Category: sports

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Pirates Morning Report: The Final Game

Final Score: Pirates 3. Marlins 0

Why The Pirates Won: A dominant performance by the Pirates bullpen led the Pirates to victory in the final game of the season. They gave up only 3 hits and walked 1. The Marlins had one at bat with runners in scoring position. Jackson, Bido, Nicolas, Moreta, and Bednar, all pitched well striking out 11 Marlins. For the 4th consecutive game the Pirates scored 3 runs and this time waited until the bottom of the 8th to do it. They only had 6 hits but walked 5 times. Lots of traffic but few runs for the 4th time. Yesterday it was more than enough with such a great pitching performance. When you hold the opponent scoreless you usually win.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The breakthrough inning for the Pirates that produced the 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth. After one out, Conner Joe doubled down the left field line. Jared Triola walked. Miguel Andujar doubled to left to drive in Joe and send Triola to third. What is ironic, that may have been the last at bats for Joe and Andujar in a Pirates uniform. Jack Suwinski doubled, again down the left field line and the Pirates had a 3-0 lead, that they protected easily in the top of the 9th inning.

Next Game: March 28, Marlins in Miami. Yes the Pirates open against the team they finished with, the Marlins. I will be doing an in depth look at this season and looking into the future to see what the Pirates might do in the 2024 season. They wound up improving 14 games from last year with a final record of 76-86. When the season started the Pirates had only two position players from their 2022 opening day team, Bryan Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes. Next season you can add the name Jack Suwinski and that may be it. More on that later in the week.

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Pirates Morning Report: Same Pattern, Another Loss

Final Score: Pirates 3. Marlins 7

Why The Pirates Lost: For the third consecutive game, the Pirates had lots of hits and base runners, but few runs to show for it. In this game they were even worse than the previous two. They had 12 hits and a walk but could only score 3 runs. They were 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base. Quinn Priester pitched ok, going 5 and 1/3 innings, being charged with 4 runs on 10 hits, walking 1, striking out 3, while throwing 98 pitches. He had a particularly hard luck 6th inning. The bullpen pretty much stunk giving up 3 runs over the last 3 innings so the Marlins could clinch the playoffs rather easily.

Key Moment Of The Game: The score was tied 2-2 going into the top of the 6th inning. This was the inning that showed how a playoff bound team takes advantage of breaks and manufactures runs. They opened the inning with a walk on a 3-2 pitch that should have been called a strike. A bunt base hit put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. A sacrificed bunt moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd. From there the Marlins pushed 2 runs across on a ground ball that beat the throw home, and a sacrifice fly to take a 4-2 lead. From there, thanks to the Pirate bullpen they coasted to a 7-3 win.

Final Game: This afternoon, Marlins in Pittsburgh. The Pirates will put a cap on the 2023 season today. They will have improved their record by either 13 or 14 games depending on the outcome of todays game. In my view despite the improvement and more than their share of injuries, this season has been a bit of a disappointment. I will be coming home from San Diego on Tuesday and delve into the 2023 season then.

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Pirates Morning Report: This Time It Cost Them

Final Score: Pirates 3. Marlins 4

Why The Pirates Lost: For the 2nd game in a row the Pirates had a similar offensive performance, but this time it cost them. The Pirates could only score 3 runs, even though they had 9 hits and 4 walks. They were only 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men on base again. The bullpen game was going along quite nicely until Colin Shelby came into the game with one out and nobody on in the top of the 8th, with the Pirates leading 3-0. Nineteen pitches and five batters later the score was tied 3-3 with runners on 1st and 3rd and still only one out. Shelby had not retired a batter. A sacrifice fly and the Marlins had a 4-3 lead that they protected over the last 2 innings. The Pirates did not put up much of a fight getting only one man on base.

The Key Moment Of The Game: When Colin Shelby came into the came and was allowed to pitch to 5 batters without gettin an out. Oscar Marin made his usual worthless trip out to the mound but the Pirates did not get the bullpen up until it was too late and Shelby left the game with a nice fat round ERA of 9. The Marlins apparently voted him a share if they make the playoffs, so all was not lost for Shelby.

Next Game: Tonight, Marlins in Pittsburgh. So much for the Pirates being spoilers as their ineptitude allowed the Marlins to come within one game of clinching the last playoff birth. Quinn Priester is going for the Pirates. Can he have two good starts in a row? He better because Shelton won’t be taking him out until he gives up 8 runs, minimum.

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Pirates Morning Report: Winning A Nail Biter For No. 75

Final Score: Pirates 3. Phillies 2

Why The Pirates Won: Some two out hitting and an overall solid pitching performance allowed the Pirates to salvage the 3rd game of the series, picking up their 75th win of the season and finishing the road trip 5-4. After getting off to a slow start,allowing the the first 3 batters to get on base, Luis Ortiz gave up only 2 hits and a walk over the next 15 outs. The bullpen gave up only 1 run on 1 hit over the last 4 innings. On the other side of the coin the Pirate offensive stats looked like this should have been a blowout. Despite getting some big 2 out hits, the Pirates could only muster 3 runs on 11 hits and 2 walks. They were 3 for 8 with runners in scoring position but still managed to leave 9 men on base for the game. If they would have lost this game it would have really been a hard one to swallow. When you win, everything is fine.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the first inning Luis Ortiz started the game by giving up a home run, double, and a walk to make the score 1-0 with runners on first and second nobody out. The next batter for the Phillies hit a sinking line drive to center field that Jack Suwinski made a “routine” grab right off his shoe tops. Even the umpires weren’t sure he caught it but he did. From that point on Ortiz was in control. The score was tied 1-1 in the top of the 5th with 2 outs and nobody on. Bryan Reynolds hit a ground ball that just got by the shortstop for a single to left. Jared Triola hit a shot into the right center field gap to bring Reynolds home. Suwinski followed up with a sinking line drive to center, similar to the one he caught, but this one fell in for him, giving the Pirates a 3-1 lead they never relinquished.

Next Game: Tonight, Marlins in Pittsburgh. The Marlins at the moment have the inside track for the final wild card spot over the oil spilling mismanaged Cubs. After last nights suspended game the Marlins have a half game lead and the tie breaker over the Cubs. That’s not too say that the young Bucs can’t make life pretty miserable for the Fish. It should be a fun weekend to close out the season.

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Pirates Morning Report: Bad Oviedo

Final Score: Pirates 6. Phillies 7

Why The Pirates Lost: After being staked to a 5 run lead Johan Oviedo couldn’t keep his act together turning into bad Oviedo after 3 innings. Oviedo was allowed to pitch 5 innings giving up 6 runs, 7 hits, walking 2, striking out 6 while throwing 91 pitches. After the game Oviedo said he needs to be more mean. Is that consistent in another language? It’s too bad he did not get taken out of the game sooner or the Pirates might have won the game. The bats came alive, well at least 6 of them did, putting up 6 runs on 11 hits and 4 walks. The lower third of the order went 0 for 11 with 1 walk. It was the Pirates 2nd one run loss to the Phillies and their 3rd loss in a row. It was a disappointing loss with the Pirates blowing a 5 run lead thanks to the inconsistent but overly nice Johan Oviedo. By the way Robbie, Mike Shit is one of my favorite players, too.

Key Moment Of The Game: This is an easy one. The very nice Johan Oviedo serving up a 95 MPH fastball right over the middle of the plate letter high to Garrett Stubbs allowing him to hit a 2 out 3 run home run to cut the Pirates’ lead to 5-4. It was his 1st homer of the season. He is now slugging .283. Oviedo felt sorry for him and thought what the hell let’s give him a chance. It got the Phillies back in the game and they went on to win 7-6.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Philadelphia. The road trip now stands at 4-4, which is still one game better than I thought they would do. It would be nice to see them have a 5-4 road trip. Last nights game was the one they should have probably won. They are going up against Zach Wheeler, but stranger things have happened, so they may get a win tonight but I’m not optimistic.

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Pirates Morning Report: This Time A Pitchers Duel.

Final Score: Pirates 2 Phillies 3 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: For the second consecutive game the Pirates bats were silent. Keller vs. Nola turned out to be the pitching duel that was expected. In Pittsburgh, the Pirates got to Nola pretty good touching him up for 6 runs in just under 5 innings. Last night he got his revenge. He went 6 and 2/3 innings giving up just 1 run on 4 hits, striking out 8 while walking no one. Ke’Bryan Hayes had a particularly bad night striking out all 4 times. Ji Hwan (I Don’t Know Why They Keep Leading Me Off) Bae went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Keller didn’t do too bad either not giving up a hit in the first 5 innings. He had a strange 6th inning where he appeared injured, but he said post game that he hit his elbow on his follow through. On the very next pitch after the apparent injury, he gave up a home run and gave up another run on 2 singles and a sacrifice fly. The Pirates tied the game on solo home runs by Bryan Reynolds and Henry Davis in the 7th and 8th innings. However, it turned out to be another extra inning failure by the Pirates.

Key Moment Of The Game: The inability of the Pirates to move runners along when they have a runner on 2nd and nobody out has hurt them all year and last night was no exception. The Phillies did the same thing but made up for it by getting the key hit, walking off with a 3-2 win, clinching the top wild card spot in the National League.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Philadelphia. Even though Greg Brown kept saying about how the Pirates did not want to see the Phillies clinch anything in front of them, it may work to their advantage. The Phillies may start to rest certain players getting ready for the playoffs. The Pirates have produced only 4 runs in the last 2 games on 12 hits, both losses. Let’s hope that changes soon, or it could be rough getting that 75th win.

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Pirates Morning Report: Walking May Be The Right Thing To Do

Final Score: Pirates 2 Reds 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The bats finally had a bad day and the Pirates refused to pitch around the red-hot TJ Friedl. The Pirate first four batters went 0 for 16 with 2 walks. The rest of the team scored 2 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. Jack Suwinski hit his 26th homer of the year to account for one of the runs. The most encouraging part of the day was the pitching performance of Quinn Priester. He had his first Major League quality start going 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 2 hits but walked 5. The bottom of the 6th he gave up a 2 run homer to TJ Friedl with nobody out. Each time through the order he had walked the first two batters in the Reds lineup and came out unscathed. This time Jonathan India led off the inning with a single and Priester failed to pitch Friedl careful enough. With no one out and leading 2-0 you could excuse this somewhat. However, in the bottom of the 7th with a runner on 2nd and 2 out Jose Hernandez served up 2 pitches in a row right over the plate slightly above the belt, and Friedl did not miss the 2nd one, and singling into left to give the Reds a 3-2 lead. Why the Pirates gave him anything to hit in that situation who knows? Only The Shadow knows for sure. The Reds added a run in the 8th on a home run and the 4 game win streak was over.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the top of the 7th the Pirates had 1st and 2nd, nobody out with the top of the order coming to bat. In 7 pitches the inning was over. Joe flew out, Reynolds popped out, and Hayes lined out to centerfield. The Pirates had a slight threat in the top of the 8th, thanks to two walks, but failed to score. They went down quietly and quickly, 10 pitches, in the top of the 9th. It has been a good road trip so far with the Pirates going 4-2, as they head for Philadelphia.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Phillies in Philadelphia. The Pirates have a shot at 77 wins if they can split their next 6 games. If they do, that will be a 15 game improvement from last year. The Phillies have not quite cinched the top Wild Card spot so they will be serious at least for those first 2 games. The Pirates took 2 out of 3 from the Phillies in Pittsburgh. Let’s hope that the Phillies do no more than return the favor.

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Pirates Morning Report: If Not For College Football I Would Have Gone To Bed

Final Score: Pirates 13 Reds 12

Why The Pirates Won: With the exception of Alika (I Am Looking To Buy A McDonalds In San Diego) Williams the Pirates bats boomed. The Reds built that 9-0 lead and I thought another 14 to whatever loss was coming to bookend the 3 game winning streak. There were lots of great College Football games on or I would have gone to bed. The Pirates scored a run in the top of the 4th to make it 9-1. Beginning in the top of the 6th the Pirates offense went crazy. Five in the 6th, three in the 7th, and four in the 8th to take a 13-9 lead. The Reds made a stirring comeback but just fell one run short to lose the game 13-12. In an exciting bottom of the 9th the Reds had the tying run on third with one out and could not push it across to send the game into extra innings. There were 25 runs, 32 hits, 9 walks in this offensive fest of a game. Alfonso Rivas went 3 for 5 with 5 RBI’s. Ji Hwan Bae was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI’s. Bryan Reynolds only got one hit, but it was a big one, a 3 run homer to cut the lead to 9-6. This win will always be one for the ages, and I have this on my DVR. I will watch this on one of those cold winter nights when I am craving baseball once more.

Key Moment Of The Game: Despite the exciting bottom of the 9th, the big moment of this game came in the bottom of the 8th. Colin Selby was brought in to start the 8th. From the very first pitch you knew he was in over his head. On top of all that he did not have the best luck in world either. The Reds had 1st and 3rd with nobody out thanks to a walk, wild pitch and a bloop single to right field. The Pirates gave up a run to get an out at 2nd and the score was 13-10. Another infield hit put runners on 1st and 2nd. A solid single to center scored another run making the score 13-11 with runners still on 1st and 2nd and one out. Tyler Stephenson hit a hard ground ball right back up the middle that Ji Hwan ( I Know I Said He Can’t Play Second Base) Bae made a spectacular play on, getting up, stepping on second base, and throwing to first to complete the inning ending double play. What made this play so big was, despite all his problems, Colin Selby was not coming out of this game because of the overworked Pirate bullpen. Carmen Mlodzinski came up big in the bottom of the 9th after getting into trouble and the Pirates had one of their greatest wins of all time.

Next Game: This afternoon, Reds in Cincinnati. There is no truth to the rumor that the Reds are just going to forfeit today’s game. They have to be pretty well shell shocked after last night’s game. It will be interesting to see how they respond.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Just A Little Bit Better

Final Score: Pirates 7 Reds 5

Why The Pirates Won: Where both teams had similar offensive lines, the Pirates were able to take advantage just a little better and they went long ball. The Pirates hit 4 solo home runs by Endy Rodriguez, Henry Davis, Jared Triolo, and Ke’Bryan Hayes. Each team had 7 walks, were 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position, while the Pirates left 9 men on base and the Reds 10. The back end of the bullpen did the job, shutting out the Reds over the last 3 innings. The Pirates got a big insurance run in the 9th when the Reds gifted them the run with 2 walks and hit batter, that enabled the Pirates to score the big run without the benefit of a hit. It was another hairy bottom of the 9th, but David Bednar was able to get through it unscathed., The Reds had 1st and 2nd with nobody out when Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit into a double play. Bednar stuck out the next batter and Pirates won their 3rd in a row. Now the Pirates just need 2 more wins to get to 75.

The Key Moment Of The Game: It was the first 2 innings where the Reds had lots of traffic on the bases but could only manage to score 1 run. In the first, the Pirates walked 2 and hit a batter to load the bases with 2 outs but they could not get the big hit. In the bottom of the 2nd a single and 2 walks could only net them 1 run. They could have had two crooked innings and wound up having none. Every time the Cubs took the lead the Pirates were able to come right back and either tie the game or go ahead, beginning with the 4th inning.

Next Game: Tonight, Reds in Cincinnati. The Pirates are taking advantage of another team that is in unfamiliar ground. The Reds are fighting for that final playoff spot, just like the Cubs, and are feeling the pressure. The Pirates are young and loose, clearly enjoying their role as spoilers. The offense has come alive scoring 13, 8, and 7 runs the last 3 games. Let’s hope they can still put a hurtin on the Reds the rest of the weekend.

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Pirates Morning Report: Rundown 101

Final Score: Pirates 8 Cubs 6

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates were less inept than the Cubs. More on that at the key moment of the game. With the 14 runs last night the series totaled 49 runs for both teams. The first two games were the starter’s failures, but last night it was the bullpens that got rocked around. In only 3 innings of work, the Cubs bullpen gave up 5 runs and the Pirates bullpen 6. Johan Oviedo was the better Oviedo last night not giving up a run in 6 innings despite walking 5 batters. On offense each team got 6 walks and the Pirates collected 11 hits and the Cubs 10. Miguel Andujar had a big game, knocking in 3 runs, while going 3 for 4. About 10 days ago it looked like the Central Division could possibly have 3 teams in the playoffs. Now it is looking more like the it could be just the division winning Brewers who will make it. The Cubs have now lost 7 out of 8 and the Reds have lost 3 of their last 4 games. Both teams finish up on the road with Cubs playing 6 and the Reds 5 road games. The Pirates start a 3 game series with the Reds tonight and can put a big dent in their playoff hopes. Both teams have lousy managers so my guess is they both will miss the playoffs.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Cubs scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to pull within 1 run of the Pirates at 5-4. Bryan Reynolds led off the top of the 9th with a walk. Ke’Bryan Hayes scorched a ball off the left field wall for a double with Reynolds trying to score from 1st base. Reynolds was thrown out at the plate and Hayes was undecided on whether to go to third on the throw. He got caught up in a rundown between 2nd and 3rd, and it looked like the Pirates were going to run themselves into a double play on a double. However, the Cubs came to our rescue by throwing the ball into right field and Hayes made it to 3rd. Jack Suwinski walked after falling behind in the count 0 and 2. Then up stepped Josh (I Will Never Say Another Bad Thing About Him) Palacios. For whatever reason, David Ross did not elect to go to a left hander to face Palacios. Maybe there was not a lefty available. Palcios hit a 3-2 slider for a homer into right center field, that proved to be the difference in the ballgame. David Bednar gave up a 2 run homer to Dansby Swanson in the bottom of the 9th. Instead of it being a dramatic walk off win for the Cubs, it just got them 2 runs closer to lose the game 8-6.

Next Game: Tonight, the Reds in Cincinnati. Another team with playoff hopes, but they are in must win situations. Can the Pirates take advantage of another team that may be choking their guts out. Only the Shadow knows for sure. The Pirates need to go 3 and 6 to get to 75 wins.