangum led off with a double. After a Brandon Lowe strikeout, Bryan Reynolds got an infield hit and Spencer Horwitz was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Pirates got a couple of lucky hits. Nick Gonzales hit a little 63 MPH tapper between the pitcher and first base, driving in the first run and putting runners on second and third with two outs. Ronny Simon hit a cue shot ground ball off the end of the bat at 72 MPH right down the third base line for a double that made the score 3-0. It was right there that you felt that this was going to be the Pirates’ night. In the bottom of the fourth, the Pirates had four walks and three hits to score four runs. That made the score 8-0, and the Mets were never in the game.

Next Game: This afternoon, Mets in Pittsburgh. The Pirates will have to go up against another lefty in Sean Manaea in the rubber match today. The Pirates have lost 5 series in a row including 2 four game series. Endy Rodriguez apparently has another injury. It was a solid win last night for the Pirates. Today’s game can continue the momentum with a win. After today they will head to Miami to play the Marlins. The Marlins are right at .500 and are 2 games ahead of the Pirates in the loss column. A five game winning streak would be just what the doctor ordered. Can they do it? Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirate Thinking

Final Score: Pirates 4 Mets 6

Why The Pirates Lost: Carmen Mlodzinski moved back to the rotation last night. Mlodzinski, out of the bullpen, has an ERA of 2.29. His ERA as a starter is 4.30. Twice he followed up an opener; in those situations, he pitched 11 innings and gave up 2 runs on 6 hits. The Pirates do not have much of a choice but to use him as a starter due to the injury to Mitch Keller. The fact remains, when he starts a ballgame, he is just not that effective. Why not go with the opener and then Mlodzinski? The Pirates’ thinking is baffling. The Pirate bats did come alive last night, getting 12 hits; they could only score 4 runs because of very bad baserunning that caused 2 outs and kept the Pirates from putting more pressure on the Mets. Joe Block kept calling the Mets last in the division, bemoaning the fact that the Pirates were going to lose to them. If the Mets had lost, they would have lost to the last place team in the Central Division. The fact remains, this was a game between two last place teams.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Mets were leading 1-0 going into the top of the 3rd inning. They had their own bonehead baserunning moment when, on a fly ball to left field, the runner on 2nd went all the way to third but did not retouch the bag, and the Pirates were able to record a double play. Francisco Lindor immediately stole 2nd base. The Mets followed that up with two singles, the first one scoring Lindor to make it 2-0. Marcus Semien took a 1-2 fastball on the inner third of the plate and drilled it into the left field seats for a 3-run homer, putting the Mets in front 5-0. The Mets added another run in the 4th after two were out. Evan Sisk hit a batter, who stole 2nd, and Lindor singled, driving him home. In the bottom of the 7th, it looked like the Pirates really had something going. They had scored 2 runs and had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Brandon Lowe popped out. Jared Triolo was the runner on 3rd base. He did not take a big enough lead at 3rd with the 3rd baseman playing way back. He was thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on a pitch that got by the catcher by about 20 feet. He would have scored if he had taken the proper lead. The play was not even close, but the Pirates challenged anyway, losing their challenge for the game. Those Pirates were thinking again. In the bottom of the 9th, an even bigger baserunning mistake was made. Jacob Gonzalez hit a deep drive off the Clemente wall, driving in the third run of the game, but then tried to go to second and was thrown out. The ball did carom off the wall right to the fielder, but the play was right in front of him. The Pirates were down by 3 runs. His run is meaningless. The Pirates still made it interesting, scoring a 4th run, but in the end, they lost their 4th in a row and 12 of their last 16 games.

Next game: Tonight, Mets in Pittsburgh. The Pirates blundered their way to another loss last night, but the bats did seem to wake up just a touch. If it were not for the base running miscues, they might have been able to pull the game out. I would say we are down to about a toss up of seeing meaningful games in September and that is an optimistic view. Oneil Cruz played in AAA last night which is good news. Now if they had just picked up a starter at the deadline. Robbie Ray would have been so nice. Although the way the Pirates think they may have put him in the bullpen.

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Pirates Morning Report: The El Foldo Continues In Pittsburgh

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 5

Why The Pirates Lost: The Brewers looked focused and poised while the Pirates looked dazed and confused. This is obviously a team that has never played meaningful games in August and does not know how to do so. For the third consecutive game, the Pirates could only score 2 runs. In those 3 games, they got just 14 hits and struck out a whopping 34 times. Nick Gonzales, who is making a great case to become strictly a DH, has a -11 in defensive runs saved at 3rd base. Yesterday, he could not keep a ball in front of him that was hit right at him allowing an insurance run to score. He got doubled off base twice on line drives that were right in front of him. Endy Rodríguez got thrown out going from 1st to 3rd with nobody out in the 4th inning. In the top of the 9th, he got called out on strikes and challenged a pitch that was practically right down the middle. Get him a pair of glasses. I have seen better play and decisions by the Bad News Bears. The whole organization looks like it is literally choking their guts out all over the field. The new bullpen additions have these looks on their faces that make it seem as though this is the last place on earth that they want to be. Who could blame them after watching these last 3 games. Even the Pirate broadcast booth made a Freudian slip that shows the Pirates have no chance. When Matt Capps was talking about Dustin May coming to the Brewers, he said that May has to be excited coming from a team not in the race to the division leaders. May came from the Cardinals, who are ahead of the Pirates right now. I guess that means that the Pirates are not in the race either. The first true statement that has come out of the booth all season.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Brewers were ahead 2-0 going into the top of the 4th. Brandon Lowe led off with a home run to make it 2-1. Bryan Reynolds walked. Endy Rodriguez singled to center, with Reynolds STOPPING at second. Spencer Horwitz hit almost the exact same hit to center field. Rodriguez rightfully hesitated going to second. Once the ball dropped, Reynolds was able to score to make it 2-2. The Pirates would have had first and second with no one out. Rodriguez tried to go to third and was thrown out by a mile to make the first out of the inning. All the momentum was lost. In four pitches, there were two more outs to end the inning. Gary Sanchez hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 5th. With two outs, the Brewers had a double and then the ball that Gonzales could not keep in front of him, and the Brewers had a 4-2 lead. They added a run in the 6th just to make it look like they were still trying, even though they knew they did not have to with the Pirate offense in shambles.

Next Game: Tonight, the Mets in Pittsburgh. I woke up this morning, and it looks like the Pirates ended all the suspense and named Carmen Mlodzinski as the starter against the Mets. The Mets will not be a picnic. They have no chance at the playoffs and will be freewheeling it instead of taking a bunch of called strikes. Winning all three games is a must for the Pirates. Please someone tell Brandon Lowe the games are important. There are only 45 left to go. The Pirates do have one big hope. The game tonight has a pretty good chance it might get rained out. Maybe Don Kelly can argue about it with Bob Nutting. Stay tuned. Oh, by the way, the Pirates are in last place. There are only 8 teams in baseball with a worst record.

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Pirates Morning Report: Brewers Shut Down Pirates

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 4

Why the Pirates Lost: For the second consecutive game, the Brewers shut down the Pirates’ offense. They held the Pirates to three hits and struck them out 14 times. At one point, the Pirates struck out eight times in a row. I read opinions that the league has caught up with Esmerlyn Valdez, who has only had five hits in his last 45 at-bats, striking out 22 times. Not swinging at pitches has nothing to do with that. In his last at-bat on Tuesday and his first at-bat last night, he swung at only one of seven pitches in the strike zone. In his next two at-bats, he took two out of five in the strike zone. It is pretty sad when the good news is that he swung and missed three times for his last strikeout. He was not alone, as every starter struck out at least once. Pretty bad, considering some of them only had 1 or 2 plate appearances. Paul Skenes did his best Bubba Chandler impression, going five innings, giving up three runs on only two hits. He walked four and struck out six, throwing 93 pitches to get through just five innings. His mound opponent, Kyle Harrison, threw only 69 pitches to get through five before he had to leave the game with leg cramps. In those 69 pitches, he threw only three fewer strikes, 50 to Skenes’ 53. The Pirates are 2-5 on this road trip as they continue to spiral their way out of playoff contention.

Key Moments of the Game: Not only did Paul Skenes walk 4 batters, he was constantly working from behind. In the bottom of the 4th, after striking out the first batter. Skenes walked the next two batters on 11 pitches, throwing only 2 balls in the strike zone. During the second walk, Endy Rodriguez showed that Skenes is not the only one who does not know where the ball is going. Rodriguez threw the ball into center field when the runner tried to steal 2nd. The Brewers had 1st and 3rd with one out and had not put a ball in play. Christian Yelich doubled on a 3-1 count to drive in the 1st run. Skenes got ahead of Andrew Vaughn 1-2, pitching him away and getting him to chase on a sweeper. He then went inside, and Vaughn was able to muscle it through a drawn-in infield into right field to knock in the other two runs. The Brewers added an insurance run in the 6th, which they did not need to win 4-2 for the second straight game.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Milwaukee. At least we won’t have to wait up until 10:30 PM to see the Pirates lose today. For the second consecutive Milwaukee series the Pirates will not face Jacob Misiorowski. If they had faced him today I think he might have struck out all 18 to 21 batters he would have face. Don’t look now ( at least not on a full stomach) but the Pirates are now only a half game out of last place. They are 4.5 games out of the Wild Card. Not only that but there are now 3 other teams between them and the wild card berth. I hope someone asks Brandon Lowe when the games are going to become important. In my view, the answer may be never. The Pirates finally cut ties with Marcell Ozuna. When you look back on this, his signing may have started the whole downward spiral. Maybe the Pirates will be able to see the ball better in the daylight, but I doubt it. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Offense Losing Aggressiveness

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirate offense continues to have problems. They did hit 2 home runs but only got 3 other hits all singles for the rest of the game. In the last 13 games the Pirates have scored over 4 runs just 3 times. Their record is 4-9. Jared Jones just had a so-so start giving up 3 runs in 4 innings of work. He gave up 2 home runs and 8 hits. He had to throw 83 pitches to get through the 4 innings. Wilber Dotel went two innings and gave up a run on 3 hits. In the final 2 innings Yohan Ramirez and Kirby Yates held the Brewers scoreless. Not a bad pitching day for the Pirates but not good enough to get a win.

Key Moment Of The Game: Trailing 4-2, the Pirates got something going in the top of the 8th. After Jake Mangum struck out Jared Triolo was hit by a pitch. Brandon Lowe singled to right center field moving Triolo to third with one out. Bryan Reynolds swung at two balls out of the strike zone and then was called out on strikes. The worst was yet to come. Esmerlyn Valdez with the game on the line did not swing at a pitch. He took 3 called strikes on the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th pitch of the at bat. This was the only time in the game that the Pirates had a runner in scoring position and the 3rd and 4th batters in the lineup failed miserably. The Pirates are 2-4 on this road trip. They need to win the next two in order to have a .500 road trip.

Next Game: Tonight Brewers in Milwaukee. The strange season of Paul Skenes will continue tonight in Milwaukee. The Pirates will go up against another very good left hand pitcher Kyle Harrison. The bats remain cold in this critical stretch for the Pirates. Despite all the positives vibes from the bullpen pickups, the Pirates are reeling at the moment. Will the offense be able to find itself again? Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Maybe We Have The Brewers Number

Final Score: Pirates 4 Brewers 3

Why the Pirates Won: Essentially, the old bullpen made a nice final hurrah, pitching 3 and 1/3 innings of 2-hit shutout ball. There was one new member, Camilo Doval, who pitched a clean 8th inning. I would assume the 3 new members of the bullpen will be there tonight, but more on that later. The Pirate offense scored 3 in the third, thanks to a big 2-out double with the bases loaded by Spencer Horwitz. Of note, Esmerlyn Valdez, who the Pirates for some strange reason have pinch run for him many times, scored from 1st on the hit and seem to be motoring around the bases pretty fast. If you recall one time, they ran for him when Ozuna was on base. The Pirates got what was the deciding run on a strange play where the Brewers had a shot at the runner trying to score on a bunt and went to first instead. In the same inning, the Pirate broadcast booth was shocked that manager Pat Murphy took starter Brandon Sproat out of the game in the 3rd inning. They did not even realize that the Brewers had somebody warming up in the bullpen. This is what good managers do. They take starting pitchers out of the game before it gets out of hand. Bubba Chandler pitched an okay 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up 2 earned runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. The Pirates continue to have success against the Brewers, winning 6 games out of 7 tries. Let’s hope we are getting into the Brewers’ collective heads.

Key Moments of the Game: In the top of the 4th, Endy Rodriguez opened with a single and went to third on two wild pitches. Jacob Gonzalez struck out, and Henry Davis walked. Then came that strange play. Jake Mangum hit a poor bunt right where the pitcher could field it. They had a real shot at Rodriguez trying to score. For some reason, William Contreras told the pitcher to throw to first. Mangum wound up beating it out, and the Pirates had their fourth run. After walkathon, Chandler was pulled in the 6th inning, the Pirates’ bullpen shut down the Brewers the rest of the way, giving up two infield singles. The road trip now stands at 2-3.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. The Pirates added three bullpen arms yesterday at the trade deadline. They announced that Mitch Keller is out for the season with an arm muscle injury. The concerning aspect is that Ben Cherington stated who will take the spot in the rotation will be up to Don (I Am Not Too Sure Who That Might Be) Kelly. The no-brainer decision would be Carmen Mlodzinski. The fact that the management team has no brains, leaves the decision up in the air. Luke Weaver (ERA+ 226), Lake Bachar (ERA+ 106), and 39-year-old Kirby Yates (ERA+ 105) were all acquired yesterday. I have to give the Pirates an A- for getting the bullpen back to potentially being very good. The Pirates missed out on Robbie Ray, who was picked up by one of their wild card rivals, the San Diego Padres. It will be interesting to see who the Pirates send down. There’s no getting around it; three have to go. I am sure the Pirates are trying to figure out some more injuries. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: What An Embarrassment

Final Score: Pirates 2 Reds 10

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates did everything embarrassingly bad. Mitch Keller threw 69 pitches in 2+ innings, with only 28 finding the strike zone. There were 11 balls put in play, and 7 were hit over 90 MPH. He gave up 7 runs on 6 hits, with 2 leaving the ballpark. One of the home runs was by Ke’Bryan Hayes, who at the time was batting .140. The offense only had 4 hits for the game, with one being a double. They struck out 13 times. Although the Pirates were not charged with any errors, they looked lousy in the field. The Password and Nick Gonzales both did not make plays they should have made. In the bottom of the 3rd, The Password caught a fly ball that traveled only 298 feet and did not throw the ball home to try to get the runner scoring. He really did not know what to do with the ball. Those short naps are great. But the best of the day was Don (It’s OK To Play In The Rain When We Score Three Runs) Kelly being ejected from the game during the rain delay. He claimed he was concerned for player safety. He must have had a change of heart from the day before. He has to be the first manager that ever got ejected during a rain delay. The final embarrassment on a day that the Pirates showed how not to play this game.

Key Moment of the Game: I do not know if Keller would have ever found a groove, but Tyler Stephenson hit a deep line drive that The Password misplayed into a double. The question is: why was he in center field in the first place instead of Jake Magnum? On a similar ball the day before, Magnum was able to make the play. Too bad Kelly did not get ejected before he made up the lineups. It probably would not have made any difference in the outcome of this pathetic performance, but it did make things worse. The Pirate offense did not get a hit until the fourth inning, and by then, the game was over.

Next Game: Tonight, the Brewers in Milwaukee. As the Pirates head to Milwaukee, they are closer to last place in the division (2 games) than they are to the wild card (3.5 games). I don’t think you will see that as the opening of the Pirates broadcast tonight. Today is the trade deadline. It will end at 6:00 PM today. I do not expect to see much from the Pirates. They actually need too much. They need 2 more bullpen pieces and one starting pitcher. The way Keller is throwing he has become the weak link in the rotation. The Pirates do not have enough prospects to cover all of that. I do not know if they have the guts to make a major league deal. In my view they have plenty of players that other teams want in order to full fill their needs. They could trade Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales, The Password, Endy Rodriquez, or Spencer Horwitz to get the pitching they need. They could trade Carmen Mlodzinski if another team wants to make him a starter. If they do anything unusual like made a good move I may have another article later today. That will be a surprise.

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Pirates Morning Report: Dominant Performance By Pitching Staff

Final Score: Pirates 4 Reds 1

Why The Pirates Won: The trio of Braxton Ashcraft, Carmen Mlodzinski, and Gregory Soto combined to shut the Reds down. They gave up one run on just 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10. The Pirate offense did not do much but was able to turn 6 hits and 7 walks into 4 runs, which was more than enough to win this game. They only had one extra base hit: a double by Marcel Ozuna. This was a game about the pitching for a change. Ashcraft went 5 innings and would have gone more if not for the rain delay. He threw only 69 pitches while limiting the Reds to just 2 hits. He did give up the home run, but even it was kind of cheap, traveling only 350 feet down the right field line. If this pitching staff can find some way to pitch like they did last year, then the Pirates should be able to make it to the playoffs. That is the big if.

Key Moments of the Game: The rains came down pretty hard at the top of the 3rd, but for some reason, the umpires did not stop the game. I do not know if that affected Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott, but he seemed to lose total command of his pitches. He walked 4 batters in the inning and gave up a single after the first walk. This led to the first two Pirate runs as he walked 2 with the bases loaded. The Reds got an out in exchange for a run, that made the score 3-0. Nick Gonzales stole 2nd base, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with just one out. Of course, Ozuna and Triolo left them stranded. The Reds opened the 7th with a double but could not get the runner around to score. They are just about as bad as the Pirates at situational hitting. They never threatened again the rest of the game.

Next Game: This afternoon, Reds in Cincinnati. The Pirates have a chance to gain a split in the series today. They have to go up against Chase Burns today who is 12-1 with an ERA of 2.40. This could turn out to be an unexpected win. A win the Pirates really need with them heading for Milwaukee for the next 4 games. Yesterday the Pirates picked up relief pitcher Camilo Doval. He had his best years in San Francsico from 21 to 23. You could almost say that he is the right hand version of Gregory Soto. There is one thing for sure about Dovel. He does not like pitching in Yankee Stadium. He has given up 29 runs this year and 23 of them have been there. At least he won’t have to pitch there anymore. It is not saying much but he does look like he is an improvement on what they have. The Yankees have not used him much only 4 times in the last 14 games, so he should be well rested. Can the Pirates get to Chase Burns today? Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Giving Up A Lead 101

Final Score: Pirates 7 Reds 8

Why The Pirates Lost: A complete pitching and fielding failure. The Pirates had 3 leads in this game and lost all of them in 4 outs or less. Paul Skenes did nothing well in this outing. He gave up 5 runs on 7 hits while walking 4 batters. It was even more nauseating to watch with the Pirate broadcast booth continuing to talk about all the success Skenes has had against the Reds and on the Red’s home field. Skenes could only go 4 innings throwing 100 pitches. We are beginning to see the Pirates pitching philosophy. If a pitcher is struggling, make sure he throws at least 95 to 100 pitches. If he is mowing the other team down, then 85 is the limit. Makes perfect sense. Just about as much sense as to bring an inexperienced 22 year old into a tight game in the 8th inning.

Key Moment Of The Game: The bullpen blew another save but it was helped along by the inexplicable throw by Nick Gonzales that allowed the deciding run to score. With 1st and 3rd and two outs in the bottom of the 8th, Nathanial Lowe hit a sharp ground ball right to Gonzales. He had all day to throw to 1st but elected to go to 2nd base where Brandon Lowe had to run about 60 feet to get to the bag. He could not hold onto the ball. The Reds had the lead. Did he not know that there were two outs? Was he trying to get a double play? Could we be looking at the next DH? The Pirates have lost 7 out of their last 9 games and are now below .500. During this stretch they have scored 7 or more runs 3 times and have won only one of those games.

Next Game: Tonight, the Reds in Cincinnati. Braxton Ashcraft goes tonight for the Pirates. The Pirates are in a downward spiral at the moment. How long it will last will determine if there will be meaningful games in September. Like any bad spell during a season the Pirates lose both high and low scoring games. The Pirates need to make a major move to shore up the bullpen. I am not too sure they will do it. Right now, this looks like another season that goes right down the drain.

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Pirates Morning Report: Making More Bad Decisions

Final Score: Pirates 2 Reds 3

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirate hitters continue to struggle, this time against mediocre pitching. Rhett Lowder, who carried a 5.71 ERA into the game, held the Pirates to 2 runs on 5 hits and did not issue a walk. The Reds bullpen, ranked 18th in baseball, held the Pirates scoreless the rest of the way, giving up 2 hits and 2 walks. The Pirates decided to do a bullpen game, and boy did they ever dance through the raindrops. The Reds could only score 3 runs, even though they had 9 hits and received 9 walks. They were 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base. The Pirates decided to go with 2 AAA pitchers, with one being on the IL for most of the season. Hunter Barco and Noah Murdock pitched a combined 5 innings. They threw 117 pitches, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits and 6 walks. At the end of the game, the Pirates made two bad decisions; one did not affect the outcome of the game because of the 2nd bad decision. In the top of the 8th, they pinch ran for Esmerlyn Valdez after he doubled with one out. They were taking their biggest bat out of the game on the chance that Billy Cook might make a difference on a single. The worse decision was not allowing Mason Montgomery to come out for the 9th, even though he had thrown only 7 pitches. The Pirates must not be able to figure out that when you are the road team and the game is tied going into the bottom of the 9th, you are going to have to get 6 outs in order to win the game. Your hottest reliever at the moment throws 7 pitches and then takes a shower. Amazing stupidity.

Key Moments Of The Game: If the Pirates had won the game, it would have been all the jams that Barco and Murdock worked out of. The key moment was when Gregory Soto came out to work the 9th. Elly De La Cruz opened the inning with a double, swinging at a pitch that was low and inside, ripping it down the left field line. Of the 18 pitches that Soto threw, only 5 were in the strike zone. He did get some chases, but obviously his command was way off. The Pirates intentionally walked the next batter, and after a strikeout, Soto walked the next batter to load the bases with one out. This brought Nathaniel Lowe up to the plate. He is hitting .091 against lefties. Soto fell behind 2-1 and grooved a fastball, which Lowe put in play to win the game. The Pirates have now lost 6 out of 8. I guess they are no longer surging, Greg Brown.

Next Game: Tonight, the Reds in Cincinnati. Paul Skenes goes for the Pirates tonight. Hunter Greene is making his 5th start since elbow surgery for the Reds. He has not been that effective in the 4 previous starts. The way the Pirates are hitting I am sure he will get better tonight. To begin this 15 game critical stretch the Pirates are 0-2. I must apologize because yesterday I said the Pirates were going to Chicago after Cincinnati. They are actually headed to Milwaukee. I blame it on vacation as the blogs were coming from Cape Cod. It looks like the Pirates may be going on vacation too.