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Pirates Morning Report: Just Not Fundamentally Sound

Final Score: Pirates 3 Cubs 4

Why The Pirates Lost: They just do not know how to play the game. They ran the bases poorly. They walked 5 batters. They made two errors. They would have won this game if they knew what they were doing. They got 9 hits to go along with 3 walks. They could only get 3 runs. They left 10 men on base. The AAA boys went 1 for 5 with 2 strikeouts and 2 walks. They scored one run. Triolo’s average dropped to .190. It is a hard climb. Carmen Mlodzinski pitched a very good 4 innings. He gave up only 1 hit and 0 earned runs. He had thrown only 44 pitches. The Pirate’s “brain” trust would not let him go any further. This was a game that the Pirates should have won. The Cubs missed some opportunities also. The Pirates gave away too many runs. They also failed to score more because of a lack of baseball awareness. As usual, you will see there is no accountability when you play for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Key Moments Of The Game: There were two examples of two players doing something good for the Pirates. Then they would do something bad or stupid to counteract it. First, we have Spencer (How Could Greg Brown Make Any Hall Of Fame If He Can’t Even Pronounce My Name Right) Horwitz. In the top of the 3rd with two outs, he doubled home IKF to tie the game 1-1. Bryan Reynolds hit a single to center field. The ball was solid with an exit velo of 92 MPH. Horwitz could not score on the hit. The Pirate broadcast booth said the ball was hit too hard for Horwitz to score. Wrong, make any excuse for the Pirates’ breath. Horwitz had an extremely poor lead at second. He did not take the walking lead when the ball was pitched. He did not get a good jump when the ball was hit. Next, we have Joey Bart. He doubled home two runs in the top of the 6th to make the score 3-2 Pirates. IKF hit a routine ground ball to short. Bart tried to go to third base and was thrown out by 6 feet. That is where I would have benched Bart right on the spot. Ronny Simon got a single that probably would have scored Bart. If Bart had been benched, we would not have seen his pathetic at-bat in the top of the 8th. There was a runner on 3rd with one out. He took the first two pitches for strikes. He fouled off the next pitch. The next pitch was a ball. He swung at a pitch that was almost over his head to strike out. He was probably thinking about what he should do when he is on 2nd base and a ball is hit on the left side of the infield. The Pirates would have scored 3 more runs if they had any brains and performed normal baseball plays. This obviously cost them the game. There were other managerial blunders, but they would not have mattered if the Pirates had those 3 runs. They have now lost 7 of their last 8.

Next Game: Tonight, Blue Jays in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes starts for the Pirates tonight. I may never write this again the rest of the season, but this is a bounce-back start for Skenes. He will be going against one of the better teams, the Blue Jays. They are one of the best hitting teams in baseball. It will be interesting to see how Skenes responds to his first truly bad outing.

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Pirates Morning Report: Oh, What An Offense Not Mid August Back In 1966.

Final Score: Pirates 1 Cubs 3

Why The Pirates Lost: Another awful performance by the Pirate offense. They were passive, taking 19 strikes including 6 in the top of the 9th. They got 5 hits for the game, pathetic. They were 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position, putrid. It was about as Triple P as you could get. It did not bring back any memories of the 1966 Pirates, who had a team batting average of .278. Remember, pitchers had to bat in those days. Nobody on the Pirates has a batting average as high as .278. Let that one sink in for a moment. The mound had not been lowered yet, either. The AAA boys went 2 for 7 with 2 strikeouts and no walks. Triolo got the 2 hits as his batting average climbed to .193. All of this wasted another good performance by the Pirate pitching staff. Starter Mike Burrows only threw 68 pitches in 5 innings. He gave up 1 run on 5 hits. He struck out 4 and walked 2. Why he did not come out for the 6th inning, I will never know. The bullpen was shaky. It caught up with them in the bottom of the 8th. They gave up the 2 runs. All in all, just another horrible offensive day for the Pirates that caused their 6th loss in 7 games.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates looked like they might get some two-out lightning in the top of the 7th. Joey Bart walked. Liover Peguero singled, moving Bart to third. This brought up Alexander Canario. He has not gotten a hit for over a month. Even though the lefty was still in there, the situation screamed for a pinch hitter. Don Kelly did not do it. Canario had his usual horrid at-bat. He struck out on 5 pitches. In the bottom of the 8th, Evan Sisk came in. In 5 pitches and a stolen base, the Cubs took the lead 2-1. Canario’s horrible throw allowed the runner to go to second. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner to third. Yohan Ramirez struck out the next batter. Don Kelly made his 2nd bad move. He intentionally walked Ian Happ to face Nico Hoerner. Happ is a switch hitter. He is hitting the same from either side of the plate, a whopping .225. Hoerner is hitting .322 in the last 30 games. He doubled to left-center field, giving the Cubs their insurance run. They really did not need it. The Pirates were pathetic in the 9th. After an opening single, the last 3 batters all struck out. Each one took 2 called strikes. Two of the three took called 3rd strikes. That is a great two-strike approach the Pirates are teaching. Take the pitch and pray.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Chicago. Back to the Carmen Mlodzinski experiment today. Why the Pirates want this guy to be a starting pitcher, God only knows. I guess the only good thing is they sent Heaney to the bullpen. Too bad they did not use him yesterday. It will be a big surprise if the Pirates win today. Can they score more than 3 runs today? Oh, to be able to see 1966 again.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pitching And AAA Boys Come Through Big.

Final Score: Pirates 3 Cubs 2.

Why The Pirates Won: The pitching returned to form. The Pirates’ staff limited the Cubs to 2 runs on 6 hits. They struck out 6 and walked 2. It was a good day’s work for Braxton Ashcraft, new call-up Evan Sisk, Isaac Mattson, and Dennis Santana. It was also a great day for the AAA boys. They went 4 for 11, including Jack Suwinski’s go-ahead home run in the top of the 9th. They also made some good defensive plays. It was a good thing because the top of the order was bad. The first 4 batters in the Pirates’ order went 0 for 14 with one walk. This all led to the Pirates snapping their 5-game losing streak. They will not lose 11 in a row.

The Key Moments Of The Game: It was a game of missed opportunities in the late innings for the Cubs. The Pirates just grabbed the lead 2-1 in the top of the 7th. Evan Sisk hit Pete Crow-Armstrong to start the inning. Isaac Mattson came in to pitch. Nico Hoerner singled to left. Dansby Swanson bunted the ball up in the air in front of the plate. The ball had backspin and sidespin on it. The ball eluded Henry Davis, and the bases were loaded. Matt Shaw hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game. No other runners could advance. Mattson got two pop-outs to end the inning. In the bottom of the 9th, the play of the game happened. The Pirates were leading 3-2. Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a single to center. On the very first pitch to the next batter, he tried to steal 2nd. Henry Davis’s throw was short and scooped up by Triolo. Crow-Armstrong, for whatever reason, slid way past the bag. He made a half-hearted effort to get back to the bag and was tagged out. The Pirate broadcast booth tried to make it sound like Triolo had made some great play. In my view, it was a huge baserunning gaffe by Crow-Armstrong. Regardless, it was the big play and out of the inning. The Cubs went quietly after that, and the Pirates had the win. It looks to me that the Cubs are feeling the pressure. Maybe the Pirates can take advantage.

The Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Chicago. Mike Burrows goes for the Pirates today. He has had a couple of shaky outings. Maybe he can turn things around today. Yesterday was the second big game for the AAA boys out of the last 8. Jack Suwinski stood out in both games. The Pirates won both of those games. I am still not ready to give anybody a promotion. It does show how a team has to have everyone contributing to pull out a win. We will see how many of them get to play today. Will they help again against the swooning Cubs?

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Pirates Morning Report: Forty Games To Go

There are 40 games left in this miserable season. I wrote yesterday that this has been the most disappointing period in Pirate history. I know that the Pirates had 20-some losing seasons in a row. They were all expected. At the end of the 2023 season, there seemed to be real hope for this team. As usual, not much was done during that off-season. Even so, when the 2024 season opened, there was talk of winning the division. It turned out to be a season of treading water. They wound up with the same record as 2023. They were in the hunt through the All-Star break. It was another August collapse. Unlike 2023 and 2024, the 2025 Pirates got off to a miserable start. I hope you like the word miserable because you are going to see it a lot in this blog. After 38 games, Derek Shelton was fired. He was fired 38 games too late. The Pirates tried, but they could never right the ship. They lost some heartbreaking games in the early part of Don Kelly taking over as manager. Despite that, they have hung around .500 with him until this last 5-game losing streak. Ben Cherrington has not helped this team at all. Before we get to his incompetence, let’s take a look at this team for the last time until after the season ends.

The Pirates are the worst hitting team in baseball by far. They have scored the fewest runs in baseball. They average 3.54 runs per game, the worst in baseball. The Rockies are 29th in baseball in runs scored per game. The Pirates have played two more games than the Colorado Rockies. The Pirates have scored 15 runs less than them. I do not see them catching up. The Pirates are tied for 29th place with the Rockies for OPS+ at 83. Just a miserable number. The Pirates are 25th in on-base percentage. It is hard to believe there are 5 teams worse than the Pirates. Thanks to the recent pitching implosion, they have fallen to 14th place in runs allowed per game. They are 10th in fielding independent pitching. They are 13th in ERA+ at 105. Just 3 weeks ago, they were in the top 7 in all three categories. They were the 2nd best fielding team in baseball about a month ago. Now they have fallen to 10th. This club has had a month of decline. Speaking of decline, the pitching has fallen the most. At one time, both the rotation and bullpen were ranked in the top 5 in baseball. They have fallen to 10th and 15th, respectively. Looking at the Pirates position by position, they all stink about the same. Catching is ranked 22nd. 1st base is 23rd. 2nd base is 20th. 3rd base is 17th. Shortstop is 22nd. Left field is 16th. Center field is 24th. Right field is 20th. The DH is ranked 27th. In pinch hitting, they are 23rd. It is amazing how closely they are all ranked. You can easily say the Pirates do not have one outstanding player when compared with the rest of the league. Then you have the AAA boys: Canario, Suwinski, Davis, and Triolo. What a crew. No one is SLUGGING over .300. Not batting average, SLUGGING. None of the batting averages are over .200. Their OPS+ range from 38 to 59. This is about as miserable as you can get. Yet the Pirates play these guys quite a lot. There are guys in AAA that could certainly perform better than these clowns. Davis is adequate behind the plate. Triolo can field. The other two are lucky to catch a routine fly ball. Despite what they say in that miserable Pirate broadcast booth, Suwinski is a terrible fielder. We leave this section with a quick update on Ke’Bryan (I Hate That Apostrophe) Hayes. When he was traded to the Reds, thank God, there were many ready to go to his defense. These people said the Reds would straighten him out and make him a better hitter. In his very first game with the Reds, he hit a home run. After that, he quickly got back to normal. On-base percentage with the Reds: .262, Pirates: .279. Slugging with the Reds: .325, Pirates: .290. OPS+ with the Reds: 59, Pirates: 61. At least the Reds have enough sense to bat him 9th.

Last but certainly not least, let’s look at the miserable Pirate management team led by Ben (Mr. Personality, Broken Record) Cherrington. In the last two years, he has repeated himself many times. We will take every opportunity we can to improve the team in all areas. High level of focus is needed to improve the offense. We are open to across-the-board improvement. We need a corner outfielder and a first baseman. We have the resources to make the moves necessary to improve the team. If that is true, then he doesn’t have the brains necessary to improve the team. If anything, the offense has gotten worse. In 2023, they were 22nd in runs scored per game. In 2024, they were 24th in runs scored per game. Thus far in 2025, they are the worst team in baseball at scoring runs. One of the big rules in problem-solving is recognizing you have a problem. The Pirates can identify their problem. They have no offense. They do nothing about it. Cherrington had a horrible trade deadline. He did get rid of two salary dumps, Bednar and Hayes. He could not get rid of Reynolds. That may have been Reynolds exercising no-trade clauses. Everyone has theories on why Pham and IKF were not traded. Here is a new theory on Pham. I think Cherrington did not trade Pham as punishment for having such a horrendous first 2.5 months of the season. Pham has had a remarkable turnaround. Another reason that makes Pham an attractive late-season addition is that he has enjoyed a very good postseason career. He has had 136 plate appearances in the postseason. His slash line is .315/.331/.492. This guy has produced in the postseason. It is hard to believe that somebody would not take him as a rental. I think Cherrington just did not shop him. On the other hand, I think there may be a possibility that Cherrington may try to sign IKF to a long-term contract. Those two things right there are enough for me to say fire Cherrington before more damage is done. The player development department needs a complete overall when it comes to position players. What is the purpose of bringing up a player and then letting him only play in 2 out of about 9 or 10 games? The Pirates did this numerous times this year. In a nutshell, the Pirates need to clean house. That includes not hiring Don Kelly as the permanent manager. That side of the team needs to be completely gutted. If that would happen, then this miserable season may have been worth it. Only time will tell.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pitching Staff Shellacked Again

Final Score: Pirates 5 Brewers 12

Why The Pirates Lost: The answer can be found in yesterday’s questions. Will the Brewers score over 30 runs for the series? Yes. They added 12 to score 33 for the series. Will the Pirates catch every ball hit or thrown to them? No. Will anybody be sent down today? No. How many AAA boys will be out there? Three but only two at the same time. They went 1 for 9 with 4 strikeouts. They also made an error. Will Don Kelly get ejected again so he won’t have to watch? No. Boy, did he ever pay the price. Will Gene Lamont look at the lineup card today? No, unless he doesn’t need reading glasses. Will the Pirates get a hit today, let alone score a run? They did get a hit. In fact, they got 12 of them and 4 walks. They only got 5 runs from that, all of that on two Bryan Reynolds home runs. They were 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Contrast that with what the Brewers did. They got 12 hits and 7 walks. They produced 12 runs. They were 8 for 14 with runners in scoring position. The Pirates were outscored in the series 33 to 6. The Pirates are off today. Then on to Chicago for another beating. They open their next homestand against the Blue Jays. Eleven losses in a row are a distinct possibility.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates made a game of this for 5 and 1/2 innings. The Brewers crushed Mitch Keller for 6 runs on 8 hits through 4 innings. In the top of the 5th, the Pirates got a little action going. They got a leadoff single by Ronnie Simon. Horwitz walked. Bryan Reynolds took a low inside sweeper into the seats to make the score 6-3. Nick Gonzales sandwiched a single between 2 outs. Joey Bart hit a line drive into right center field. It hopped over the fence for a ground rule double. This cost the Pirates a run and would have made the score 6-4. In the top of the 6th, Bryan Reynolds hit another homer. This time he hit it with a man on. It made the score 6-5. Without the bad break, it would have tied the game. Who knows how the momentum would have swung if the Pirates could have eyeballed them. As it turned out, the Pirate bullpen of Mlodzinski, Nicolas, and Sanders completely collapsed. In the next 2 innings, they gave up 6 runs on 4 hits, walking 5! The game was over.

Next Game: Tomorrow afternoon, the Cubs in Chicago. The Pirates are off today. They play 3 day games in a row. At least we should get this torture over with before dinner. To me, this has been one of the most disappointing times in Pirates history. You consider how you felt about the team at the end of the 2023 season. Now, think about your opinion of them now. It makes you realize two things. You need either prescription drugs or lots of alcohol if you are going to continue to watch this team.

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The Pirates Morning Report: The Comical Pirates

Final Score: Pirates 0 Brewers 14

Why The Pirates Lost: Even Paul Skenes could not stop the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers lit Skenes up for 4 runs on 6 hits. He gave up 2 home runs. He walked 2 and struck out 4. It took him 93 pitches to get through 4 innings. Then things got worse. At least Don Kelly had enough sense to get thrown out of the game in the top of the 5th. He must have known what was coming. Gene Lamont took over. He looked at the lineup card like, what’s that? The Pirate offense stunk as usual. They got 4 hits for the game. They have 7 hits for the series. The Brewers scored 14 runs last night. The AAA boys went 0 for 10 with 2 strikeouts. One of them could not get a hit against a position player pitching. In the 9th, they got a hit and 3 fly ball outs with 2nd baseman Anthony Seigler pitching. The Pirates can’t score even during batting practice.

Comical Moments Of The Game: There can be no key moments in a game like this. There were plenty of comical moments. It was 6-0 going into the bottom of the 6th. Yohan (I Give Up Runs Constantly) Ramirez gave up a 2-run homer the inning before. He gave up a leadoff single to start the 6th. The next batter hit a ball right to the mound. Ramirez threw the ball to 2nd. Gonzales dropped the ball. Ramirez walked the next batter. Out came Lamont. When he got to the mound, he started laughing. He probably couldn’t help it. It looked like he was introducing himself to the players. He brought in Ryan Borucki. He got one out on a sacrifice fly, 7-0. The next batters singled, 8-0. The next batter singled, 9-0. Andrew Vaughn hit a 3-run homer, 12-0. Matt Capps added to the hilarity. As Vaughn crossed the plate, he said, “Brownie, the rout is on.” Like 9-0 was not already a rout. Then Oscar The Grouch Marin made a trip to the mound. Just what the hell do you think he said to Borucki at this point? Man, you stink is my guess. Jared Triolo came in to pitch the 9th. Tommy Pham dropped a fly ball. Caleb Durbin hit a home run to make it 14-0. It was only after another double that Greg Brown said, “The ugliness continues in Milwaukee.” When the game ended, he said to send it back to the studio to break this one down. Really, break it down? You can do it in 3 words. The Pirates stink. They need a complete organizational clean-out.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Milwaukee. Mitch Keller goes up against Brandon Woodruff. Will the Pirates get a hit today, let alone a run? How many AAA boys will be out there today? Will anybody be sent down today? Will Don Kelly get ejected again today so he won’t have to watch? Will Gene Lamont look at the lineup card before the game starts? Will the Pirates catch every ball hit and thrown to them? Will the Brewers score over 30 runs for the series? Stay tuned for the answers tomorrow.

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Pirates Morning Report: Completely Dominated

Final Score: Pirates 1 Brewers 7

Why The Pirates Lost: They were playing a team that knows how to play baseball. The Brewers were not playing that good of baseball during the first month of the season. They were making baserunning blunders. They were making errors. They were missing cutoff men. They were not hitting well. Manager Pat Murphy did the unthinkable. At least it’s the unthinkable in the Pirate organization. He started benching players. They eventually got back in the lineup. The Brewers were 16-16 going into May 1st. Since then, they have won 58 games and lost just 18. All the Pirate management team does is make excuses for its players. This game was over before it started. After 3 innings the score was 5-1. Andrew Heaney had another awful outing. He went 4 innings and threw 90 pitches. He gave up 6 runs on 9 hits including 2 more home runs. He walked 2 and struck out 3. I am sure he will remain in the rotation. It would not seem possible, but the Pirate batters were worse. The last 21 batters for the Pirates had 2 walks and no hits. One of the walks was erased on a double play. The AAA boys went 1 for 5 with a walk. Jared Triolo has brought his average up almost 30 points to .180. He will never be sent down. The Brewers will be showing the Pirates how baseball should be played during this series. It probably won’t sink in.

Key Moments Of The Game: It starts with the lineup card. At this point in this miserable season, why not let Cruz and Horwitz face left-handed pitching? They can’t do any worse than what’s out there. The leadoff homer by Brice Turang set the tone for the game. The Pirates did tie the game 1-1 when Joey Bart hit his 1st home run since the Reagan administration. It only took Heaney 5 pitches to break the tie. He threw Christian Yelich a slow curve right down the middle. He hit it 395 feet for a home run. The Brewers got 4 singles that produced 3 more runs, thanks to the Pirates. They missed cutoff men. Jared Triolo did a nice head turn trying to short hop a ball thrown by Joey Bart. This scored the 4th run of the inning. I guess that is what they teach you in AAA ball. This made the score 5-1, and you knew that this game was over. The Brewers easily got their 10th win in a row.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. The only game of this road trip worth watching. Paul Skenes will start tonight with the Pirates. We may see three of the AAA boys tonight. Meanwhile, potential MLB players rot in AAA. It is hard to believe, but this season is spiraling downward from a point that began as rock bottom. Only in Pittsburgh.

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Pirates Morning Report: This Is What Bad Teams Do

Final Score: Pirates 8 Reds 14

Why The Pirates Lost: The offense finally did something, but the pitching was awful. On Saturday, the Pirates lost 2-1. Yesterday, 14-8. This is what bad teams do. Instead of one aspect of the team picking up the other, they just bring each other down. Compared to everybody else, Mike Burrows did not have that bad of a game. He went 5 innings, gave up 4 runs on 3 hits, struck out 6, and walked 1. He threw just 74 pitches. It makes you wonder why he did not come out for the 6th inning. This was one of many questionable decisions the Pirates made with the pitching staff. Why did Yohan Ramirez come out for the 7th when he was blasted in the 6th? The Pirates made a nice comeback to make it 9-8. Why did Cam Sanders come out for the 9th in a one-run game? Why was he not taken out before the game got out of hand? Mattson, who came in eventually, and Santana were available. It was a bad day for Don Kelly. The offense had a good game led again by the AAA boys. They went 4 for 11 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. That was another questionable decision. Kelly decided to pinch-hit for Davis with the slumping Andrew McCutchen. In his last 15 games he is hitting .200. Davis was having a good day. He also pinch-hit for Horwitz with the score 14-8. Why not let him face the left-hander? Oh well, who cares. The Pirates certainly don’t.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates had come back from a 4-run deficit to tie the game. Burrows had retired 7 batters in a row. After 74 pitches, he seemed to be getting stronger. They took him out. They brought in Yohan Ramirez, who has been with 8 teams in less than 6 seasons. In 4 pitches, he gave up 2 singles. He struck out the next batter. He then gave up 2 doubles, making the score 7-4. Why was he not taken out after the first double? Not only did they keep him in, but he also returned for the 7th inning. This ensured the Reds would score some more. Just to seal the deal, Cam Sanders was brought out to pitch the 9th. The Pirates ended up with a 3-4 homestand.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. The Pirates start a six-game road trip against the Brewers and the Cubs. You would expect that this could get really ugly. It seems that every time I expect this, the Pirates start to play decent baseball. Andrew Heaney goes for the Pirates tonight. The Pirates will play the last four games of the trip during the day. Paul Skenes will pitch on Tuesday night. It should be the only game worth watching. The big question is when Canario will play next. It could be tonight against the lefty Jose Quintana. After all he is hitting .167 against left hand pitching. Be still my beating heart.

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Pirates Morning Report: Triple P Offense Shines

Final Score: Pirates 1 Reds 2

Why The Pirates Lost: Despite starting only one AAA player, the Pirate offense stunk. They were passive. They took 27 pitches for strikes. They only had 1 runner in scoring position for the entire game. They were pathetic. They managed 4 hits for the game, with one double. Six Pirate players went 0 for 18. That’s putrid. The Triple P Offense was back in full force. It was a shame because the bullpen pitched a nice game. They gave up 2 runs on 7 hits. They struck out 11, walking 2. With the Triple P offense, holding a team to 2 runs is just not good enough. As mentioned before, Triolo was the only AAA starter. He did get the only extra-base hit, a double. It was on a fly ball to right that, in my view, should have been caught. The Pirates continue to be the worst hitting club in baseball. Management continues to do nothing about it.

Key Moments Of The Game: There weren’t really any key moments in this game because the Pirates are so bad. The big hit of the game was by the Red’s Noelvi Marte. He got a two-out double in the 4th inning to tie the game at 1-1. Carmen Mlodzinski gave up leadoff doubles to start the 6th and 7th. He wiggled off the hook in the 6th. He did not get the opportunity in the 7th. He was taken out after 1 out by Don Kelly. Ryan Borucki gave up the sacrifice fly and the Reds had an insurmountable lead of 2-1. In the last 6 innings, the Pirates got 2 hits and 2 walks. They erased 2 of those with double plays. We still have a little over 6 weeks of this. The Pirates should make a public apology.

Next Game: This afternoon, Reds in Pittsburgh. The Pirates, if they win today, will win the series. It will give them a winning homestand. How many AAA players will the Pirates start? It could be as many as three. I can hardly wait.

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Pirates Morning Report: Reynolds Comes Up Big

Final Score: Pirates 3 Reds 2

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates only managed 5 hits. Three of them were for extra-base hits. Bryan Reynolds came up with a big 2-out triple in the bottom of the 8th. It drove in the tying and go-ahead runs. The Pirates flashed some nice leather throughout the game. Mitch Keller and the bullpen limited the Reds to 2 runs. They gave up 8 hits and walked 3. The Reds, for the second straight night, did not take advantage of opportunities to score. Dennis Santana got back on track, pitching a clean 9th to get a good save. The game ended, fittingly enough, with Ke’Bryan Hayes striking out. The AAA boys got back to normal for the Pirates. They went 0 for 9, striking out 3 times. They got 2 balls out of the infield. It is good to see all is right with the world again. One final note on the game: it was on Apple TV. It was such a pleasure listening to their announcers. I did not use fast forward hardly at all.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Reds loaded the bases in the 2nd inning with no outs. Keller induced Jake Fraley to hit into a double play, scoring the run. Hayes hit a sinking line drive to center field. Oneil Cruz got a good jump and made a nice play to end the inning. In the top of the 4th, Keller walked Miguel Andujar with one out. Tyler Stephenson doubled to right center field. The Pirates made a great relay, Suwinski to Peguero to Davis. They nailed Andujar at the plate. The momentum continued for the Pirates in the bottom of the 4th. Reynolds and Cruz opened the inning with back-to-back doubles. This tied the game at 1-1. The Reds took the lead in the 6th. They got 2-out lightning, getting a double, walk, and another double, to make the score 2-1. Going into the bottom of the 8th, the Pirates had gone 12 up and 12 down since scoring their lone run. Henry Davis extended it to 13 by weakly grounding out to short. IKF walked. Horwitz struck out, making it 12 for the game for the Pirates. On an 0-2 pitch, Tommy Pham hit a ground ball. It just got past the shortstop, putting runners on 1st and 3rd. Reynolds, wasting no time, took the first pitch, driving it just inside the bag at first. The ball hit the short wall in foul territory. Noelvi Marte hesitated going for the ball. It was like he thought the first baseman was going out to get it. He then hustled to get the ball but could not pick it up twice. Pham scored easily from 1st, and the Pirates had the lead 3-2. The Reds did nothing in the 9th. The Pirates won the second game of the series.

Next Game: Tonight, Reds in Pittsburgh. Braxton Ashcraft will go for the Pirates tonight. It looks like this will be a bullpen game. Maybe they will let Ashcraft go 4 or 5 innings. Who knows? We will see how many AAA boys get to play tonight. The Pirates survived their usual performance last night. Their OPS stands at .472, .535, .542, and .581. The league average is .719. Can this go on much longer? It probably will.