Month: September 2025

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Pirates Morning Report: Sometimes It’s Just Not Your Day

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 10

Why The Pirates Lost: Bubba Chandler’s long-awaited first start was pretty much a bust. In 2 and 2/3 innings, he gave up 9 runs on 9 hits. He walked 3 and struck out 3. He gave up some hard-hit balls, but even weak contact seemed to find holes. The Brewers put on a hitting clinic. Most of their hits were to the opposite field. There were 6 balls that were hit between 70 and 85 MPH. Four of those were for base hits. Not only was Chandler not sharp, but his luck was bad also. The Pirate offense put on a clinic too. A clinic on what not to do. They took a whopping 30 pitches for strikes. They swung at 20 pitches outside the zone. This all helped them strike out 12 times. This time the bottom 6 in the order went 2 for 21. The AAA boys went 0 for 6 with 2 walks. Nobody had a worse game than Oneil Cruz. He struck out in all four at-bats. He made contact with the ball just twice out of 16 pitches. Talk about making life easy for opposing pitchers. This series showed how far the Pirates have to go to become a quality club. Are you familiar with the moon? One final note. The Pirates sent down Ryan Kreidler to the minors. He was put on the roster August 31 and saw no action. I thought he might start yesterday. Instead, the Pirates said goodbye. What purpose did that serve? They brought up Ji Hwan Bae. We know what he can do. Nothing good. Oh well, the triple AAA boys got a new member.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Brewers jumped all over Chandler right in the 1st inning. The first 5 batters got 4 hits and a walk to quickly go out in front 3-0. A double play netted a 4th run. In the bottom of the 1st, Jacob Misiorowski walked the first two batters of the game. The Pirates could have gotten right back in the game. Reynolds grounded into a force play, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out. Nick Gonzales ended the inning by grounding into a double play. The Brewers scored 5 more runs in the next 2 innings, chasing Chandler in the 3rd. The Brewers clinched the series sweep before the 3rd inning was over.

Next Game: Tomorrow night Orioles in Baltimore. The Pirates go on a 6 game road trip. They play 3 against the Orioles and 3 against the Nationals. The Pirates had a nice run going until the Brewers came to town. Now the Pirates are going up against two teams that are in the same boat they are. Neither team has any chance of making the playoffs. The Nationals are 4 games behind the Pirates. The Orioles are 3 games ahead of the Pirates. Two teams, like the Pirates, that are playing essentially meaningless games. It will be interesting to see if the Pirates can hold their own against teams that are not under pressure. A 3-3 road trip would be a surprise.

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Pirates Morning Report: No Knowledge Of The Strike Zone

Final Score: Pirates 1 Brewers 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The offense has gone missing in action again. Maybe they all need to be fitted for glasses. They struck out 10 times. Six times they were called out on strikes. Three times they swung at pitches out of the zone. Only once did they strike out swinging on a pitch in the strike zone. Overall, they took 18 called strikes and swung at 20 pitches out of the zone. Nick Yorke swung at all 7 pitches he saw in one at-bat; only 4 were in the strike zone. Alexander Canario, with runners on first and second and one out, took the first two pitches for strikes. Neither one was a borderline pitch. This all helped Brandon Woodruff come out of his funk. He only gave up 2 hits while striking out 8 in 6 innings. The Pirates were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. The last 6 batters in the order went 1 for 20. This ensured that Mitch Keller would go down to his 14th defeat. He pitched well, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, walking none in 6 and 1/3 innings of work. Despite some improvement in August, the Pirates remain the worst scoring team in baseball. They are 14 runs behind the 2nd worst Rockies, who have played one game less.

Key Moments Of The Game: It was not a good day for Don Kelley. Kyle Nicolas was cruising along, retiring the 3 batters he had faced. Kelley replaced Nicolas with lefty Evan Sisk to face lefty Sal Frelick. The one problem is that Frelick hits lefties and righties the same. Not as much power, but the average and on-base percentage are the same. On deck was Jackson Chourio, who hits lefties 100 points higher than righties. The result: single, home run, 4-0 Brewers. It is a shame no one told Kelley about this. In the bottom of the 8th, the Pirates had a little threat going. Runners were on 1st and 2nd with one out. Kelley pinch-hit for Spencer Horwitz with a left-hander on the mound for the Brewers. The only problem was he pinch-hit for him with AAA Canario. They both hit lefties the same, which is lousy. This would have been the time to bring McCutchen in, who has a .281/.366/.421 slash line against lefties. Canario took 2 called strikes to start the at-bat. He hit into a double play to end the inning. If he had never swung, the Pirates may have been better off. I guess no one informed Kelley of these stats. McCutchen was on deck when the game was over. Quite a contribution.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Bubba Chandler will make his first major league start today. I feel sorry for him. The Triple P offense seems to be back. In the last 2 games, the offense has scored 3 runs on 11 hits. Inefficiency at its best. You have to wonder if the Pirates are finally going to let Ryan Kreidler and his .105 batting average make an appearance. I have heard that he just stays in the locker room and is not allowed to sit in the dugout. He was recalled on August 31. This is September 7th. Let’s hope inactivity can create a miracle. It is more likely that the Brewers will get the sweep. I doubt the Pirates will score a run.

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Pirates Morning Report: Yes, It Was A Fluke

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 5

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates decided to hold auditions rather than try to win a ball game. In the long run, it was not a bad decision. They went with the B squad two nights in a row. Yohan Ramirez and Colin Holderman came in to pitch the 8th and 9th. They were only trailing 3-2. Maybe they wanted to see if how they pitched the game before was a fluke. It was. Although, to be fair to Holderman, the Pirates went circus act in the field. AAA boy Jared Triolo hurt his chances for a promotion. He went 0 for 4 and had 2 errors in the field. All of this may have been more significant if the Pirate offense had been more of a factor. They ended the game by going 17 up and 17 down. The Brewers had an amazing 20 at-bats with runners in scoring position. They were only able to get 3 hits and left a whopping 12 men on base. I think it was that constant pressure that made the Pirates finally wilt. The Brewers had 10 hits, 5 walks, 1 hit by pitch, and reached base 3 times on errors. It was audition night in Pittsburgh last night. It probably cost them the game, but I was fine with it. After all, I hadn’t bought a ticket.

Key Moments Of Game: The Pirates had Quinn Priester on the ropes in the first 4 innings. However, they did not put him away. He gave up 5 hits and a walk. The Pirates scored 2 runs but should have scored more. In the first, they had 1st and 2nd with one out but failed to score. In the 2nd, they scored a run and had a runner on 2nd base with no outs. They did not add on. In the 3rd, Tommy Pham doubled home the 2nd run with one out. He was stranded. The 4th inning started with an Oneil Cruz single. Joey Bart was hit by a pitch. Nick Yorke grounded into a double play. This started a streak of 17 up and 17 down. The B squad got back to normal, and the Pirates lost.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller goes for the Pirates tonight. He is going up against Brandon Woodruff. Coming off shoulder surgery, he got off to a great start. His last three outings have been bad. He has pitched 14 and 1/3 innings, giving up 16 runs on 20 hits. Three of the runs have been unearned. Maybe the Pirates can take advantage. There are 20 games left in the season. As bad as this season has been, if the Pirates go 12-8, they will have the same record as last year and the year before. What a wacky season.

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Pirates Morning Report: The B Squad Barely Hangs On

Final Score: Pirates 5 Dodgers 3

Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes shut the Dodgers down in grand style. He gave up 2 hits, walked 1, and struck out 8 over 6 innings. He had only a few balls hit hard off of him. Dalton Rushing just missed hitting a home run. He raised his record to 10-9 while lowering his ERA to 1.98. Cy Young award here we come. The B squad had to get through the last 3 innings. Yohan Ramirez had one of his better outings. He went 1 and 2/3 innings, giving up 1 hit and striking out 2. Evan Zisk managed to get Ohtani to end the 8th. The ninth was shaky. Dauri (Counterfeit Money) Moreta started the inning. Mookie Betts greeted him with a home run. He struck out Freddie Freeman. He gave up 3 straight singles to make the score 5-2. Don Kelly brought in Colin (I Can’t Believe He Is Putting Me In) Holderman. On the 2nd pitch, he got Hyeseong Kim to hit a soft liner to Tommy Pham. Miguel Rojas singled to left to make the score 5-3. The Dodgers had removed catcher Dalton Rushing from the lineup for light-hitting Ben Rortvedt. Even Holderman made him look silly. He took 2 called strikes. He swung at a ball in the dirt to end the game. Right after the game, Ben Cherrington called the Dodgers about a trade. Rortvedt for Henry Davis. The B squad had barely survived. The Pirates had their sweep. The 3 AAA musketeers had an okay day. They went 3 for 11 with an RBI.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates made the most of their opportunities. They were 4 for 11 with runners in scoring position. The Pirates made it 1-0 in the 3rd with a single, 2 wild pitches, and a single. It was still 1-0 going into the bottom of the 5th. The Pirates started the inning with 3 straight singles to make the score 2-0. Nick Gonzales, making an aggressive move, went to 3rd on a single to left. Bryan Reynolds alertly went to 2nd on the throw. Tommy Pham struck out. Then the Dodgers made a tactical error by intentionally walking Andrew McCutchen. The intentional walk is much more controversial than it used to be. The Dodgers paid dearly for this one. Nick Yorke took the first pitch, lining it down the left field line for a double. The score was now 4-0. Canario hit a weak ground ball to 1st to drive in the 5th run. It was enough to get the sweep.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Quinn Priester goes for the Brewers—another pitcher the Pirates failed to develop. I am sure he will have extra incentive tonight. Jared Triolo continues to hit; he is getting close to a promotion. If I give it to him, there will be only 2 AAA boys left. No question the Pirates are playing better. The real question is why? I hope it is not because these games are basically meaningless. If this continues, I do not think we will see any changes in the organization. Oh Lord.

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Pirates Morning Report: Dodgers Becoming Pirate Like

Final Score: Pirates 3 Dodgers 0

Why The Pirates Won: The Dodgers became pirate-like by not cashing in on many scoring opportunities. They were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. They left 10 men on base. They had 5 hits and 6 walks but did not push a run across. The Pirate offense was not much better, but at least they did score. Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen hit solo home runs. Joey Bart, who went 3 for 3, drove in the 3rd run with a clutch 2-out double in the 6th. Jared Triolo was the only AAA player to play and went 0 for 4. It took Braxton Ashcraft 71 pitches to get through 3 innings. Somehow, he kept the Dodgers from scoring. Mike Burrows pitched the next 3 innings, giving up only 2 hits and a walk. Evan Sisk gave up a hit and a walk. Mattson and Santana pitched two perfect innings to complete the shutout.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Dodgers went down in order in the 1st, 4th, 8th, and 9th. They had plenty of traffic on the bases in the other 5 innings. By far the most bizarre was the bottom of the 2nd. Freddie Freeman singled to right on a 3-2 pitch. Ashcraft got ahead of the next hitter, Teoscar Hernandez, 1-2. He worked the count to 3-2. He walked. Ashcraft got ahead of the next hitter, Alex Call, 1-2. He walked him on a 3-2 count. The next batter was AndyPages, who brutalizes the Pirates at an 11 for 16 clip. He worked the count to 3-2. He struck out on a slider that was a foot outside. This was a huge break for the Pirates. Alex Freeland worked the count to 3-2. He took a called 3rd strike. Enrique Hernández flew out to right field to end the inning. This inning would just start the frustration for the Dodgers. Third inning, bases loaded, two outs, no runs. Fifth inning, 1st and 3rd with one out, no runs. Sixth inning, runner on 1st, one out, no runs. Seventh inning, 1st and 2nd, 2 outs, no runs. Are you sure these teams did not switch uniforms?

Next Game: Tonight Dodgers in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes goes for the Pirates tonight. This gives some hope for a sweep of the Dodgers. The B squad in the bullpen will have to come through for that to happen. Skenes could go the 9 innings, but that’s very unlikely. Blake Snell is going for the Dodgers. That means the 3 AAA Musketeers will probably be playing. Even with Skenes, that is a lot of negatives to overcome. It will be a big surprise if the Pirates pull off the sweep.

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Pirates Morning Report: Finally Taking Advantage

Final Score: Pirates 9 Dodgers 7

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates finally took advantage of what a team gave them. The Pirates were out-hit by the Dodgers 12 to 8. The Pirates received 8 walks. Four of those walks scored directly. Two more led to runs being scored. The Pirates were 5 for 11 with runners in scoring position. The AAA boys contributed mightily to the win. They went 3 for 9 with 4 RBIs and 3 runs scored. The Pirate pitching got beat up pretty good, but I would call it a gritty performance overall. Bubba Chandler pitched innings 3 through 6. He gave up 3 runs on 6 hits, including 2 home runs. One was Shohei Ohtani’s 46th of the year. The Pirate team has hit 100 home runs. Chandler never backed down, striking out 3 and not walking a batter. The Pirates absorbed two comebacks by the Dodgers. They came back from 4-0 to tie the game. The Pirates took a 7-4 lead in the 6th. The Dodgers cut it to 7-6 in the top of the 7th. The Pirates took advantage of some more walks and added a run in the 7th and the 8th. The 9th was shaky, but Dennis Santana held on to give the Pirates a 9-7 win.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates had taken the lead 7-4 in the bottom of the 6th. Isaac Mattson came in to start the 7th. Just like everybody else, he got lit up early. A single and a double put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Mookie Betts was the next batter. He grounded out to short, and a run scored, moving Ohtani to third. Freddie Freeman hit a sharp ground ball back to the mound. The Pirates were able to get Ohtani in a rundown with Freeman moving to 2nd. Will Smith was the batter. With the count 1-2, an up-and-in fastball glanced off his bat right into the glove of Henry Davis. The umpire missed it entirely. Apparently, this is not reviewable. He should have been out. With new life, Smith singled up the middle to make the score 7-6. Mattson retired the next batter on a ground out to end the inning. The Pirates added on and held on for a nice 9-7 win over the vaunted Dodgers.

Next Game: Tonight, Dodgers in Pittsburgh. Shohei Ohtani goes for the Dodgers tonight. It was nice to see that the Pirates finally brought up Nick Yorke. He got a hit and did not look bad at first base. The Pirates are surprisingly 5-2 on this brutal stretch of games. They actually looked like a baseball team last night, showing grit and guts. I hate to be Mr. Negative here, but if the Pirates go on a bit of a tear in September, let’s say 16 and 8, it could save BC’s job. I do not think that this is a good thing.

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Pirates Morning Report: Coming Down The Home Stretch

The season is mercifully winding down. There is less than a month to go. There are only 24 games left. The Pirates’ record is 61-77. If by some miracle they go 12-12, they would not lose 90 games. When the season is over, it will mark the strangest 12 months in this century for this franchise. From the offseason to the regular season, the Pirates made poor decisions. They also made some of the worst moves at the trade deadline. When you go back to the start of the ’24 season, there was genuine hope for this team. It is all gone now. There is no use in trying to figure out what the Pirates are going to do. First of all, to do that, you start on the assumption that a team wants to win games. You would also think they want to put their players in the best position to succeed. You only have to go back to this weekend. It’s clear that this is all not true when it comes to the Pirates.

Three things happened this weekend that show the Pirates have no interest in improving their team and winning games. First, they put Isiah Kiner-Falefa on waivers. He was picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays. The cost to the Blue Jays: zero. The Pirates could have gotten something for IKF at the deadline, even if it was a low-end prospect. The second thing is they brought up Cam Devanney. During his minor league career, he has played over 400 games at shortstop. He has played 3rd and 2nd base, but not even half as many games. In his major league debut, where do the Pirates put him? At third base. Finally, Jack Suwinski and his 49 OPS+ go on the IL with an injured groin. Who do the Pirates bring up? The recently acquired Ryan Kreidler. Somehow, someway, the Pirates found a player worse than Suwinski. In 211 plate appearances, he has a slash line of .138/.208/.176 for an OPS+ of 10. He’s worse than 90% of the hitters that are playing the game right now. He is even worse than Henry Davis. The Pirates are going to get to expand the roster starting tomorrow. Maybe they can find someone over 35 years old to make McCutchen and Pham feel better. I can’t wait to see the new additions to the team. Do you think they need to clean house?

This team is 16 runs behind the 29th place Rockies, who have played 1 game less. They are 19 runs behind the Guardians, who have played 3 games less. The Pirates have had 13 players that have had a significant amount of at-bats. Only 3 have shown an improvement in their OPS+. One of them, Henry Davis, couldn’t really get any worse; in 2024, his OPS+ was 30. This year, so far, it is 48. The other two are Triolo and Pham. The other 10 players have gotten worse. Gonzales, McCutchen, and the departed Ke’Bryan Hayes are close to equaling their 2024 performance, so there is time for them to have a better OPS+. The other 7 have had significant drops: Joey Bart -36, Spencer Horwitz -22, IKF -15, Oneil Cruz -21, Bryan Reynolds -22, Alexander Canario -57, and Jack Suwinski -16. Hitting coach gone. Going into the ’23 season, Ben Cherrington has stated that the offense needs to improve. While we are not going to ignore trying to improve in other areas, the offense will be our main emphasis. He said the same thing going into the ’24 and ’25 seasons. The offense has gotten worse. GM gone. If Cherrington goes, that would mean Don Kelly would go. I think he has done an above-average job in managing these bums. A new GM would want to put his man in charge of the team. Kelly just has too much stink on him from this awful current regime. They have to go. A new philosophy for player development: at least one that says when you bring a player up, play him more than once every 5 games. For the fans, the good news is that there are only 24 games left. I am fairly confident I can get through them without getting physically ill. I have a feeling that this homestand may put that to the test. The announcement of players 27 and 28 today may cause some nausea. What an organization.

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Pirates Morning Report: Snake Bit Keller

Final Score: Pirates 2 Red Sox 5

Why The Pirate Lost: Mitch Keller has had his ups and downs this season, especially in the 2nd half. One thing has been consistent: Keller pitches badly, he loses. Keller pitches great, he loses. The only negative thing you could say about his outing yesterday was he was not efficient. It took him 90 pitches to get through 5 innings. He gave up no earned runs on 4 hits. He struck out 7 and walked one. He hit a batter that proved costly. As unusual, he deserved a better fate, like being traded at the trade deadline. Instead he lost his 13th game of the season. He got no offensive support. The Pirates struck out 12 times. They had only 6 hits. Their first run was a total gift. They got 3 walks and a wild pitch to score. The AAA boys had an ok day. They went 2 for 12, with Alexander Canario hitting a home run in the 7th for the Pirates’ 2nd run. Henry Davis, while the Pirates’ broadcast was singing his praises, had a particularly bad game. He led off the 3rd by striking out. He swung at one ball chin high. He struck out on a pitch that was a foot low and outside. His next at-bat, he came up with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs. He grounded out on a ball that was 2 feet outside to end the inning. It was smoked at 68 MPH. In his last at-bat, he struck out. This time he did not mess around. He swung at all 3 pitches that were not in the strike zone. He did manage not to swing at a ball that was in the dirt. After the game, he said something was in his eye or he would have swung. He thinks it is important to speed up the game. It was another lackluster performance by the Pirates in another game where they could have made a statement. I guess you could say they did.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates had just gotten their gift run in the top of the 5th. In the bottom of the inning, everything went wrong. It opened with a Nick Gonzales throwing error. Keller did get the next batter to fly out. Then Carlos Narvaez hit an 83 MPH soft liner that bounced in the stands for a double. The next batter grounded out to score the run. Keller hit Alex Bregman, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs. Jarren Duran hit a 103 MPH so-called inside the park home run, making the score 4-1. Alexander Canario got an extremely late jump on the ball. He was probably thinking, “Will I ever hit another home run?” instead of paying attention to what was going on in the game. Then Oneil Cruz let the ball go right between his legs when it bounced off the wall. It was quite a joint effort by those two to allow the speedy Duran to circle the bases. Canario answered his own question by hitting a home run in his next at-bat. The Pirates threatened in the 8th. Canario struck out this time. He swung at a pitch that was in the dirt to end the inning.

Next game: Tomorrow, the Dodgers in Pittsburgh. Despite this last game that you knew was going to happen, the Pirates were 4-3 on the road trip. They did much better than I thought they would. They need to go at least 2-4 to win 6 of these 13 games. They do play better at home. Can they avoid the 0-6 disaster against the 2 best teams in the National League? Thank God they have a day of rest before the home stand. Bryan Reynolds even has two days’ rest. His decrepit 30 year old body will be ready to go come Tuesday.