Month: July 2025

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Sweep Giants Despite Themselves

Final Score: Pirates 2 Giants 1 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Won: Obviously, it was the pitching again. I always write all is forgiven when you win. This offensive performance may be the exception. Ten of the first 12 outs of the game were strikeouts. They were 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position. They left 13 men on base. They had 7 hits plus 7 walks and could score just 1 run. They wound up striking out 14 times for the game. Even with the pitching you had to wonder how in the hell did they win. Of course the Giants did help. The pitching was brilliant. Mike Burrows looks better every time he pitches. He went 6 innings giving up 1 run on 3 hits. He struck out 7 and walked 1. He threw 91 pitches. Carmen Mlodzinski pitched 2 innings giving up just a hit. Isaac Mattson pitched the last 2 innings giving up 2 hits. He had an amazing 10th inning.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Giants got a run in the bottom of the 4th. They had all 3 of their hits in the inning to score. The Pirates broke right back in the top of the 5th with an IKF single and a Spencer Horwitz double to start the inning. One out later, the Pirates had two walks to load the bases. Nick (The Supposed RBI Machine) Gonzales grounded into a double play to end the inning. The 10th inning both teams tried to give it away. The Giants refused to take it. The Pirates had 1st and 3rd with one out. Henry Davis hit it right back to the pitcher. Instead of going home he tried to get the double play by throwing to second. One problem. Suwinski broke on the pitch and beat the throw to second. Davis was still thrown out but the Pirates had a 2-1 lead. The bottom of the 10th opened with a big pop up to left field. Jack (I Think I Need Glasses) Suwinski lost the ball in the sky and it fell to earth. A sacrifice put runners on 2nd and 3rd. That’s when Mattson took over. He struck out the last two batters throwing 9 straight fastballs to end the game. Who needs pitch sequencing. The Pirates have won 8 out of 9.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Rockies in Colorado. Hopefully the Pirates will be able to continue the momentum against the Rockies. No matter what happens they will be doing it without Ke’Bryan Hayes. One of my must trade players is gone. I will reserve comment until the trade deadline has past. If the Pirates do something really good I may be posting tonight. Most likely I will just be doing my usual Morning Report. I known, the Pirates doing something really good. Look every blog needs a little humor.

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Pirates Morning Report: Turning The Infield Hit Into An Art Form

Final Score: Pirates 3 Giants 1

Why The Pirates Won: Outstanding pitching was back. Falter went 5 innings giving up 1 run on 2 hits. He did walk 4 but managed to throw only 70 pitches. Braxton Ashcraft pitched 3 perfect innings. Dennis Santana pitched a clean 9th to get the save. Liovar Peguero hit a solo homer. The Pirates infield hit their way to 2 runs in the top of the eighth. The Pirates had 12 hits but couldn’t do much with it leaving 10 men on base. As I always say all is forgiven when you win. Not so much when you lose. The Giants looked bad last night. They were doubled off second base on an infield fly rule in the first inning. Looks like Rafael Devers did the Red Sox a big favor by refusing to play 1st base.

Key Moments Of The Game: It was a tale of two contrasting innings. In the bottom of the 4th the Giants hit 3 balls over 100 MPH and 2 over 90 MPH coming away with 1 run. That was a lead off home run by Willie Adames. Falter had the at em ball going that inning. In the top of the 8th the Pirates did not hit on ball over 100 MPH. They hit 5 consecutive ground balls. Two did not go over 70 MPH. One went 87. Two went 97. They all resulted in hits or runs. The ground ball by Ke’Bryan Hayes was misplayed thanks to Deavers not knowing what to do at first base. This loaded the bases. Joey Bart singled on a ground ball between short and 3rd to knock in the 2nd run. Peguero hit a little 69 MPH topper down third that Matt Chapman could only throw Peguero out at first bringing in the 3rd run. Three balls over 100 MPH, one run. No balls over 100 MPH 2 runs. Things are going the Pirates way as they have won 7 of 8.

Next Game: This afternoon, Giants in San Francisco. Mike Burrows goes for the Pirates today as they try and get a road sweep. Tomorrow is the infamous trade deadline. May have two blogs tomorrow if the Pirates do anything significant. That is not very likely. The bad news is, even if they trade him, this recent resurgence of Tommy Pham may have save Ben Cherington’s job. What danger lurks in the mind of Ben Cherington? Who knows? Only The Shadow Shelton knows. I couldn’t help myself. I had to get that in one last time. I also want to squelch this rumor. That was not Derek Shelton serving fries at McDonald’s. It was Burger King.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Edge The Giants

A little different format today as an abbreviated report. First, I made a mistake on the road trip. The Pirates are going to Colorado, not Cincinnati, after the Giants series. Following the Pirates can have a detrimental effect on your brain. I am traveling today and already having flight problems, thus the abbreviated report. Mitch Keller had one of his worst outings of the year. Maybe he is thinking of the trade deadline. He threw 73 pitches in 2 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits. He walked 3. It was obvious he did not have his command. It was a smart move by Don Kelly to take him out. The Pirate offense finally gave Keller some support, but he could not take advantage of it. The big hits were by IKF and Andrew McCutchen. IKF got a big 2-out double, knocking in 2 runs. Tommy Pham followed up with a single to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead. McCutchen hit a 2-run homer in the 7th to give the Pirates a 6-4 lead. David Bednar had some bad luck in the 9th but managed to save the game and give the Pirates a well-earned 6-5 win. They go against the Giants tonight.

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Pirates Morning Report: Skenes Comes Up Clutch

Final Score: Pirates 6 Diamondbacks 0

Why The Pirates Won: You could say that Paul Skenes was his good old dominant self. His line certainly looked it. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 3 hits, one walk, while striking out 9. He threw 99 pitches and lowered his ERA to 1.83. He got into 3 situations I will delve into when I get to key moments. The highlight of the 6-run Pirate offense was their aggressive base running. In the bottom of the 2nd, Oneil Cruz scored all the way from first on a Tommy Pham single. The score was 1-0 Pirates. In the bottom of the 3rd, Nick Gonzales scored with 2 outs on a Bryan Reynolds double. The Diamondbacks did a good job of getting the ball in. Gonzales just beat the play, with the catcher dropping the ball. Reynolds moved to third on the throw to the plate. Oneil Cruz followed with a 112 MPH shot to right for a single. Reynolds scored easily from 3rd. If he would have been on second, it would have been questionable if he could have scored. In the bottom of the 6th, Bryan Reynolds was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Oneil Cruz hit a 107 MPH bullet down the right field line. Again, the Diamondbacks did a good job of getting the ball in. Reynolds, hustling all the way, barely beat the throw. The Pirates led 4-0. After all the previous blunders on the bases, this was the best base running the Pirates had done all season. Now let’s get to the part where Skenes was his most brilliant.

Key Moments Of The Game. In the top of the 2nd, Jake McCarthy lined a one-out triple into left center field. Skenes bore down and struck out James McCann. He got the next batter, Alek Thomas, to pop out to end the inning. In the top of the 3rd, Tristin English led off with a double. Skenes then recorded a strikeout and a weak ground out to 2nd, moving the runner to third. Geraldo Perdomo popped out to Nick Gonzales to end that threat. Going into the top of the 4th, the Pirates had a 3-0 lead. The top of the fourth started with Eugenio Suarez being hit by a pitch. Skenes struck out Adrian Del Castillo. Jake McCarthy doubled down the left field line, which put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Skenes struck out James McCann again, this time on 3 pitches. He fell behind 3-1 to Alek Thomas. Thomas swung at a changeup that was in the dirt. Skenes came right back with another changeup that was on the outside corner at the knees. Thomas whiffed. For 3 straight innings, the Diamondbacks got a runner to third base. In two of those innings, there was only one out. All three times they came up empty. They were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position. For the last 5 innings, they had 2 hits. After a disastrous start, the Pirates ended the home stand 5-4.

Next Game; Tonight, Giants in San Francisco. Mitch Keller will be going for the Pirates. The Giants are just coming off being swept by the Mets at home. The Pirates will be playing a playoff contender who is fighting for its life. That can be good or bad. We will see. The trade deadline is Wednesday at 6 PM. I really can’t get too excited. This has been a horrible year for the Pirates. I do not expect much of an uplift no matter what the Pirates do. I think at least 5 players should be gone, not including Mitch Keller. If he goes, then it should be six. We should get to see a lot of young guys on the roster in August and September. That’s the key word, should.

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Pirates Morning Report: Another Impressive Pitching Performance Nets A Win

Final Score: Pirates 2 Diamondbacks 0

Why The Pirates Won: For the 2nd straight game, the Pirate pitching staff shut out the Diamondbacks for 9 innings. This is even more impressive against the Diamondbacks. They are top 5 in baseball in runs per game, slugging, on-base percentage, and OPS+. Last night, it was Andrew Heaney who gave up 2 hits in 5 innings. He struck out 4, walking none. The bullpen gave up only 2 hits and walked 1 over the last 4 innings. Oneil Cruz’s 17th home run with a runner on gave the Pirates their 2 runs. Tommy Pham was on base thanks to an error by Eugenio Suarez. Other than Cruz’s home run, the Pirates had just 5 other hits. They were retired in order in 4 of the 8 innings. The top 3 in the batting order went 1 for 12. Pretty much another Triple P performance. All is forgiven when you win.

Key Moment Of The Game; The Pirates took Heaney out after 5 innings. He had thrown only 71 pitches. They probably did not want to stretch their luck any further. Lefty, Genesis Cabrera started the top of the 6th. In 5 pitches, all strikes, he got 2 ground outs. He gave up a single to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Don Kelly then brought in Yohan Ramirez. He quickly gave up a single to Suárez, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. It would be the first and only time the Diamondbacks would get a runner in scoring position. Jorge Barrosa was frozen on a 1-2 curveball for a called third strike. In the last 3 innings, the Diamondbacks went Pirate-like and did not get a hit. The Pirates managed to get the win and set up the rubber match today.

Next Game: This afternoon, Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes will go for the Pirates. The Pirates will try to win the series and have a winning home stand. That should give them a boost. If the Pirates shut out the Diamondbacks today, it would make for an interesting stat. They would throw three straight 9-inning shutouts and lose one of the games. It would be something to see the Diamondbacks break out of their slump against the best pitcher in baseball. You have to feel that this won’t be the day the Diamondbacks’ offense gets healthy. It’s good that the Pirates are not in contention right now. They start a 7 game road trip to the Giants and then the Reds with no days off. Oh, those schedule makers of MLB. On the other hand, the Pirates are probably happy about this. It gives them a great excuse to give 20 years olds a day of rest. You also have to wonder how many Pirates will make the trip to Cincinnati. Probably more than you would like.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates On A New Streak

Final Score: Pirates 0 Diamondbacks 1 11 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: They could not score a run in 11 innings. In fact, they only had 1 hit in 11 innings. They are on a new scoreless streak of 17 innings. They hit 2 balls all night over 100 MPH—one hit on the ground and one hit in the air. They only struck out 7 times. They were hit by a pitch twice and walked 4 times. Obviously, they could do nothing with them. They did not score in the two extra innings, even with a runner on 2nd to start the inning. The Pirate pitching was almost just as good. They held the Diamondbacks scoreless through 10, giving up just 5 hits. They also gave up 4 walks but did not hit anybody. In the bottom of the 11th, the Pirates showed it again. They have no idea what to do on the bases.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The Diamondbacks finally pushed a run across in the top of the 11th. The inning opened with a walk to Ketel Marte. Geraldo Perdomo hit a deep fly to center to move the runner to third. Eugenio Suarez lifted a fly ball to right. Bryan Reynolds did not back up on the ball enough. This contributed to him making a very weak throw to the plate, and the runner scored easily. Things just got worse for the Pirates in the bottom of the 11th. Liover Peguero pinch ran for Spencer Horwitz to start the inning. He moved to third on a deep fly to center by Andrew McCutchen. Bryan Reynolds hit a soft liner to left that looked like it might fall in. Peguero didn’t just stay on the base to tag up. Instead, he was moving back and forth about 5 to 10 feet from the bag. By the time he decided to go back and tag, it was too late. The left fielder dived and rolled over to make the catch. Peguero did not even make an effort to score, thanks to his base running blunder. What makes this play even worse is that Oneil Cruz did the same bonehead baserunning a couple of games before. This cost the Pirates at least sending the game to the 12th inning. The Pirates lost this game because they could not perform basic baseball plays. Besides having no talent, the Pirates just don’t know how to play the game. There is nothing more to say.

Next Game: Tonight, Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. Andrew Heaney goes for the Pirates. I guess you could say he is due for a good outing. Will the offense score a run tonight? Will somebody teach Peguero and Cruz how to run the bases? There was more bad news as the Yankees got their third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies. He is slugging .403 which is not great. It is 103 points higher than Hayes’ putrid .300 slugging. We are probably going to be stuck with him. I expect the trade deadline to be just like this whole season: extremely disappointing and will make no sense.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Get The Sweep

Final Score: Pirates 6 Tigers 1

Why The Pirates Won: Spencer Horwitz’s first career grand slam led the Pirates to a 6-1 victory. It may not have won the game, but it sure made the win a heck of a lot easier. Bailey Falter threw 7 innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits. He struck out a season-high 8 batters and walked none. He threw only 87 pitches. The Pirates scored all their runs in the first 3 innings. Andrew McCutchen hit a solo home run in the first. Bryan Reynolds led off the bottom of the 3rd with a double. He moved to third on a deep fly ball to right by Nick Gonzales. Oneil Cruz hit a 363-foot fly ball to center to drive in the 6th and final run. The bullpen got a much-needed rest with Carmen Mlodzinski pitching the final two innings. The 3-game sweep came surprisingly easy for the Pirates. They looked so pathetic against the White Sox. It is hard to believe that they won these next games. They scored 17 runs in the 3 games.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates loaded the bases in the bottom of the 2nd on a single and two walks. There was one out. Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out on 3 pitches. The last two were called strikes. It looked like the Pirates were going to blow another opportunity. Spencer Horwitz took an opening cutter for a ball. The next cutter was in the strike zone, out over the plate about thigh level. Horwitz did not miss it. He blasted it 416 feet to right-center field for his first career grand slam. It was the biggest 2-out hit the Pirates have had in the last 2 months. It blew open the game in the Pirates’ favor, 5 to 0. From that moment on, Bailey Falter was dominant, challenging the Tigers for the next 5 innings. The Tigers only had one at-bat with runners in scoring position.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. The Pirates wrap up this home stand with a weekend series against the Diamondbacks. Mike Burrows goes on Friday. The bullpen will be well-rested. Can the Pirates keep the momentum going? Probably not, but we can always hope. Let’s just hope they don’t overdo it on their day off. The trade deadline is looming. It is still a mystery what the Pirates will wind up doing. I don’t think that even they know. It could be the last few games as a Pirate for many players. We can only hope.

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Pirate Morning Report: Good Golly The Offense Wins One

Final Score: Pirates 8 Tigers 5

Why The Pirates Won: The offense came alive. This was only the third game all year that the Pirates won when the other team scored 5 runs or more. The Cardinals, who are two games over .500, have done that 11 times. The Pirate offense did the job yesterday in a big way. They had 14 hits, with 8 of them being doubles. Spencer Horwitz had 3 hits for the 2nd straight game. Bryan Reynolds had 3 hits. They each had 2 RBIs. Hold on to your hats; Oneil Cruz scored a run on a hustle play. Tommy Pham continues to increase his trade value. He had 3 hits with 2 RBIs. Alex Canario struck out 4 straight times just so you knew you were watching the Pirates. It did not hurt that the Tigers played some lackluster defense. The Pirates’ pitching staff got plagued by the long ball. Not a big deal when your team scores 8 runs. Mitch Keller went 6 innings, giving up a 3-run homer. He gave up 6 hits total and walked 3. Caleb Ferguson gave up the other two runs on a 451-foot blast by Jahmai Jones. David Bednar allowed the tying run to come to the plate with one out. He struck out the last two batters to end the game. The Pirates were swept by the team with the worst record in the American League. Today they will have a chance to sweep the team that has the best record in the American League. Don’t you just love sports?

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates held a precarious 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the 6th. Keller’s last two innings were shaky, and the bullpen was about to take over. Spencer Heywood struck out on a wild pitch and wound up at first base to open the inning. For once, the Pirates took advantage. Gonzales hit a weak ground ball out that moved Spencer to second. Bryan Reynolds singled to center to bring Horwitz home. Tommy Pham doubled down the line in left, scoring Reynolds. Cruz walked. Ke’Bryan (I Can’t Wait Until He Is Traded So I Don’t Have To Type That Apostrophe Anymore) Hayes singled home Pham. The Pirates’ lead jumped right back up to 5 runs. As it turned out, they needed those 3 runs.

Next Game: This afternoon, Tigers in Pittsburgh. Bailey Falter is going for the Pirates today. He is not doing quite as bad as his clone Andrew Heaney. However, he has given up 10 earned runs in his last 3 outings. The other problem with today’s game is that the bullpen has been pretty well spent. Santana should be available. The B squad must come through today. This is necessary if the Pirates are going to pull out the sweep. Maybe the bats can come through 2 days in a row. Maybe I will win the lottery today.

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Pirates Morning Report: Skenes Leads The Pitching Staff Back

Final Score: Pirates 3 Tigers 0

Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes pitched another solid outing. He only gave up 3 hits and walked 1. He struck out 6, throwing only 86 pitches in 6 innings of work. I did not have a big problem with them taking him out. The season is over, and why put any stress on his workload? He has proven he can throw 100 pitches if necessary. Unless he is doing something spectacular, limiting him to about 90 pitches a game is fine. The bullpen did the job. Bednar needed a great play by Tommy Pham and an “at ’em” ball to keep it from being more interesting. After losing 3 straight to the last-place White Sox, they wound up beating the best team in the American League. The offense had one good inning, scoring 3 runs. Overall, they were as bad as usual. The Tigers threw 130 pitches in the game. The Pirates took 15 strikes, which is not bad. They swung at 22 pitches outside of the strike zone. None of those swings resulted in any of their nine hits. They were as punchless as ever, with all 9 hits being singles. This team needs to follow Ted Williams’ hitting rule. To hit, you swing at strikes and take balls. I don’t think they will ever learn. But hey, a win is a win. It was especially nice to see Skenes get the win. He is 5-8 now. He still has an excellent shot at being the first Cy Young Award winner with a losing record.

Key Moments Of The Game: It all boiled down to the bottom of the second and the top of the third. Ke’Bryan Hayes led off the bottom of the 2nd with a single. Jack (Who’s Ted Williams) Suwinski struck out on a ball around his ankles. Henry (I Don’t Know Him Either) Davis swung at the first pitch that was in the dirt. He did manage to fly out to deep center field. IKF walked on four straight pitches. Atta boy. Spenser Horwitz hit a little 68 MPH blooper down the line to score the first Pirate run. McCutchen walked on five pitches to load the bases. Bryan Reynolds hit an 81 MPH “liner”. It dropped in to score the last two runs. Those were the final runs the Pirates would score in the game. At the end of the 2nd, they led 3-0. The Tigers tried to break right back against Skenes. Parker Meadows opened the inning with a 102 MPH double down the right field line. Matt Vierling hit a dribbler down the 3rd base line and beat it out. It did not allow the runner to advance. Skenes bore down to get the next two batters. One popped out to shallow right. The next batter hit into a 3-6 force play. With runners on first and third, this brought up the always dangerous Gleyber Torres. Torres worked the count to 3-2. Skenes lit him up with an up-and-in 99 MPH fastball to end the inning. The Tigers never really threatened after that. The bottom of the 3rd was the key to a Pirate victory.

Next Game: Tonight, Tigers in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller is going for the Pirates tonight. It was nice to see the pitching staff get back on track. We know the hitters are never going to do it. The pitching is the only strength of this team. It was disheartening to see them get knocked around by the lowly White Sox. I guess Peguero is never going to play. Why did they bring him up? There were plenty of other players they could have called up. Anybody can sit on the bench. You can easily see why player development is not a Pirate strong point.

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Pirates Morning Report: White Sox Get Their First Sweep Of The Season Easily.

Final Score: Pirates 2 White Sox 7

Why The Pirates Lost: Andrew Heaney had another bad start. On June 30th, Heaney pitched almost 7 innings of shutout ball against the Cardinals. His one start before that and his last 3 appearances have been horrific. In 4 games, he pitched 13 innings. He has given up 21 runs, all of them earned. He has given up 25 hits, including a whopping 9 home runs. At one time, the Heaney looked like he might be a trade chip. Now, he looks like he should be DFA. Another great pickup, Cherrington. The bullpen had a nice bounce back. They pitched 5 innings of 1-hit ball. It was way too late by then. The Pirate offense was just as bad. They only had 4 hits. They scored 2 runs, but 1 was from defensive indifference in the bottom of the 9th. They just had some awful at-bats led by Joey Bart and Oneil Cruz. Bart struck out on two called strikes and then swung at two pitches out of the strike zone. On his next at-bat, he was thrown 6 pitches, all out of the strike zone. He swung at 3 of them to strike out again. Cruz swung at 4 pitches in a row out of the strike zone. He then took a called 3rd strike to end the game. With the trade deadline coming up, you could call this a lame duck team. I just call them lame. Management again brought up a young player, Peguero, and has not played him for 3 games. He made a token appearance in the first game of the series. How does that help him? It most likely hinders his progress.

Key Moment Of The Game: The first inning, and you knew this game was over. Heaney got lit up for 4 runs. The first 5 batters, except for the one that walked, did not hit a ball under 99 MPH. He gave up 2 home runs. The last one went out at 107 MPH and carried 429 feet. The Pirates never really threatened to make a game of it. They only got 3 runners to scoring position for the game. For the third game in a row, they were blown out. The White Sox got their first 3 game sweep of the season. It is a sad state of affairs.

Next Game: Tonight, Tigers in Pittsburgh. We will see if Paul Skenes is engulfed in this starting pitching slump. The trade deadline can’t come fast enough. This team looks like they did at the start of the season. They have no interest in winning or playing baseball. It looks like we will have to endure another 7 to 10 days of this. Maybe these guys will get the shock of their lives and Cherrington won’t trade anybody. It would serve them right. It is about time Cherrington screwed over somebody besides the fans.