Month: August 2023

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Return The Favor

Final Score: Pirates 4 Cardinals 6

Why The Pirates Lost: In the first game of the series the Cardinals started a AAA pitcher who really was not doing all that well, so the Pirates thought they would return the favor. Luis Ortiz was called up from AAA despite the fact that he had not really pitched all that well since being sent down in July. The Cardinals rocked him pretty good, and he did not help himself by walking 5 batters in 3 and 1/3 innings. In that time, he gave up 5 runs on 7 hits and was fortunate that it was not worse. His fastball never came close to 100 MPH which it did many times last year. After falling behind 5-0 the Pirates tried to fight back, getting the score to 5-2 with the 2nd run coming on a Ke’Bryan Hayes home run. Although the Pirate offense did score 4 runs, they were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men stranded. No big two out hits yesterday.

Key Moments Of The Game: Trailing 5-2 going into the bottom of the 6th the Pirates were able to load the bases with one out. Jason Delay hit a weak ground ball that was able to score one run and move the runners to 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Up steps Ke’Bryan (I Pay Greg Brown 500 A Day To Say All Those Good Things About Me) Hayes to the plate. He gets ahead of the count 2-0 but can only hit a weak ground ball to second to end the inning. At least the pitch was a strike. In the top of the 9th the Cardinals were able to score a big insurance run without hitting a ball out of the infield. Jason Delays protective cup must weigh a ton. It is the only explanation I know of, that could explain on how slow he is to get out, and field a ball out in front of the plate. The Pirates were able to score a run in the bottom of the 9th, but that insurance run took a lot of pressure off the reliever.

Next Game: Tonight, the Cubs in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have lost all six games to the Cubs so far this season. It would be nice to see them turn that around. It will be interesting to see how a team that has a lot to play for performs against a team that is just playing out the string. Again, the Pirates do not know who the starting pitcher will be.

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Pirates Morning Report: Look Out Two In A Row

Final Score: Pirates 6 Cardinals 3

Why The Pirates Won: Johan Oviedo pitched an inefficient but effective 5 innings giving up just 1 run, 5 hits, 1 walk while striking out 5. His fastball did touch 97 MPH occasionally and overall, it was a decent performance compared to his last two outings. It took him 97 pitches to throw 5 innings. The Pirate batters, after going 9 up and 9 down against Adam Wainwright, put up a run in the 4th and put a big 5 spot in the bottom of the 5th. The score was 2-1 in the bottom of the 5th with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd. Bryan Reynolds lined a double down in the right field corner, followed by a line drive home run into the left field seats by Andrew McCutchen to quickly make the score 6-1. The bullpen was shaky again but was able to preserve the win. The Pirates have won 2 in a row. The next thing you know you will be hearing about hurricanes in California.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirate bullpen already had given up a run in the top of the 6th inning to make the score 6-2. In the top of the 7th the Cardinals really got things going. With 2 outs the Cardinals singled home a run to make the score 6-3. Out goes Dauri Moreta and in comes Colin (I Don’t Like To Throw My 100 MPH Fastball) Holderman. He promptly gives up a single and a walk to load the bases for Willson Contreras. Contreras had just doubled his last at bat to drive in run number 2. The first pitch was close and called a strike. The second pitch was ball. The third pitch was simply a ball that was called a strike. It was at least 4 inches low. Now in the hole 1-2, Contreras struck out on a high 99 MPH fast ball and then was ejected from the game. A nice break for the Pirates. Holderman pitched a clean 8th, which was more surprising than the Pirates winning 2 in a row. Bednar got the save and the Pirates will be looking for the sweep today.

Next Game: In about 90 minutes, Cardinals in Pittsburgh. The desperate for starting pitching Pirates are going with Luis Ortiz today, who has not been lighting up at AAA. It will be interesting to see if his fastball his back to being close to 100 MPH. Could these Pirates possibly win 3 in a row. Who knows? Only the Shadow knows.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Show They Can At Least Hit AAA Pitching

Final Score: Pittsburgh 11 Cardinals 1

Why The Pirates Won: The Cardinals put a AAA pitcher, with not that great of a record, on the mound and the Pirates lit him up for 8 runs on 8 hits, 4 walks, with the Cardinals making an error to help things along. Everybody had a pretty good day except the horrendously slumping Jack Suwinski. He struck out 3 times, once with the bases loaded where he took all 5 pitches, a Turtle move by the way. With only 2 legitimate starting pitchers on the team the Pirates went the piggyback route this time and did well. Thomas Hatch pitched the first 3 innings giving up 2 hits and one walk. Bailey No Falter Insurance, sorry I just couldn’t help it, pitched the final 6 innings only giving up 1 run, 3 hits, walking 2, while striking out 8. He picked up his first win of the season. The pitching was more impressive than the hitting since they did it against major leaguers. It was a nice touch to see Josh Palacios have a big game, a home run and 5 RBI’s in front of his family.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Cardinals did have some traffic on the base paths in the first 2 innings of the game. Looking like the Pirates, they could not get the big hit or fly ball to knock in at least one run. Starting with the 3rd inning, other than giving up the home run, the Pirate pitchers retired the next 13 batters in a row. The Pirates broke it open in the bottom of the 4th highlighted by the Palacios 3 run home run. Similar to the Pirates the home run was preceded by a mound visit by the pitching coach, that did not help whatsoever. It is easy to see why the Cardinals are in last place similar to the Pirates.

Next Game: Tonight, Cardinals in Pittsburgh. The Cardinals are sending Adam Wainwright to mound tonight, and he has really been struggling. Maybe the Pirates should bat Jack Suwinski all 9 times and see who comes out of their slump first. Johan Oviedo, one of the two starting pitchers the Pirates have, takes the mound. Which Oviedo will we see? Only the Shadow knows for sure.

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Pirates Morning Report: This Time 19 In A Row

Final Score: Pirates 0 Twins 2

Why The Pirates Lost: This time the Pirates started the game with 19 up and 19 down as Dallas Keuchel was perfect through 6 and 1/3 innings. Bryan Reynolds doubled with one out in the top of the 7th to break up the perfect game and no hitter. Reynolds got the other hit in the top of the 9th, an infield single where the pitcher was late covering the bag. The bullpen pitched a credible game giving up only 2 runs on 5 hits, one walk, while striking out 16 batters. The Pirates were pretty much punchless the whole game. The Pirates end this road trip 2-4 losing both series to the Mets and the Twins. They head home now to play the Cardinals and the Cubs. They have had some success against the Cardinals going 5-2 and no success against the Cubs losing all 6 games they have played.

Key Moments Of The Game: Both the Twin runs scored because of some luck and questionable play by the right fielder Henry Davis. I do not fault Davis. If this was the plan by the Pirates for him to play right field, why was he not playing this position all year in the minors? He has struggled out there from day one but hopefully he will start to improve with more experience. You have to figure that this is probably affecting his hitting also, trying to learn a new position, AT THE MAJOR LEAGUE LEVEL. ALL I CAN SAY IS THE PIRATE MANAGEMENT TEAM GETS A BIG EFFING F ON PLAYER DEVELOPEMENT. TWO PITCHERS THAT LOOKED SO GREAT LAST YEAR ARE STRUGGLING IN THE MINORS AND DAVIS WHO IS A CATCHER WAS PUT OUT IN RIGHT FIELD AFTER PLAYING ABOUT 1O GAMES AT AAA. A THIRD PITCHER CAME UP AND THROUGH 6 STARTS HAD AN ERA OF OVER 9. You have to figure that Paul Skenes is a train wreck waiting to happen with this crew. Wouldn’t it be nice to see one player who seems to be improving. What exactly are they looking at on those I pads. Whatever it is, it sure isn’t helping the players perform better.

Next Game: Tonight, Cardinals in Pittsburgh. The Pirates do not know who is starting tonight as I write this. Do they know that the game is in Pittsburgh? I heard that someone spotted Derek Shelton in St. Louis this morning. It is a shame to see this team disintegrate right before our very eyes. I thought they might get to 70 wins. Now I see 100 losses again.

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Pirates Morning Report: Turning Back The Clock

Final Score: Pirates 7 Twins 4

Why The Pirates Won: Andrew McCutchen turned back the clock and had a big game going 2 for 5 with a home run and 5 RBI’s. Mitch Keller pitched a solid, but not brilliant, 6 innings giving up 2 runs, 7 hits, walking 1, while striking out 12 batters. The bullpen was shaky throughout but managed to get through the game, preserving the win to even the series. I admit, the way this game started, it looked to me like the Pirates were just going through the motions. They went down in order the first 5 innings with 4 of the first 6 batters striking out. Andrew McCutchen showed what veteran leadership is all about.

The Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates made the first out in the top of the 6th for the 16th consecutive out. They had just come off of a very frustrating game the night before where they could not drive in any runs. They were trailing 2-0 going into the 6th inning. After they made the first out, things started going their way, big time. Liover Peguero hit a dribbler down the third base line and went to second on a throwing error by the 3rd baseman. Jason Delay hit a little bloop in no man’s land in left center field to put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Then, stop the presses, Ji Hwan Bae walked. In fact, double stop the presses, he walked twice in this game, which may be the most significant thing that happened. Bryan Reynolds who had a tough day at the plate struck out on 3 pitches, 2 of which were out of the strike zone. You had to feel that here we go again, another missed opportunity. However, McCutchen found a hole just to the left of the 2nd base bag and it tied the game 2-2. Ke’Bryan (If Bae Can Walk Maybe I Can Start Too) Hayes lined a sharp single to left field and Bae’s speed beat the slightly off target throw, giving the Pirates a 3-2 lead. The Pirates added a run in the 8th and McCutchen hit a huge, in more ways than one, 3 run home run which proved to be the margin of victory. The bullpen barely hung on but did, and the Pirates have a chance at a .500 road trip.

Next Game: This afternoon, Twins in Minnesota. It’s a rubber match today with Pirates looking like they are doing a bullpen game and the Twins trotting out of all people, Dallas Keuchel. Let’s hope he does not find his form today. Even with Keuchel pitching I will be surprised if the Pirates take the series. Those are the kind of surprises that you like however, and my heart is strong.

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Pirate Morning Report: Not The Way To Score One Run

Final Score: Pirates 1 Twins 5

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates typical formula, mediocre pitching and terrible hitting when it counted. The Pirate booth said that Andre Jackson pitched great. Here are his numbers, you decide. He gave up 2 runs on 4hits, walking 3, striking out 6 in 4 and 1/3 innings of work. Not an awful performance but great, come on. The bullpen gave up 3 runs in the other 3 and 2/3 innings. I guess compared to the lousy bullpen he was great. Not to be out done, the batters were even worse. They could only muster 1 run despite getting 9hits, 3 walks and a hit batsman. They stranded 11 runners while going 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position. Quite a performance. There is one thing I will never understand, and the Pirates are not the only ones that do this. When a batter is in a major slump, the team continues to bat him in a key position in the order. Jack Suwinski has been struggling mightily over the last 30 games hit a paltry .129 with an even more embarrassing OBP of .234. Despite this the Pirates have batted Suwinski lead off, which may have started this whole mess, and clean up. How about putting him 8th or 9th until he comes out of it. Right now, he is nothing but one big rally killer. Kyle Schwarber is going through the same thing, although not as bad as Suwinski, and the Phillies continue to put him at the top of the lineup.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates were trailing 3-0 going into the top of the 7th inning. It looked like they may be getting something really going when they opened the inning with a walk, a double, and a bloop single to make the score 3-1 with first and third and nobody out. Then we had to painfully watch this. Ke’Bryan (Even Though I Have Been “Hot” My OPS+ Is Still Only 91) Hayes took a strike, fouled a strike, and fouled out on a ball 6 inches outside. Jack (My Hero Is Daniel Vogelbach) Suwinski, took a strike, took a ball, swung at a ball that was low, and took a 3rd strike that was well inside the strike zone. Last but certainly not least, Henry (The Last Time I Played Right Field I Was 10 Years Old) Davis, swung at a strike, took a ball, fouled off a pitch 6 inches inside and struck out on a pitch 6 inches outside. Inning over and so was the ballgame.

Next Game: Tonight, Twins in Minnesota. The Pirates are 1-3 on this road trip and look to be headed for 1-5. Mitch Keller starts tonight, a real starting pitcher, something the Pirates are finding hard to come by. Thank God for the DVR.

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Pirates Morning Report: 121 Games In

Since the All Star break the Pirates have gone 13-18 and all phases of their game has declined. Lately they appear to be hitting better but not enough to overcome some early hitting woes. Runs per game they were 22nd at the 90 game mark dropping to 24th now. They dropped from 21st to 22nd in OBP. The OPS+ dropped from 24th to 26th. Not big drops but drops, nonetheless. The pitching dropped even further, which is no surprise considering their recent performances. Runs against went from 21st to 25th. In Fielding Independent Pitching they fell from 20th to 22nd. The ERA+ fell from 17th to 20th. The Defensive Efficiency Rating went from 23rd to 27th. This was a total team effort to go 13-18 or lack of effort you might say. If the Pirates can win 20 or 21 of their last 41 games, which I admit is not likely, they will wind up with 74 or 75 wins, which would be a 12 to 13 game improvement from last year. Most likely they will win right around 70 games. The most disappointing aspect of this team has been the regression of the young starting pitching.

Mitch Keller last year had an ERA+ of 106. This year he is at 105 after a solid start his last time out. Whose idea was it to not allow him to pitch but 1 inning over an 11 day period? He should have started the 2nd or 3rd game after the break. That last good start he had, may have been the result of finally getting back to a normal routine. Johan Oviedo may be the most inconsistent pitcher in the history of baseball. Last year in 7 starts, which is not a lot, he had an ERA+ of 130. This year he is checking in with 99. He has had 25 starts for the Pirates this year. He has only given up 2-4 runs 6 times. In 11 starts he has been brilliant giving up no or just 1 run. In the other 8 starts he has been awful giving up 5 or more runs. Until this last start, his fast ball was consistently reaching 97 MPH. For some reason he was reluctant to throw it. He became another Pirate pitcher who has lost velocity with his fast ball rarely hitting 95. He got blasted for 4 runs in just 4 innings. Luis Ortiz last year came up and had 3 solid starts in a row. Pitching 15 innings with an ERA of 1.15. He had a fast ball that was at 99- 100 MPH the majority of the time. His last start of 22 was a disaster where he gave up 6 runs in just 2/3 innings. This can happen to anyone. This year his fast ball never hit 100 MPH and most games topped out at 97. No explanation from the Pirates. Other than a great 8 inning performance he has gotten knocked around pretty good, got sent down to AAA in July and is not really do all that great down there. Roansy Contreras has fallen the furthest and the hardest. In 2022 Contreras pitched in 21 games and made 18 starts. He had 2 bad starts giving up 6 and 7 runs respectively. Despite that he had an overall ERA of 3.79 and an ERA+ of 110. His fast ball was clocked at 96 to 97 MPH. This year he lost 2-3 MPH on his fastball and his ERA+ fell to 68 before he was sent down. He is pitching a little better at the moment in AAA. Whatever the Pirate pitching philosophy is, it ain’t working brother, and it needs to be changed. The regression of this young staff with no apparent injuries is alarming. Top that off with the recent Quinn Priester disastrous Major League debut stint, and things could not get much worse for this young staff. Talk about negative player development, the Pirates are showing how to do it.

I wrote at the All Star break that the Pirate pitching is in disarray and nothing that has happened is changing my mind. The Pirate schedule over these last 41 games is fair. They have 20 home games and 21 on the road. They play only one powerhouse team the Braves in Atlanta. They will be playing a lot of teams in the wild card hunt, and this may be to their advantage. These teams will be playing under pressure and the Pirates will not. The Pirates will finish up with the Phillies and Marlins so they will help decide the wild card race. The final games should be interesting. Let’s hope the Pirates can be competitive.

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Pirates Morning Report: Where Has All The Pitching Gone

Final Score: Pirates 3 Mets 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Another poor performance by a starting pitcher, this time Johan Oviedo, who looked like he wanted to anywhere but on the mound. He looked sluggish, his fast ball velocity was down (another one), and he had no command. Other than that, he pitched a good game. He gave up 4 runs in 4 innings and not to be out done the bullpen gave up 4 runs in 4 innings, good job. I will have more on the pitching when I do the 121-game report, tomorrow. This series featured two teams with about the same record even though they have vastly different payrolls. All three games had similar underlying themes. They were looooooooooooooong. Yesterday’s game was the shortest at 2 hours and 54 minutes. The other two were a little short and a little beyond 3hours. There were a lot of walks. Game 1 had 11 walks, while games 2 and 3 had 13 walks. What made this worse that most of the time teams did not take much advantage of the walks, especially the Pirates. Most of the runs scored on home runs. The Mets hit 8 home runs during the series and the Pirates 2. Other than blow out wins or losses, these were the most boring games the Pirates played all year. The incompetence of both teams was damn scary at this level.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates were trailing 4-2 going into the top of the 5th. Other than the Bryan Reynolds’ 2 run home run, the offense had not really done much, and looked like they were going down quietly in the 5th when two quick outs were made. Andrew McCutchen walked, and Jack Suwinski lined a ball down into the right field corner. McCutchen was waved home and was thrown out on a close play. The Mets’ relay was perfect, one of the few really good plays in the entire series. How would the Pirates know that the Mets would finally execute a routine baseball play? Oviedo opened the bottom of the 5th by walking the first batter on 6 pitches, the last 3 not being anywhere near the plate, after being ahead in the count 1-2. Shelton had seen enough and brought in Ryan Borucki the left hander. Things looked good when Pete Alonso was caught stealing and Jeff McNeil flew out to center. But then Borucki walked (what else) The Turtle (who else) and DJ Stewart hit his 2nd home run of the game to put the Mets ahead 6-2 and the game was over.

Next Game: Tomorrow, Twins in Minnesota. Tomorrow will be the final in season report on these Pirates. I am going to concentrate on management tomorrow, so it will not be pretty.

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Pirates Morning Report: Thank You Mets

Final Score: Pirates 7 Mets 4

Why The Pirates Won: Simply put, the Mets made sure they did. In a 7th inning, that could only be described as comical, the Pirates scored 6 runs. The first 3 runs scored on only one hit. After Connor Joe doubled, putting him on 2nd and Andrew McCutchen, who walk, on third, Henry Davis struck out. The Mets proceeded to walk 2 batters in a row to force in one run, hit the next batter to force in another run. The third run came on a passed ball, making the score 4-1 Pirates. Jason Delay doubled home 2 runs, followed by a Bryan Reynolds triple, to make the score 7-1. Wow! Bailey Falter pitched a nice 5 and 1/3 innings giving up 1 run, 5 hits, walking 1 and striking out 5. Greg Brown said oops when Liover Pegurero hit his home run in the 2nd inning because he and Matt Capps were talking about themselves instead of reporting on what was happening on the field. The Pirate announcers think they are more interesting than the game of baseball. The Pirates will take this win and hopefully can win the series today.

The Key Moment Of The Game: It was no question the 7th inning. This game had the same feel as the previous game as the Pirates had lots of traffic on the bases and could do nothing with it. This time they left 13 runners on base. Through 6 innings they had 5 hits, 6 walks, 1 HBP, and could only muster one run, that coming on a home run. Thankfully in the 7th the Mets decided to take charge and ensure that the Pirates would win the game. It was Colin Selby who picked up the win, pitching a sterling 1 and 1/3 innings giving up 3 runs, 3 hits, including 2 home runs, while walking another 2 batters. A much deserved win for Colin. Thanks to some horrible pitching by both clubs, this game took 3 hours and 12 minutes to play. These first two games would have been 4 hours long if not for the pitch clock. Despite the huge payroll, maybe the Mets players get overtime.

Next Game: This afternoon, Mets in New York. Johan Oviedo takes the hill today and here’s hoping he can shake off that last bad start. Maybe the Mets will find it in their hearts to give away two games in a row. The Pirates need all the help they can get.