Month: July 2026

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Pirates Morning Report: Another Pitching Failure

Final Score: Pirates 6 Phillies 10

Why the Pirates Lost: Another pitching disaster with Paul Skenes at the head of the class for this one. He went 4 innings, giving up 8 runs on 6 hits, with 2 leaving the park. He struck out 5, walked 2, while throwing 81 pitches. In the next 4 innings, the bullpen gave up 2 runs. It was Dennis Santana in the 8th, giving up a 2-run homer to extend the Phillies’ lead to 10 to 6. Even when the bullpen held the Phillies scoreless, they looked shaky. Check these lines out: Yohan Ramirez, 1 and 1/3 innings, giving up 0 runs on 2 hits, a walk, and two wild pitches while throwing 37 pitches. Cam Sander pitched 1 and 2/3 innings, giving up 1 hit, walking 2, and throwing 44 pitches. The Pirates have given up 25 runs in this series. It is amazing that they have won one game. For the season, the Pirates have fallen to 21st in runs allowed. Last year, they were 5th. It appears that no one is trying to solve the problem either. I have one suggestion: fire the pitching coach. This is a decline of historic proportions when you consider there have not been any injury issues to the staff. The offense did all right, scoring 6 runs and knocking out Zack Wheeler in the 5th inning. It is hard to overcome giving up 10 runs.

Key Moments of the Game: The bottom of the 2nd is where the Phillies broke the game open with the Pirates’ help. Paul Skenes opened the inning by hitting Alec Bohm. Bryson Stott took a very low slider and grounded it into right field for a base hit, putting runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. Skenes struck out J.T. Realmuto. The next two batters changed the entire complexion of the game. Gabriel Rincones Jr. was the next batter. He has only had 41 major league at-bats. The second pitch was low, but Henry Davis challenged and, of course, lost. The 6th pitch of the at-bat was well inside the strike zone but called a ball. Davis did not challenge. The Pirates, by the way, are the worst team in baseball at challenging pitches. Rincones walked on the next pitch. Justin Crawford hit a weak two-hopper to Nick Gonzales at third. He could have stepped on third and thrown to first to get the double play. The worst that could have happened was the Phillies would have scored 1 run and had runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs if Crawford had beat it out. Instead, he elected to throw home and hit the runner in the back. Henry Davis looked like he was not even expecting the throw, and another run scored as the ball went to the backstop. He must have been thinking about his challenge skills. Trea Turner hit a 3-run homer, and the Phillies led 5-0. The Pirates tried to make a game of it, cutting the margin at one time to 8-6. Dennis Santana came in the 8th to make sure they did not have a chance.

Next game: This afternoon, Phillies in Philadelphia. Jared Jones goes for the Pirates. The big question will be can the Pirates hold the Phillies to under 7 runs. Right now that is looking very unlikely. There is more of a possibility that the Pirates may be able to outhit them and get away with a split in the series. Even Jared Triolo is starting to hit. In the last 15 games his slash line is .267/.353/.422 for an OPS of .775. As much talk that Nick Gonzales gets about his hitting, his slash line for the season is .300/.357/.373 for an OPS of .730. The league average OPS is .719. Gonzales’s fielding leaves a lot to be desired. At 3rd base he is -6 in defensive runs saved. If Triolo keeps hitting, which in my view is a toss-up, the Pirates may have to consider making him the regular 3rd baseman. I cannot believe I just wrote that, but Nick Gonzales is becoming a major defensive liability.

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Pirates Morning Report: Phillies Show How Good They Are

Final Score: Pirates 0 Phillies 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Cristopher Sanchez pitched his normal 7 innings. He allowed 0 runs on 3 hits, walking 2 and striking out 9 while throwing 92 pitches. For the game the Phillies staff struck out the Pirates 13 times. The Pirates had a few chances, but the Phillies brought some leather making some great plays in the field, particularly third baseman Alec Bohm. Bubba Chandler, who continues to look better, pitched well for 6 innings. He gave up 2 runs on 5 hits walking 1 and striking out 6. Unfortunately, the 7th inning went south on him as he gave up a walk, a sacrifice bunt, a double and a single to exit with the score 3-0. There were runners on 1st and 3rd. Isaac Mattson could not keep the runners from scoring and when the dust cleared the Pirates were down 5-0. Brandon Bidois came on in the 8th and got racked around for 3 more runs to see his sparkling ERA go to 6.32. He appeared to be in some kind of discomfort in the middle of the inning. I hear the IL calling. The Pirates are back to .500

Key Moments Of The Game: In the top of the 5th this was still a ball game with the score 2-0. Billy Cook of all people got a 1 out double. Henry Davis popped out. Konner Griffin hit a 98 MPH ground ball down the 3rd base line that Bohm made a spectacular play on to throw out Griffin by the smallest of margins. He was ruled safe, but the Phillies challenged with call being overturned. Esmerlyn Valdez led off the 6th with a single. The Pirates could not do much with that, thanks to great play by 2nd baseman Bryson Stott on a 106 MPH ground ball by Bryan Reynolds to force Valdez at 2nd. That was the last time the Pirates had any action of the base paths while it was still a ballgame. The Phillies scored 3 in the 7th and 3 in the 8th to turn this into a blowout win.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Philadelphia. It is Paul Skenes vs. Zack Wheeler. Maybe this is what it will take for Skenes to break the team losing streak when he pitches. The Pirates have lost 8 games in a row when Skenes starts. The Pirates need to win one of these next 2 games. After putting up some real heady offensive number over the previous 8 games averaging 7 runs a game, there is the real possibility the Pirates could be shut out for 2 games in a row. During that 8 game stretch the Pirates were just 5-3. I will be really surprised if the Pirates pull this one out tonight. Of course, I could change my mind if Billy Cook gets his second start in a row.