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Pirates Morning Report: Huge Day For The AAA Boys

Final Score: Pirates 7 Reds 0

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates rode the backs of the AAA boys. Three of them started, and the miracle happened. They went 4 for 12, including a Henry Davis home run. They knocked in 4 runs and scored 3 runs. They led the Pirates to a relatively easy 7-0 win over the Reds. Despite this game nobody got promoted to MLB level. Paul Skenes gave up 7 hits for the first time in his career. The Reds did their best Pirate imitation and went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position. Skenes did not walk anyone and struck out 8. He threw 97 pitches over 6 innings. The B squad of the bullpen did a nice job. They limited the Reds to just 2 hits over the last 3 innings. The Reds are fighting for their playoff lives; it looked it last night. The Pirates have nothing to play for. They may be able to take advantage of the Reds the rest of the series.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the first inning, the first two Pirate batters made outs. Then Reds starter Brady Singer could not find the plate. He went 3-0 on Bryan Reynolds. Reynolds took the next pitch and sent it into the left field seats. He walked the next three batters, the last being .113 batting average Jack Suwinski. This brought up Jared (Dead Tree) Triolo. Singer got ahead of Triolo 1-2. He threw a slider that caught just a little too much of the plate. Lo and behold, Triolo got a hit up the middle. The Pirates had a 3-0 lead. Contrast that with the Reds’ first inning. After one out, they managed two singles off Skenes. Both were hit over 100 MPH. Austin Hays grounded into a double play. The Reds’ frustrations would continue. Two hits in the 3rd, no runs. One-out double in the 4th, no runs. Two-out double in the 5th, no runs. Pirate baseball at its best. I’m sorry the Reds did that. The Pirates added on as the game went on. They scored four more runs to take the first game of the series 7-0.

Next Game: Tonight, Reds in Pittsburgh. The game is on Apple TV. Why, I do not know. Mitch Keller goes for the Pirates. After their big game, it will be interesting to see how many of the AAA boys start. As you may notice, other than exceptional performance, I don’t name the AAA boys. To me, they are inseparable. They live as a group and they die as a group. My hope is they will all leave the team on the same day. The Pirates may go on another shutout run. Who knows, maybe they will have a 4-game shutout sweep. Right now, the Reds are 3.5 games out of the last wild card spot. The Mets have lost 8 out of their last 10 games. The Yankees are only 7 games over .500. They have a 1.5-game lead for the last wild card spot. My prediction is starting to look better that neither will make the playoffs.

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Pirates Morning Report: Bullpen Lets One Slip Away

Final Score: Pirates 2 Giants 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The worst offense in baseball continues to shine. The AAA boys went 1 for 8, but at least they did not strike out. The rest of the team struck out 11 times. Four of the 11 strikeouts were called third strikes. They were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position. They scored a run in the first thanks to 2 walks. They scored a run in the 5th thanks to a wild pitch that allowed a sacrifice fly to score a run. They needed help from the Giants to put their two measly runs on the board. The Pirate pitchers had given up only 2 hits over the first 7 innings. Of course, one of those was a home run given up by Andrew Heaney. He has given up 8 home runs in his last 22 innings of work. The Pirates clung to a 2-1 lead heading into the top of the 8th.

Key Moment Of The Game: Isaac Mattson entered the game to start the 8th. He gave up a single on a 66 MPH soft liner to right field. After one out, he walked Rafael Devers. The 6th pitch was called a ball, but it was in the strike zone. He gave up a little pop-up single to right field to load the bases. That is where Don Kelly decided to bring in Dennis Santana. It was a bad move. Mattson has shown that he is capable of pitching out of trouble. There had not been a hard ball hit off of him. Santana gave up two deep fly balls, the first one tying the game. In the 9th, he got the first out, but he gave up back-to-back doubles. Both pitches were right down the middle of the plate. The second double was on an 0-2 pitch. Patrick Bailey singled, giving the Giants a 4-2 lead. The Pirates went quietly in the 9th. The Giants took the series. They might as well have been playing the Indianapolis Indians.

Next Game: Tonight, Reds in Pittsburgh. Who will the Pirates roll out there tonight for the starting lineup? The suspense is killing me. Can we get all 4 AAA players in the lineup tonight? After all, in 557 at-bats they have 95 hits for a sparkling .171 batting average. They have 12 home runs and 41 RBIs. Kyle Schwarber they are not. In 418 at-bats he has 40 home runs. He has 94 RBIs. He is batting .258 and slugs .591. He slugs over twice as much as the AAA boys do. Do you think the Phillies might be interested in a 4-for-1 trade? I bet you if things were reversed the Pirates would be.

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Pirates Morning Report: Giants Take Revenge

Final Score: Pirates 1 Giants 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Mike Burrows had a horrible start. He went 4 and 2/3 innings, giving up 6 runs. He gave up just 5 hits, but 3 of them left the park. He walked 3. He was probably discouraged when he saw the starting lineup. Oneil Cruz was the DH. He has never done well DHing. Three members of the AAA gang were starting. They went 2 for 10 with a walk. They struck out 5 times. Nice game Suwinski, Triolo, and Davis. With batting averages of .120, .166, and .168, you can see why the Pirates would want them playing a lot. The lineup did not disappoint. The Pirates scored 1 run on 7 hits. They struck out 13 times. The only player that did not strike out was Horwitz. They were very passive, taking 27 strikes for the game. Reynolds and Suwinski each had an at-bat where they never swung at a pitch and struck out. They were putrid with the last 20 batters getting 2 hits and a walk. They got 4 hits in the bottom of the 3rd and scored only one run—pathetic. It was the Triple P offense at peak performance. The Pirates were bad in the field, making 2 errors. This is what happens when a third of your starting lineup should be in the minors.

Key Moment Of The Game: It came in the bottom of the 3rd inning. At that point, the Giants had taken a 2-0 lead on a 2-run homer by Christian Koss. After Jared Triolo was called out on strikes, what else, the Pirates got 4 straight hits. Because of conservative baserunning, they only scored 1 run. This brought up Oneil (I Don’t Like DHing) Cruz. He struck out on 4 pitches. He swung at 2 pitches outside the strike zone. Nick Gonzales swung at the first two pitches way inside and out of the strike zone. He worked the count to 3-2 but ended the inning by grounding out. For all intents and purposes, it also ended the game. The Pirates never threatened again. The Giants went yard on Burrows two more times and blew the Pirates away.

Next Game: This afternoon, Giants in Pittsburgh. Andrew (I Miss My Clone) Heaney goes for the Pirates this afternoon. He is going up against Robbie Ray, another left-hander. They are mirror images of each other. Ray is 9-5. Heaney is 5-9. Ray gives up 2 fewer runs per game than Heaney. Ray does everything significantly better than Heaney. The Pirates should win easily. That’s the way it’s been going lately. I am guessing we might see just 2 of the AAA boys today. Canario should play. Davis will sit. Suwinski might sit because of a lefty starter. Another reason to think we will win.

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Pirates Morning Report: AAA Jack Leads Pirates To Walk Off Win

Final Score: Pirates 5 Giants 4

Why The Pirates Won: Jack AAA Suwinski hit a 2-run homer. He scored the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. It still doesn’t promote up to the major league level. It is nice to see one of the AAA boys have a good game. Even though the Pirates scored 5 runs, their offense was pretty much non-existent. They only had 6 hits. They needed help from the Giants. They got it in the form of 2 errors, 3 walks, and one hit batter. The Pirates were quite helpful to the Giants. They walked 5, with 3 of the walks scoring. One walk accounted for an RBI. There was not much earning of runs in this game. Johan Oviedo had a 1-inning start. He threw 43 pitches. He walked 3, giving up 2 runs and 2 hits. He did strike out the side. Kyle Nicolas walked the first two batters in the fifth. He almost got out of it, getting the next two outs with no one advancing. Then Jung Hoo Lee tripled in the 2 runs to extend the lead to 4-1. The bullpen shut the Giants down the rest of the way, and the Pirates came back.

The Key Moments Of The Game: Jack Suwinski was in the middle of the comeback. He missed an opportunity in the bottom of the 4th. He did not produce with runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. In the bottom of the 7th, the walk would come back to haunt the Giants. They walked Peguero to start the inning. Up to the plate came AAA Jack. In a battle royale with pitcher Carson Seymour, he fouled off 5 straight pitches. He took the 8th pitch of the at-bat for a ball. He took the 9th pitch and sent it 371 feet into the seats to make it 4-3 Giants. A very surprising home run, to say the least. It raised his average to .113. The score stayed that way until the bottom of the 9th. The inning started out with, what else, a walk to Andrew McCutchen. AAA Alexander Canario ran for McCutchen. Bryan Reynolds pinch-hit for Peguero. Why, I don’t know. He struck out. AAA Suwinski came up. He took two called strikes, but one was a bad call. He took the third pitch. It was borderline but called a ball. He fouled off the next two pitches. The 6th pitch drilled him right in the forearm. Joey Bart battled for 6 pitches. On a 1-2 count, he took a pretty good slider and drilled it just over the shortstop’s head. This scored Canario and Suwinski scurried for third. He just beat the throw. An aggressive move that forced the infield to be in. Henry Davis pinch-ran for Bart. He went to 2nd on defensive indifference. Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a little chopper to 1st baseman Rafael Devers. His throw was just high enough that Suwinski slid under the tag, with his hand barely touching the plate. The Pirates had the walk-off win.

Next Game: Tonight, Giants in Pittsburgh. We will see if the Pirates can continue their mastery over the Giants. Mike Burrows will go tonight for the Pirates. In his last 3 starts, he has gone 17 innings, giving up only 3 runs. He has struck out 18 and walked 4. He will be going up against Logan Webb for the Giants. The Pirates only started one AAA player yesterday, Jack Suwinski. He did shine; he hit a 2-run homer and scored the winning run. This will probably cause them to start more of them tonight.

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Pirates Morning Report: Bullpen Shakily Prevents Three Peat

Final Score: Pirates 9 Rockies 5

Why The Pirates Won: Spencer Horwitz had a huge game enabling the Pirates to pull out the 3rd game. He hit 2 home runs and drove in 6 runs. The game had the eerie feeling of game 2. Mitch Keller had pitched a solid 5 innings. He had given up 1 run on 4 hits. He struck out 4 and had not walked anyone. The Pirates had taken an 8-1 lead on Horwitz’s 2nd homer. In the bottom of the 6th Keller walked his first batter of the game. Then BAM, Keller gave up 3 straight home runs to make it 8-5, and you thought here we go again. Carmen Mlodzinski got out of the inning giving up a two out double. The Pirates held on for the 9-5 win to salvage the final game of the series, but it wasn’t pretty.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates were able to score one run in the top of the eighth without getting a hit. Two hit by pitches and a bonehead play by their first basemen netted a run. The last three innings the the Pirates made it interesting. Mlodzinski gave up a single and a walk to start the 7th. He quickly got 2 outs on a fly out and ground out. He got a generous 3rd strike call to end the inning. Isaac Mattson struck out the first batter on a timeout violation. He proceeded to boot a ground ball and then walk a batter. He went 3-1 on the next batter but got him to fly out. He got the third out on an easy pop out. Dennis Santana came in the bottom of the 9th to protect a 4 run lead again. He did it this time but not without the help of some great defense by the Pirates. He hit the first batter. The next batter lined it to right. Jack AAA Swuwinski made a nice leaping catch. Jared AAA Triolo made a nice play on a slow chopper to 3rd. The last batter hit a liner but right at Tommy Pham to end the game. It was not a three peat.

Next Game: Tonight, Giants in Pittsburgh. Johan Oviedo is going to make his 2025 debut tonight. Yesterday the AAA boys went 1 for 7 with 3 walks and 2 hit by pitches. They scored 2 runs. Why on earth anyone would walk them I have no idea. Their highest batting average in the group is now .168. I am sure they are going to get plenty of playing time while better players continue to stay in AAA. We will continue to keep everyone posted.

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Pirates Morning Report: Can’t Beat The Bad Teams

Final Score: Pirates 5 Rockies 8

Why The Pirates Lost: For the 2nd game in a row the Pirates blew a lead. It was 4 runs this time not 9. Paul Skenes was breezing along the first 5 innings giving up 2 hits and a walk. He had struck out 8. He had thrown 73 pitches. In the bottom of the 6th all hell broke loose. He threw 21 pitches. He did not get anyone out. The next to last batter he faced he threw a fastball right down the middle. It was hit out for a 3 run homer. Braxton Ashcraft didn’t fair much better and the Rockies had a 6 run inning. They added on in the 7th and 8th to win. All of this wasted a great day at the plate for Liover Peguero. He had a 3 home run day and drove in all 5 runs. Reynolds and IKF each got 2 hits. The rest of the lineup went 0 for 21 with 4 walks. At one point in the game the Pirates had 3 players in the lineup with batting averages under .175. They were led by Jack Suwinskl’s splendid .104. Will it ever end?

Key Moment Of The Game: The Rockies had tied the game 4-4 in the bottom of the 6th. The was nothing cheap about any of the hits. They had runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Ashcraft struck out the next batter. Austin Nola then hit this little 62 MPH blooper right down the right field line into no man’s land. It wasn’t even close to being caught. This scored the go ahead run putting runners on 2nd and 3rd. A ground out scored the 6th run in the inning. The Rockies never looked back and had their 2nd win in a row.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rockies in Colorado. There are only 4 teams in baseball with worse records than the Pirates. They have lost 5 in a row to two of them. Just another sports mystery. Mitch Keller will try to break the streak today. The Pirates will throw out their finest AAA lineup to give him the best support that they can. The AAA players include Triolo, Canario, Davis, and Suwinski, We will see how many play today.

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Pirates Morning Report: Sixteen Runs Not Enough In Colorado

Final Score: Pirates 16 Rockies 17

Why The Pirates Lost: They lost because they are the Pirates. Why Tom Harrington was brought up God only knows. He has a AAA ERA of 5.48 in 90 innings. Why would you bring up Jared Triolo? Nick Yorke needs a shot. Even Ji Hwan Bae is hitting close to .300 with an on base of .393. What about Cam Devanny? You remember him right? The guy you got for Frazier. The stats are mind blowing for this game. The Pirates had 16 runs on 18 hits. They received 9 walks and a hit by pitch. It was not good enough. The Rockies had 17 runs on 22 hits. They received 5 walks. Harrington’s pitching line was one for the ages. He got 2 batters out. He gave up 6 runs on 7 hits. Four of the hits were doubles. He gave a new meaning to double machine. I do not blame him. Any one in their right mind would know that he is not ready to pitch at the Major League level. The Rockies were down by 9 runs twice in this game. Dennis Santana got blasted in the bottom of the ninth and the Rockies had one of the greatest walk off wins of 2025.

Key Moments Of The Game: After 5 innings the score was 15-10. Kyle Nicolas had settled things down by getting 3 outs in a row with a runner on 2nd. In the top of the 6th the Pirates loaded the bases with no outs. Cruz struck out. Pham popped out. Joey Bart got hit by a pitch to force in a run. Jared AAA Triolo flied out to right field to end the inning. The Pirates came away with only one run. They never threatened the rest of the game. Yohan AAA Ramirez gave up a 2 run homer in the 8th to make it 16-12. The Rockies had the miracle walk off 9th for their 29th win of the season.

Next game: This afternoon, Rockies in Colorado. Paul Skenes goes for the Pirates today. Hopefully he can get them back on track. Yesterday was a big time momentum killer. Four of their last five losses have been against the worse 2 teams in baseball. Their other loss they shut the team out for 9 innings. This is what happens to you when you have 4 players on the team that should be in AAA. It’s what happens when you have Pham and IKF blocking young players from being on your team gaining valuable MLB experience. This franchise needs to be investigated.

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Pirates Morning Report: Basically Uneventful Trade Deadline For Pirates

Here we are the day after the trade deadline. The Pirates are essentially the same team as they were before. They dumped Bednar and Hayes. No surprise there. They traded Ferguson and Falter. They traded Taylor Rogers who they just acquired. All for prospects that are not Major League ready. The closest is Rafael Flores who is a catcher with some 1st base experience. He just got promoted to AAA playing just 10 games. It was very surprising to me that they did not trade IKF or Pham. It is really hard to say what all of this means. It just continues the process of wondering what the Pirates are thinking? Rather than write about what the Pirates should be doing, I will take a crack at their thought process.

Since they did not trade them, they might be thinking of signing Pham and IKF. This team is 35-36 under Don Kelly. Dare we dream after the Rockies series that they will be over .500. If they could have played the season like this they would be 54-55, 6 games out of the last wild card spot. They may be thinking of making a bigger splash in the off season. This Pirates team despite all of its problems has played close to .500 ball for almost half a season. This will keep you at least in playoff contention. They have to be thinking this team just needs tweaked not over hauled.

If the Pirates continue to play or God forbid even better than .500 ball the rest of the season, then I think the management team will stay the same. Ben Cherington will be back. Don Kelly will be the manager. Cherington staying on will drive the fan base crazy. This was a man that did not approach the trade deadline like his job depended on it. As a last place team in the division the Pirates did not do that much selling. They did more dumping with not much concern what the return would be. The Pirates do not have to bring up any new position players from July 30th. I sure as hell would have lost that bet. They will have to bring up 2 or 3 new pitchers. I am not even going to begin to speculate who that might be. I will just wait till game time and shake my head.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Sweep Giants Despite Themselves

Final Score: Pirates 2 Giants 1 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Won: Obviously, it was the pitching again. I always write all is forgiven when you win. This offensive performance may be the exception. Ten of the first 12 outs of the game were strikeouts. They were 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position. They left 13 men on base. They had 7 hits plus 7 walks and could score just 1 run. They wound up striking out 14 times for the game. Even with the pitching you had to wonder how in the hell did they win. Of course the Giants did help. The pitching was brilliant. Mike Burrows looks better every time he pitches. He went 6 innings giving up 1 run on 3 hits. He struck out 7 and walked 1. He threw 91 pitches. Carmen Mlodzinski pitched 2 innings giving up just a hit. Isaac Mattson pitched the last 2 innings giving up 2 hits. He had an amazing 10th inning.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Giants got a run in the bottom of the 4th. They had all 3 of their hits in the inning to score. The Pirates broke right back in the top of the 5th with an IKF single and a Spencer Horwitz double to start the inning. One out later, the Pirates had two walks to load the bases. Nick (The Supposed RBI Machine) Gonzales grounded into a double play to end the inning. The 10th inning both teams tried to give it away. The Giants refused to take it. The Pirates had 1st and 3rd with one out. Henry Davis hit it right back to the pitcher. Instead of going home he tried to get the double play by throwing to second. One problem. Suwinski broke on the pitch and beat the throw to second. Davis was still thrown out but the Pirates had a 2-1 lead. The bottom of the 10th opened with a big pop up to left field. Jack (I Think I Need Glasses) Suwinski lost the ball in the sky and it fell to earth. A sacrifice put runners on 2nd and 3rd. That’s when Mattson took over. He struck out the last two batters throwing 9 straight fastballs to end the game. Who needs pitch sequencing. The Pirates have won 8 out of 9.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Rockies in Colorado. Hopefully the Pirates will be able to continue the momentum against the Rockies. No matter what happens they will be doing it without Ke’Bryan Hayes. One of my must trade players is gone. I will reserve comment until the trade deadline has past. If the Pirates do something really good I may be posting tonight. Most likely I will just be doing my usual Morning Report. I known, the Pirates doing something really good. Look every blog needs a little humor.

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Pirates Morning Report: Turning The Infield Hit Into An Art Form

Final Score: Pirates 3 Giants 1

Why The Pirates Won: Outstanding pitching was back. Falter went 5 innings giving up 1 run on 2 hits. He did walk 4 but managed to throw only 70 pitches. Braxton Ashcraft pitched 3 perfect innings. Dennis Santana pitched a clean 9th to get the save. Liovar Peguero hit a solo homer. The Pirates infield hit their way to 2 runs in the top of the eighth. The Pirates had 12 hits but couldn’t do much with it leaving 10 men on base. As I always say all is forgiven when you win. Not so much when you lose. The Giants looked bad last night. They were doubled off second base on an infield fly rule in the first inning. Looks like Rafael Devers did the Red Sox a big favor by refusing to play 1st base.

Key Moments Of The Game: It was a tale of two contrasting innings. In the bottom of the 4th the Giants hit 3 balls over 100 MPH and 2 over 90 MPH coming away with 1 run. That was a lead off home run by Willie Adames. Falter had the at em ball going that inning. In the top of the 8th the Pirates did not hit on ball over 100 MPH. They hit 5 consecutive ground balls. Two did not go over 70 MPH. One went 87. Two went 97. They all resulted in hits or runs. The ground ball by Ke’Bryan Hayes was misplayed thanks to Deavers not knowing what to do at first base. This loaded the bases. Joey Bart singled on a ground ball between short and 3rd to knock in the 2nd run. Peguero hit a little 69 MPH topper down third that Matt Chapman could only throw Peguero out at first bringing in the 3rd run. Three balls over 100 MPH, one run. No balls over 100 MPH 2 runs. Things are going the Pirates way as they have won 7 of 8.

Next Game: This afternoon, Giants in San Francisco. Mike Burrows goes for the Pirates today as they try and get a road sweep. Tomorrow is the infamous trade deadline. May have two blogs tomorrow if the Pirates do anything significant. That is not very likely. The bad news is, even if they trade him, this recent resurgence of Tommy Pham may have save Ben Cherington’s job. What danger lurks in the mind of Ben Cherington? Who knows? Only The Shadow Shelton knows. I couldn’t help myself. I had to get that in one last time. I also want to squelch this rumor. That was not Derek Shelton serving fries at McDonald’s. It was Burger King.