Month: April 2026

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Three Down 89 To Go

Final Score: Pirates 8 Reds 3

Why The Pirates Won: Despite a very strange lineup, the Pirate bats continued to score runs. No O’Hearn and no Lowe. I can see Lowe; he does have trouble against lefties. O’Hearn hits lefties better than righties. There is this thing today called a day off. I am not sure the Pirate management team knows what that means when a team has an off day. What it means to me is nobody is playing today and O’ Hearn did not need yesterday off. When you win, even stupidity is rewarded. Though the run total was the same, the Pirate pitching staff had a much better performance. Paul Skenes pitched 5 solid innings. Why just 5, I’ll never know, but maybe in the long run, it might be best. Skenes gave up 1 run on 3 hits. He struck out 5 and walked 2. He threw 77 pitches, but the Pirates felt he had thrown enough. Mason Montgomery gave up a 2-run homer after a walk, but the rest of the bullpen was superb. Isaac Mattson, Justin Lawrence, and Gregory Soto pitched the last 3 and 1/3 innings, giving up just one hit, no walks, and struck out 3. Soto looked a lot better than the game before. The Pirate offense put 8 runs on the board again with Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds hitting home runs for the 2nd consecutive game. The Pirates were clinging to a 4-3 lead going into the top of the 9th. They put 4 runs on the board, with Nick Gonzales and Bryan Reynolds getting the big hits and driving in 2 runs each. Those 9th-inning runs on the road are sure nice insurance.

The Key Moments Of The Game: In the first inning, the first two batters made outs. Bryan Reynolds singled to right. The struggling Marcel Ozuna worked a 6-pitch walk. Oneil Cruz hit a 2-1 knee-high curve out over the plate, 407 feet into the right field seats, to give the Pirates a quick 3-0 lead. This got the Pirates off to a fast start. Skenes had a good first inning, and the Pirates kept their early momentum going. After the Reds made it 4-3 in the 6th inning, the Pirate bullpen never really let the Reds put up much of a threat. The last 10 Reds batters all made outs. The Pirates had the big 9th inning for a series win.

Next Game: Tomorrow, the Orioles in Pittsburgh, at 4:12 PM. For the Pirates, it will be Mitch Keller starting the home opener. Let’s hope things go better for the home opener than they did for the opener of the season. Other than the first game’s disaster, the pitching has been pretty much spot on. They have not given up more than 3 runs in any of the last 5 games. The Pirates did finish the road trip 3-3, which is what you are supposed to do on the road. The Pirates are going to play 13 out of the next 16 games at home. We will see if the Pirates can get on a nice little run during this stretch.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Two Down 90 To Go

Final Score: Pirates 8 Reds 3

Why The Pirates Won: The hitters won this one. The pitchers, even though they only gave up 3 runs, were shaky as hell. Bubba Chandler did not give up a hit but walked 6 batters in 4 and 1/3 innings. The Reds scored 1 run on a botched fly ball by Bryan Reynolds and O’Neil Cruz. All is forgiven when you hit 3 home runs between you and drive in 4 runs. The Pirates went long ball last night. Ryan O’Hearn got the big hit, a 3-run homer after 2 were out in the top of the 3rd to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead. Bryan Reynolds followed him with a homer to left. Cruz hit 2 home runs, one in the 4th and the other in the 9th to give some insurance runs. The way the Pirates pitched, it looked like they were going to need it. A little luck and some bad baserunning by the Reds helped keep them from making this a better game. Yohan Ramirez, who I did not think should make the team, continued to pitch great. Coming in with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 5th, he struck out Matt McClain and Elly De La Cruz to end the inning. It was the bottom of the 8th where things got interesting.

Key Moments Of The Game: Hunter Barco came out for his third inning of work in the bottom of the 8th and gave up two home runs. One was a real fluky by De La Cruz. He hit a high fly ball down the right field line that looked like it had to go foul. However, it just went over the fence about a foot inside the foul pole. That was followed by another opposite-field blast by Sal Stewart to make the score quickly 6-3. Don Kelly got ejected on a non-check swing call on Eugenio Suarez. Suarez then proceeded to get a single to right. Barco was replaced by Dennis Santana. He gave up a single to put runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. Noelvi Marte popped out to short with no advancement by the runners. Nathaniel Lowe pinch-hit for catcher Jose Trevino. Lowe, after falling behind in the count 0-2, worked it out to 3 and 2. Lowe hit this very soft 59 MPH liner between 1st and 2nd. Brandon Lowe made a very nice diving catch and the runner was easily doubled off 1st to end the inning. It was a big base running blunder by the Reds. If there was ever a time for the Reds to really put the squeeze on this struggling Pirates team, this was the inning to do it. They essentially came up empty. Cruz hit another homer in the top of the 9th with a man on base to give the Pirates a little more breathing room. The way Gregory Soto pitched, I would not have wanted to see the inning unfold with only a 3-run lead. Soto gave up a leadoff single to Ke’Bryan Hayes. By the way, Hayes is batting 9th for the Reds, something he never did for the Pirates. After one out, Soto hit the next batter. He got the second out when Nick Gonzales made a nice play on a ground ball in the hole to force the runner out at third. Soto walked the next batter to load the bases. He struck out Suarez to end the game. The last two innings could have been disastrous for the Pirates.

Next Game: Today, the Reds in Cincinnati at 12:40. Paul Skenes goes today for the Pirates. Let’s hope he has better luck today. Nick Yorke started at 3rd base for the Pirates last night. He did not get a hit but hit a sacrifice fly to start the scoring. I will be surprised if Triolo is not in the lineup today, but we will see. After all the trials and tribulations of this early season, the Pirates have a chance for a .500 road trip. The Reds are sending Andrew Abbott to the mound. He had a nice opening day start. In 6 innings, he got touched up for 7 hits and a walk but did not give up a run. Hopefully, the Pirates will be able to ride Paul Skenes to a series win.