Category: sports

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Pirates Morning Report: Easy Loss

Final Score: Pirates 3 Yankees 6

Why The Pirates Loss: Another complete team loss. Poor starting pitching and batters that thought the game was only 3 innings. Luis Ortiz pitched a mediocre 4 and 2/3rds innings giving up 4 runs, 6 hits, walking 6, while throwing 88 pitches. The bullpen gave up the other 2 runs on 3 hits while walking just one. The last 21 batters for the Pirates did not get a hit or a walk. The only good news about that is they contributed heavily to the game only going 2 hours and 37 minutes. It will give us something to watch today to see how long they will keep this streak going. Could they go 30 some batters before they get a hit or walk? Do not bet against it. This was about as lackluster of a performance by Pirates as they have had all year. It was amazing to me how Derek Shelton stayed awake during the game. He must have because he made the big 9th inning move, with the score 6-3 and a runner on 1st base with 2 out, bringing in the left hander Jose (Do I Have To) Hernandez to face the left-hand hitting Estevan Florial. He was showing his team that this game is not over. This inspired the Pirates so much that they made 3 outs in 9 pitches, including a strikeout, to end the game.

Key Moment Of The Game: The first inning set the tone for the game. Three walks and 2 hits resulted in 3 runs for the Yankees with 2 of the walks scoring. The big hit was a 2 out single by Estevan Florial that made the score 3-0. The Pirates made a game of it for 3 innings but then the bats went to sleep, and the Yankees added insurance runs they did not need, to win easily. Another way of putting it, the Pirates had an easy loss.

Next Game: This afternoon, Yankees in Pittsburgh. No matter what the Pirates do today the homestand will be disappointing. Maybe they will surprise on this tough 9 game road trip they are about to embark on. There are 13 games to go. They have to win 6 to get to the 75 win mark. You do not want to hold your breath.

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Pirates Morning Report: Their Luck Runs Out

Final Score: Pirates 5 Yankees 7

Why The Pirates Lost: A disastrous 9th inning where the Yankees scored 4 runs thanks to some horrible pitching and fielding by the Pirates. Up until the 9th the game had gone the Pirates way thanks to a less than stellar outing by Gerrit Cole. Johan Oviedo was able to basically survive one of his typical ridiculous outings. Oviedo gave up only 1 run, on 4 hits, 5 walks, striking out 7 in 5 excruciatingly slow painful innings. For the 2nd time in 3 games the opposing pitcher got hit in the head with a ball. This time off the bat of Ji Hwan Bae that went off pitcher Anthony Misiewicz’s head out into right field, to tie the game at 3-3. Later in the inning Ke’Bryan Hayes got a low hop single to drive in 2 runs to give the Pirates a 5-3. It looked like at that time the breaks were continuing to go the Pirates way and the 4th win in a row was about to happen. Colin Holderman came in to pitch the 9th inning.

Key Moment Of The Game: Simply put, Holderman was horrible. He showed everybody how not to pitch. He threw 4 straight sinkers to D J LeMahieu. The 4th one on a 1-2 count was ripped into right field for a single. He throws a 5th sinker to Aaron Judge, a sweeper not close to the plate, then a sinker that gets ripped to left field for a single. He walks Gleyber Torres on 5 pitches, 3 of them being sweepers that don’t come close to the plate. He does get Stanton to pop up for the 1st out. Next, he walks in a run after getting ahead of Estevan Florial and his .167 batting average 0 and 2. The score is now 5-4. Despite all that, the inning would have been over on a double play, if anybody on the Pirates realized that Bae cannot play second base. He threw the ball into the dirt that got by Alfonso Rivas and the Yankees had the lead 6-5. Rivas should have made sure the ball did not get by him, but as it turned out it probably would not have made a difference, since Holderman got lit up for 2 more singles and the runs would have scored anyway. Holderman pitched 1 inning giving up 4 runs, 4 hits, and 2 walks. Mercifully the Pirates went down quickly in 9th to bring the game to a close at the 3-hour 15-minute mark.

Next Game: Tonight, Yankees in Pittsburgh. We will see if the Pirates can bounce back from such a disastrous game. In order to have that 5-2 homestand they will need to win the last 2 games of the series. It has been a while since the Pirates blew a game like this, but they kept flirting with it, and this time they fell to defeat.

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Pirates Morning Report: Keller Mows Them Down

Final Score: Pirates 2 Nationals 0

Why The Pirates Won: Mitch Keller pitched a dominant 8 innings giving up only 2 hits and a walk while shutting out the Nationals. The last 22 batters for the Nationals did not get a hit. Both pitchers pitched well with each team getting only 3 at bats with runners in scoring position, with no hits for either team. It would have been nice to see Keller pitch a complete game but the consensus was that he was done, so they brought in the overworked David Bednar to pitch the 9th. Fortunately, he only took 10 pitches to preserve the win. It makes you think that the Pirates do not have any long term use for Bednar. Just use him up and let him go. We will see if they use him tonight if the situation dictates. The Pirate bats weren’t much better getting only 5 hits but 2 of those left the ballpark. Home runs by Jack Suwinski and Alfonso Rivas would give the Pirates the 2 runs they would need.

The Key Moment Of The Game: Right in the top of the first it did not look like that this was going to be such a good day for Keller. He gave up a soft liner for a single on the first pitch of the game. On the 2nd pitch of the game a ground ball to short was dropped by Liover Peguero and the Nationals had runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out. One fly out later, CJ Abrams was picked off 2nd for the second out and Keller struck out the next batter ending the inning. The Nationals never really threatened again the rest of the game getting only one more hit.

Next Game: Tonight, the Yankees in Pittsburgh. Gerrit Cole will start for the Yankees tonight, facing Johan (Dr Jekyll Or Mr. Hyde) Oviedo. You can always hope that Cole will have an off night, but the key to the game will be which Oviedo will be on the mound. The dominant Oviedo, or the uncomfortable, I have gas build up Oviedo. These Yankees are barely above .500. It is not unreasonable to expect the Pirates to take 2 out 3 games, but this game will be the key. Win here, and a sweep is very possible.

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Pirates Morning Report: Foul Lines Are The Pirates Friends

Final Score: Pirates 7 Nationals 6 Whew!

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates knew how to use the foul lines, while putting up an early 7-1 lead after 4 innings. Quinn Priester had just pitched a solid 3 innings retiring all 9 batters he faced. The top of the 5th he gave up a solo home run, no big deal, easily retiring the other 3 batters. But in the top of the 6th an all too familiar pattern raised its ugly head. He could not get anybody out. Walked the first batter. A 100 MPH double was next. Next pitch a 105 MPH home run. Two pitches later a 93 MPH ground ball single to left. In a blink of an eye the score was 7-5, with no outs. Out of the game went Priester with his 9.00 ERA intact. According to the Pirate web site he had made progress. In came Ryan (Who Is Definitely Better Than I Thought He Would Be) Borucki to shakily put out the fire, thanks to a double play ball. Then there was the debut, of Nationals pitcher Jackson Rutledge. He gave up 4 runs in the first inning on 6 hits, but two of the hits were pop flies down the left field line that were fair by no more than 6 to 12 inches. He gave up a 2-run home run to Bryan Reynolds in the bottom of the 4th that hit the right field foul pole. If those 3 balls are just 1 foot left or right, he may have given up only 2 runs instead of 7. To top things off, in the 4th inning, his catcher hit him in the head trying to throw a runner out at 2nd base. The ball went off Rutledge’s head out to shallow right field. It is an understatement to say that this was not his night.

Key Moment Of The Game: David Bednar came into the top of the 9th with the score 7-5. After Alika (You See Why Tampa Bay Let Me Go) Williams dropped a foul pop up, Bednar quickly got into trouble. He walked that batter, who should have out, gave up two singles and the score was 7-6 with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out. A chopping ground ball that the Pirates could only get the runner going to second put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Then the battles began. Pinch hitter IIdemaro Vargas worked a 7-pitch walk to load the bases. This brought up C. J. Abrams. Bednar blew a 97.5 MPH fastball right by him over the heart of the plate on a 3-2 count. Mercifully, Lane Thomas swung at the first pitch, flying out to center field, and the Pirates had a very fortunate 7-6 win.

Next Game: This afternoon, Nationals in Pittsburgh. The Pirates need to do better than this but the worst thing that will happen is they will get a series split. Mitch Keller will start today. Do you think he will be alright pitching in less than a week? Frankly, I think his arm is literally going to fall off in the bottom of the 4th. I think the guy that needs the rest is Bednar. Bednar should not pitch for a least 2 games in a row, no matter what the circumstances, for the rest of the season. Of course, we all know that the Shadow knows best.

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Pirates Morning Report: What A Difference A Day Makes

Final Score: Pirates 5 Nationals 1

Why The Pirates Won: This was a pitching win. If the Pirates pitching does not shut down the Nationals, this could have been known as the game that got away. The Pirate batters were 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and wound-up stranding 15 runners. If the Nationals had been able to generate any offense, this game could have been a disaster. All is forgiven when you win. Josh Palacios hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 2nd to get things going for the Pirates. Naturally, the Pirate broadcast booth was effusive with praise for Palacios making him sound like he was the 2nd coming of Dave Parker. Here is his slash line, .224/.269/.409 for an OPS+ of 80 and a WAR of -0.4. If this guy is playing next year, it will be another wasted season. He might make an acceptable utility/bench guy but even that is really stretching it. I will give him, that he has had some big hits this year, but it is not enough to think that he would be a major part of a playoff contending team. The Pirates were able scratch out 3 more runs with 2 of the runs scoring on outs. This was a night for the pitchers. Baily (Last Night Was Not My) Falter pitched a solid 6 innings giving up only 1 run on 4 hits, walking 1, striking out 4. The bullpen gave up no runs the rest of the way with only Mlodzinski having a shaky inning, being bailed out by a strong throw by Josh Palacios to nail a runner at the plate. I know there he is again, but he still stinks. It was a nice bounce back win by the Pirates, but they need to keep the momentum going.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the top of the 4th with the score 2-0 Pirates, Falter had his only shaky inning. After getting a routine ground ball out, he served up a hanging 85 MPH slider to Lane Thomas who drilled it 108 MPH to left field. Bryan Reynolds made a great over the shoulder catch that as it turned out saved at least 1 run. The Nationals got some 2 out lightening going with a single, double, single, to score their run. The last 2 hits were drilled well over a 100 MPH. The single was hit so hard that even with 2 outs the runner could not score from 2nd base. The final out was recorded on another hard hit ball on the ground that Ke’ Bryan Hayes made a nice play to force the runner at second that ended the inning. From that point on Falter retired the final 6 batter he faced.

Next Game: Tonight, the Nationals in Pittsburgh. Even though it does not say this on the Pirate “official” website, that gets updated about every 3 days, I believe that Quinn Priester is going to start tonight. Let’s hope that he can get off the run an inning schneid. The Pirates stand at 67 wins. They will have to win 8 of their last 17 games to get to the 75 win mark which would be a 13 game improvement from last year. They need to win as many games at home as possible because they have a tough 9 game road trip coming up. Can Derek Shelton inspire this team? Hell no, they will have to do it themselves.

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Pirates Morning Report: Base Running 101

Final Score: Pirates 2 Nationals 6

Why The Pirates Lost: This one is easy. They couldn’t pitch, they couldn’t hit, they couldn’t field, and they couldn’t run the bases. But enough of the Pirates, the Nationals put on quite a display on the bases themselves. First, Keibert Ruiz singled to right field and then had designs of stretching it into a double. He put on the brakes about 30 feet from the bag and tried to get back to first but was out by a mile. Later in the game, Dominic Smith hits a ball off the wall in right center field, that if you heard Greg Brown tell it, Josh Palacios bobbled the ball on purpose. Smith, who runs a 7 sec. 40-yard dash, saw this and tried to go third. He was thrown out at third by a mile. The Pirates not to be out done, had runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs and the score was 2-1 Nationals in the bottom of the third. Then Connor Joe got picked off first and Bryan Reynolds tried to score and was thrown out easily. Greg Brown thought this was not a planned play. The Pirate pitching stunk as any pitcher who pitched more than 1 inning gave up a home run. We’re not going to mention any names here just to have some respect for their families and any children they might be involved. The Pirate bats were just as bad. They could only muster 2 runs on 7 hits, 2 walks, while striking out 10 times. Then there was the double play that wasn’t. Luis Garcia hit a ground ball to 2nd that Liover Peguero fed perfectly to Alika Williams to start what would have been an inning ending double play. Instead of setting himself and throwing a hard strike to first base, he came flying across the bag, half stumbling, throwing weakly to 1st enabling the lumbering 6’2″ 220 lb. Garcia to beat it out, allowing the 4th run to score.

Key Moment Of The Game. The score was 6-1. going into the bottom of the 7th and the Pirates could only scrape together 1 run on 2 doubles and a walk. It was simply their last chance to get back in the game and they could not get the big hit. Other than the home runs that were given up, all the runs the Nationals scored and all the runs the Pirates did not score could all be attributed to a lack of baseball sense by the Pirates. Coaches, where are you? Who knows, only The Shadow knows.

Next Game: Tonight, the Nationals in Pittsburgh. A very disappointing start to the homestand. It was not so much about the loss, as it was on just how badly the Pirates played. Hopefully this was nothing more than a glitch, with the Pirates righting the ship tonight. The Pirates have not announced a pitcher. 75 wins is in jeopardy.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Tried But Just Couldn’t Do It

Final Score: Pirates 2 Braves 5

Why The Pirates Lost: This was a bullpen failure. In 2 and 2/3 innings they gave up 4 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. This erased a very good performance by Luis Ortiz. He pitched 5 and 1/3 innings giving up just 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks. He did not strike out anyone and the Pirates did play very good defense behind him snagging some very hard hit balls. Regardless, he kept the best offense in baseball in check. He had only thrown 72 pitches when the Shadow decided to take him out. A little surprising considering the bullpen must have been strapped, because he used Singles and Homers, I mean Selby and Hatch, to try and finish the game. He might as well used Starsky and Hutch as good as they were. The Pirate offense could not do much, scoring 2 runs on 7 hits, striking out 11 times, while not drawing a walk the entire game. The bottom third of the order went 0 for 10. It was a good tight competitive game, but the Pirates lack of pitching depth just caught up with them.

The Key Moment Of The Game. The Braves scored 1 run in the bottom of the 6th after the Pirates had scored 2 in the top of the inning. With the score 2-1 Pirates going into the top of the 7th, Josh (I Will Be Here Next Year Despite What You Say) Palacios led off the inning with a booming triple. The bottom third of the order failed miserably and could not get him in. In the bottom of the 7th the Braves broke open the game against the B squad and the game was over. Naturally, a walk was involved.

Next Game: Tonight, the Nationals in Pittsburgh. The Pirates start a 7 game homestand against the Nationals and the Yankees. If the Pirates are going to reach the mid 70’s in wins it is critical that they have good homestand, with at least a 5 and 2 record. After that they go on a 9 game road trip where they will be playing all contenders, the Cubs, Reds, and Phillies. As usual, who is going to take the mound is a mystery. Only The Shadow knows.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Quick Humane Death

Final Score: Pirates 2 Braves 8

Why The Pirates Lost: They are playing the Atlanta Braves. In fairness to the Mitch Keller, even though his stats looked bad, in the bottom of 3rd, the Braves had 6 singles and 4 of them were under 80 MPH. The other 2 were 83 and 94 MPH. It is bad enough you are playing the team in the National League with the best record, but then they get a bunch of soft serve hits that result in 4 runs. In the bottom of the fourth they did hit some rockets including a 2-run homer to score 3 more runs. The only good thing, that despite a combined 10 runs, 18 strikeouts and 3 walks, the game only took 2 hours and 14 minutes to play. It was a humane slaughter by the Braves. The Pirate offense was about as ineffective as you could get. In the first and third innings, they had a runner on 2nd with no one out and failed to score. Jack Suwinski did hit a 2-run homer for the Pirates scoring, but they were only able to manage 5 other hits for the game. Overall, just an expected beating with 2 more to come.

Key Moment Of The Game: When Pirates plane touched down in Atlanta. The Pirates could not take advantage of the early scoring opportunities and the Braves fortunate 3rd inning set the tone for the game. I know this is only one game, but it shows how far the Pirates have to go before they can really contend for a championship. It was nice to see how the game should be played even though it was an opponent of the Pirates and not the Pirates.

Next Slaughter: Tonight, Braves in Atlanta. Johan Oviedo takes the mound tonight and if he thinks he was uncomfortable in his last outing, wait until he faces this lineup. He may not be able to move. The Pirates are facing Dylan Dodd, who has an ERA of over 7 through 5 games but has a record of 2-1. Maybe the Pirates can out hit the Braves tonight. I apologize for writing that.

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Pirates Morning Report: It Was Just One Of Those Innings

Final Score: Pirates 3 Brewers 7

Why The Pirates Lost: You knew that this was not going to be the Pirates night when Greg Brown talking about the red hot Ke’Bryan Hayes, said he hit the 2-run homer to tie the game the night before. Brown at least knew that Hayes hit a homer, but it was Jack Suwinski that hit the 2-run homer to tie the game. Hayes’s home run was a solo homer that gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead. I imagine that Brown needs GPS to find his way home. From there you knew the day was going downhill. Andre Jackson started for the Pirates and despite what the broadcast booth said, if this guy is in the starting rotation next year, the Pirates are in big trouble. I think he can be a tremendous asset out of the bullpen. Last night, Jackson went 4 and 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs on just 3 hits, but he walked 5. This after pitching a perfect 3 innings. The Pirates offense was completely stifled by Brandon Woodruff getting only 2 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings. Woodruff threw 97 pitches and finished strong by striking out the final 2 batters he faced. Thanks to Greg Brown it was the Brewers night.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the top of the 4th Jackson walked the bases loaded with no one out. He escaped with only 1 run scoring, and you felt that this game had the feel of the previous game, when the Brewers failed to capitalize on the situation. However, in the top of the 5th, things went in the other direction, big time. Jackson opened the inning by issuing his 4th walk. Andruw Monasterio hit a triple in the left center field notch to make the score 2-0 Brewers. From this moment on, everything went the Brewers way. A little dribbler down the third base line, a bloop just between the 1st and 2nd basemen, and finally a deep fly ball to center field that Suwinski lost in the twilight sky for a double. There was a sacrifice fly and walk sandwiched between all of this, giving the Brewers a 5-0 lead. The scoring mercifully ended on an 81 MPH single to left field by Mark Canha that was booted by Josh Palacios to allow the final run to score. It was 7-0 and the game was over. Connor Joe hit a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 9th to make the final 7-3.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Again, the Pirates do not know who the starting pitcher is. It would be a nice win today considering that they are heading to Atlanta to get the crap beat out of them this weekend. Their only hope is that Atlanta may already be in some kind of rest mode to get ready for the playoffs. They do have a 6 game lead on the Dodgers for the best record in the National League. Maybe the The Shadow Shelton has some really close friends in Atlanta, and they will let Pirates win one game.

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Pirates Morning Report: Defining Inconsistency

Final Score: Pirates 4 Cardinals 6

Why The Pirates Lost: Johan Oviedo had an extremely poor performance. Oviedo said he felt “uncomfortable” on the mound. He would not get into specifics, but my suggestion would be to get an enema before the game or skip lunch. In 3 and 2/3 innings he threw 97 pitches, 49 of them for balls, walked 6, gave up 4 hits, struck out 2, and was charged with 5 runs. I think I was more uncomfortable watching such a debacle. The bullpen gave up just 1 run over the last 4 and 1/3 innings but they walked 3 making the grand total 9. The offense tried but couldn’t overcome the lead, scoring only 4 runs. Ke’Bryan Hayes showed how important it is to rest a player by going 2 or 13 for the series and neither hit left the infield. It’s called taking a red-hot player and turning him ice cold. Miguel Andujar had a nice game going 2 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBI’s. The Pirates have him scheduled for a rest day sometime this week. He must have paid Greg Brown to sing his praises, too. I fully expect like a few of his broadcast buddies, that Greg Brown will become the Pirates manager. It was disappointing to see the brief 5-game winning streak come to an end, but it was a good road trip for the young Buccos.

Key Moment Of The Game: Despite all his problems, Oviedo had managed to wiggle off the hook most of the time, and when he left the game, the score was tied 3-3 with the bases loaded and 2 outs. The Cardinals had loaded the bases on 2 walks and an error. In came Ryan Borucki to pitch to the left-hand hitting Alec Burleson with his .166 batting average against left hand pitching. Borucki must have thought that this meant you could just throw the ball right down the middle with no movement because that’s what he did on the first pitch. Unlike a typical Pittsburgh Pirate, Burleson actually swung at the ball and laced it right back up the middle at 102 MPH, giving the Cardinals a 5-3 lead that they never relinquished.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. The Pirates open a brief 3 game homestand against the Milwaukee Brewers. It would be nice to see them win 2 out of 3 from the Brewers to keep some momentum going. The season is winding down with 25 games left. The Pirates have 13 home games and 12 road games. Hopefully the Pirates can figure out who is going to pitch but I am not optimistic. They are probably too busy scheduling rest days.