A little different format today as an abbreviated report. First, I made a mistake on the road trip. The Pirates are going to Colorado, not Cincinnati, after the Giants series. Following the Pirates can have a detrimental effect on your brain. I am traveling today and already having flight problems, thus the abbreviated report. Mitch Keller had one of his worst outings of the year. Maybe he is thinking of the trade deadline. He threw 73 pitches in 2 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits. He walked 3. It was obvious he did not have his command. It was a smart move by Don Kelly to take him out. The Pirate offense finally gave Keller some support, but he could not take advantage of it. The big hits were by IKF and Andrew McCutchen. IKF got a big 2-out double, knocking in 2 runs. Tommy Pham followed up with a single to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead. McCutchen hit a 2-run homer in the 7th to give the Pirates a 6-4 lead. David Bednar had some bad luck in the 9th but managed to save the game and give the Pirates a well-earned 6-5 win. They go against the Giants tonight.
Pirates Morning Report: Skenes Comes Up Clutch
Final Score: Pirates 6 Diamondbacks 0
Why The Pirates Won: You could say that Paul Skenes was his good old dominant self. His line certainly looked it. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 3 hits, one walk, while striking out 9. He threw 99 pitches and lowered his ERA to 1.83. He got into 3 situations I will delve into when I get to key moments. The highlight of the 6-run Pirate offense was their aggressive base running. In the bottom of the 2nd, Oneil Cruz scored all the way from first on a Tommy Pham single. The score was 1-0 Pirates. In the bottom of the 3rd, Nick Gonzales scored with 2 outs on a Bryan Reynolds double. The Diamondbacks did a good job of getting the ball in. Gonzales just beat the play, with the catcher dropping the ball. Reynolds moved to third on the throw to the plate. Oneil Cruz followed with a 112 MPH shot to right for a single. Reynolds scored easily from 3rd. If he would have been on second, it would have been questionable if he could have scored. In the bottom of the 6th, Bryan Reynolds was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Oneil Cruz hit a 107 MPH bullet down the right field line. Again, the Diamondbacks did a good job of getting the ball in. Reynolds, hustling all the way, barely beat the throw. The Pirates led 4-0. After all the previous blunders on the bases, this was the best base running the Pirates had done all season. Now let’s get to the part where Skenes was his most brilliant.
Key Moments Of The Game. In the top of the 2nd, Jake McCarthy lined a one-out triple into left center field. Skenes bore down and struck out James McCann. He got the next batter, Alek Thomas, to pop out to end the inning. In the top of the 3rd, Tristin English led off with a double. Skenes then recorded a strikeout and a weak ground out to 2nd, moving the runner to third. Geraldo Perdomo popped out to Nick Gonzales to end that threat. Going into the top of the 4th, the Pirates had a 3-0 lead. The top of the fourth started with Eugenio Suarez being hit by a pitch. Skenes struck out Adrian Del Castillo. Jake McCarthy doubled down the left field line, which put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Skenes struck out James McCann again, this time on 3 pitches. He fell behind 3-1 to Alek Thomas. Thomas swung at a changeup that was in the dirt. Skenes came right back with another changeup that was on the outside corner at the knees. Thomas whiffed. For 3 straight innings, the Diamondbacks got a runner to third base. In two of those innings, there was only one out. All three times they came up empty. They were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position. For the last 5 innings, they had 2 hits. After a disastrous start, the Pirates ended the home stand 5-4.
Next Game; Tonight, Giants in San Francisco. Mitch Keller will be going for the Pirates. The Giants are just coming off being swept by the Mets at home. The Pirates will be playing a playoff contender who is fighting for its life. That can be good or bad. We will see. The trade deadline is Wednesday at 6 PM. I really can’t get too excited. This has been a horrible year for the Pirates. I do not expect much of an uplift no matter what the Pirates do. I think at least 5 players should be gone, not including Mitch Keller. If he goes, then it should be six. We should get to see a lot of young guys on the roster in August and September. That’s the key word, should.
Pirates Morning Report: Another Impressive Pitching Performance Nets A Win
Final Score: Pirates 2 Diamondbacks 0
Why The Pirates Won: For the 2nd straight game, the Pirate pitching staff shut out the Diamondbacks for 9 innings. This is even more impressive against the Diamondbacks. They are top 5 in baseball in runs per game, slugging, on-base percentage, and OPS+. Last night, it was Andrew Heaney who gave up 2 hits in 5 innings. He struck out 4, walking none. The bullpen gave up only 2 hits and walked 1 over the last 4 innings. Oneil Cruz’s 17th home run with a runner on gave the Pirates their 2 runs. Tommy Pham was on base thanks to an error by Eugenio Suarez. Other than Cruz’s home run, the Pirates had just 5 other hits. They were retired in order in 4 of the 8 innings. The top 3 in the batting order went 1 for 12. Pretty much another Triple P performance. All is forgiven when you win.
Key Moment Of The Game; The Pirates took Heaney out after 5 innings. He had thrown only 71 pitches. They probably did not want to stretch their luck any further. Lefty, Genesis Cabrera started the top of the 6th. In 5 pitches, all strikes, he got 2 ground outs. He gave up a single to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Don Kelly then brought in Yohan Ramirez. He quickly gave up a single to Suárez, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. It would be the first and only time the Diamondbacks would get a runner in scoring position. Jorge Barrosa was frozen on a 1-2 curveball for a called third strike. In the last 3 innings, the Diamondbacks went Pirate-like and did not get a hit. The Pirates managed to get the win and set up the rubber match today.
Next Game: This afternoon, Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes will go for the Pirates. The Pirates will try to win the series and have a winning home stand. That should give them a boost. If the Pirates shut out the Diamondbacks today, it would make for an interesting stat. They would throw three straight 9-inning shutouts and lose one of the games. It would be something to see the Diamondbacks break out of their slump against the best pitcher in baseball. You have to feel that this won’t be the day the Diamondbacks’ offense gets healthy. It’s good that the Pirates are not in contention right now. They start a 7 game road trip to the Giants and then the Reds with no days off. Oh, those schedule makers of MLB. On the other hand, the Pirates are probably happy about this. It gives them a great excuse to give 20 years olds a day of rest. You also have to wonder how many Pirates will make the trip to Cincinnati. Probably more than you would like.
Pirates Morning Report: Pirates On A New Streak
Final Score: Pirates 0 Diamondbacks 1 11 innings
Why The Pirates Lost: They could not score a run in 11 innings. In fact, they only had 1 hit in 11 innings. They are on a new scoreless streak of 17 innings. They hit 2 balls all night over 100 MPH—one hit on the ground and one hit in the air. They only struck out 7 times. They were hit by a pitch twice and walked 4 times. Obviously, they could do nothing with them. They did not score in the two extra innings, even with a runner on 2nd to start the inning. The Pirate pitching was almost just as good. They held the Diamondbacks scoreless through 10, giving up just 5 hits. They also gave up 4 walks but did not hit anybody. In the bottom of the 11th, the Pirates showed it again. They have no idea what to do on the bases.
The Key Moment Of The Game: The Diamondbacks finally pushed a run across in the top of the 11th. The inning opened with a walk to Ketel Marte. Geraldo Perdomo hit a deep fly to center to move the runner to third. Eugenio Suarez lifted a fly ball to right. Bryan Reynolds did not back up on the ball enough. This contributed to him making a very weak throw to the plate, and the runner scored easily. Things just got worse for the Pirates in the bottom of the 11th. Liover Peguero pinch ran for Spencer Horwitz to start the inning. He moved to third on a deep fly to center by Andrew McCutchen. Bryan Reynolds hit a soft liner to left that looked like it might fall in. Peguero didn’t just stay on the base to tag up. Instead, he was moving back and forth about 5 to 10 feet from the bag. By the time he decided to go back and tag, it was too late. The left fielder dived and rolled over to make the catch. Peguero did not even make an effort to score, thanks to his base running blunder. What makes this play even worse is that Oneil Cruz did the same bonehead baserunning a couple of games before. This cost the Pirates at least sending the game to the 12th inning. The Pirates lost this game because they could not perform basic baseball plays. Besides having no talent, the Pirates just don’t know how to play the game. There is nothing more to say.
Next Game: Tonight, Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. Andrew Heaney goes for the Pirates. I guess you could say he is due for a good outing. Will the offense score a run tonight? Will somebody teach Peguero and Cruz how to run the bases? There was more bad news as the Yankees got their third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies. He is slugging .403 which is not great. It is 103 points higher than Hayes’ putrid .300 slugging. We are probably going to be stuck with him. I expect the trade deadline to be just like this whole season: extremely disappointing and will make no sense.
Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Get The Sweep
Final Score: Pirates 6 Tigers 1
Why The Pirates Won: Spencer Horwitz’s first career grand slam led the Pirates to a 6-1 victory. It may not have won the game, but it sure made the win a heck of a lot easier. Bailey Falter threw 7 innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits. He struck out a season-high 8 batters and walked none. He threw only 87 pitches. The Pirates scored all their runs in the first 3 innings. Andrew McCutchen hit a solo home run in the first. Bryan Reynolds led off the bottom of the 3rd with a double. He moved to third on a deep fly ball to right by Nick Gonzales. Oneil Cruz hit a 363-foot fly ball to center to drive in the 6th and final run. The bullpen got a much-needed rest with Carmen Mlodzinski pitching the final two innings. The 3-game sweep came surprisingly easy for the Pirates. They looked so pathetic against the White Sox. It is hard to believe that they won these next games. They scored 17 runs in the 3 games.
The Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates loaded the bases in the bottom of the 2nd on a single and two walks. There was one out. Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out on 3 pitches. The last two were called strikes. It looked like the Pirates were going to blow another opportunity. Spencer Horwitz took an opening cutter for a ball. The next cutter was in the strike zone, out over the plate about thigh level. Horwitz did not miss it. He blasted it 416 feet to right-center field for his first career grand slam. It was the biggest 2-out hit the Pirates have had in the last 2 months. It blew open the game in the Pirates’ favor, 5 to 0. From that moment on, Bailey Falter was dominant, challenging the Tigers for the next 5 innings. The Tigers only had one at-bat with runners in scoring position.
Next Game: Tomorrow night, Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. The Pirates wrap up this home stand with a weekend series against the Diamondbacks. Mike Burrows goes on Friday. The bullpen will be well-rested. Can the Pirates keep the momentum going? Probably not, but we can always hope. Let’s just hope they don’t overdo it on their day off. The trade deadline is looming. It is still a mystery what the Pirates will wind up doing. I don’t think that even they know. It could be the last few games as a Pirate for many players. We can only hope.
Pirate Morning Report: Good Golly The Offense Wins One
Final Score: Pirates 8 Tigers 5
Why The Pirates Won: The offense came alive. This was only the third game all year that the Pirates won when the other team scored 5 runs or more. The Cardinals, who are two games over .500, have done that 11 times. The Pirate offense did the job yesterday in a big way. They had 14 hits, with 8 of them being doubles. Spencer Horwitz had 3 hits for the 2nd straight game. Bryan Reynolds had 3 hits. They each had 2 RBIs. Hold on to your hats; Oneil Cruz scored a run on a hustle play. Tommy Pham continues to increase his trade value. He had 3 hits with 2 RBIs. Alex Canario struck out 4 straight times just so you knew you were watching the Pirates. It did not hurt that the Tigers played some lackluster defense. The Pirates’ pitching staff got plagued by the long ball. Not a big deal when your team scores 8 runs. Mitch Keller went 6 innings, giving up a 3-run homer. He gave up 6 hits total and walked 3. Caleb Ferguson gave up the other two runs on a 451-foot blast by Jahmai Jones. David Bednar allowed the tying run to come to the plate with one out. He struck out the last two batters to end the game. The Pirates were swept by the team with the worst record in the American League. Today they will have a chance to sweep the team that has the best record in the American League. Don’t you just love sports?
Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates held a precarious 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the 6th. Keller’s last two innings were shaky, and the bullpen was about to take over. Spencer Heywood struck out on a wild pitch and wound up at first base to open the inning. For once, the Pirates took advantage. Gonzales hit a weak ground ball out that moved Spencer to second. Bryan Reynolds singled to center to bring Horwitz home. Tommy Pham doubled down the line in left, scoring Reynolds. Cruz walked. Ke’Bryan (I Can’t Wait Until He Is Traded So I Don’t Have To Type That Apostrophe Anymore) Hayes singled home Pham. The Pirates’ lead jumped right back up to 5 runs. As it turned out, they needed those 3 runs.
Next Game: This afternoon, Tigers in Pittsburgh. Bailey Falter is going for the Pirates today. He is not doing quite as bad as his clone Andrew Heaney. However, he has given up 10 earned runs in his last 3 outings. The other problem with today’s game is that the bullpen has been pretty well spent. Santana should be available. The B squad must come through today. This is necessary if the Pirates are going to pull out the sweep. Maybe the bats can come through 2 days in a row. Maybe I will win the lottery today.
Pirates Morning Report: Skenes Leads The Pitching Staff Back
Final Score: Pirates 3 Tigers 0
Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes pitched another solid outing. He only gave up 3 hits and walked 1. He struck out 6, throwing only 86 pitches in 6 innings of work. I did not have a big problem with them taking him out. The season is over, and why put any stress on his workload? He has proven he can throw 100 pitches if necessary. Unless he is doing something spectacular, limiting him to about 90 pitches a game is fine. The bullpen did the job. Bednar needed a great play by Tommy Pham and an “at ’em” ball to keep it from being more interesting. After losing 3 straight to the last-place White Sox, they wound up beating the best team in the American League. The offense had one good inning, scoring 3 runs. Overall, they were as bad as usual. The Tigers threw 130 pitches in the game. The Pirates took 15 strikes, which is not bad. They swung at 22 pitches outside of the strike zone. None of those swings resulted in any of their nine hits. They were as punchless as ever, with all 9 hits being singles. This team needs to follow Ted Williams’ hitting rule. To hit, you swing at strikes and take balls. I don’t think they will ever learn. But hey, a win is a win. It was especially nice to see Skenes get the win. He is 5-8 now. He still has an excellent shot at being the first Cy Young Award winner with a losing record.
Key Moments Of The Game: It all boiled down to the bottom of the second and the top of the third. Ke’Bryan Hayes led off the bottom of the 2nd with a single. Jack (Who’s Ted Williams) Suwinski struck out on a ball around his ankles. Henry (I Don’t Know Him Either) Davis swung at the first pitch that was in the dirt. He did manage to fly out to deep center field. IKF walked on four straight pitches. Atta boy. Spenser Horwitz hit a little 68 MPH blooper down the line to score the first Pirate run. McCutchen walked on five pitches to load the bases. Bryan Reynolds hit an 81 MPH “liner”. It dropped in to score the last two runs. Those were the final runs the Pirates would score in the game. At the end of the 2nd, they led 3-0. The Tigers tried to break right back against Skenes. Parker Meadows opened the inning with a 102 MPH double down the right field line. Matt Vierling hit a dribbler down the 3rd base line and beat it out. It did not allow the runner to advance. Skenes bore down to get the next two batters. One popped out to shallow right. The next batter hit into a 3-6 force play. With runners on first and third, this brought up the always dangerous Gleyber Torres. Torres worked the count to 3-2. Skenes lit him up with an up-and-in 99 MPH fastball to end the inning. The Tigers never really threatened after that. The bottom of the 3rd was the key to a Pirate victory.
Next Game: Tonight, Tigers in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller is going for the Pirates tonight. It was nice to see the pitching staff get back on track. We know the hitters are never going to do it. The pitching is the only strength of this team. It was disheartening to see them get knocked around by the lowly White Sox. I guess Peguero is never going to play. Why did they bring him up? There were plenty of other players they could have called up. Anybody can sit on the bench. You can easily see why player development is not a Pirate strong point.
Pirates Morning Report: White Sox Get Their First Sweep Of The Season Easily.
Final Score: Pirates 2 White Sox 7
Why The Pirates Lost: Andrew Heaney had another bad start. On June 30th, Heaney pitched almost 7 innings of shutout ball against the Cardinals. His one start before that and his last 3 appearances have been horrific. In 4 games, he pitched 13 innings. He has given up 21 runs, all of them earned. He has given up 25 hits, including a whopping 9 home runs. At one time, the Heaney looked like he might be a trade chip. Now, he looks like he should be DFA. Another great pickup, Cherrington. The bullpen had a nice bounce back. They pitched 5 innings of 1-hit ball. It was way too late by then. The Pirate offense was just as bad. They only had 4 hits. They scored 2 runs, but 1 was from defensive indifference in the bottom of the 9th. They just had some awful at-bats led by Joey Bart and Oneil Cruz. Bart struck out on two called strikes and then swung at two pitches out of the strike zone. On his next at-bat, he was thrown 6 pitches, all out of the strike zone. He swung at 3 of them to strike out again. Cruz swung at 4 pitches in a row out of the strike zone. He then took a called 3rd strike to end the game. With the trade deadline coming up, you could call this a lame duck team. I just call them lame. Management again brought up a young player, Peguero, and has not played him for 3 games. He made a token appearance in the first game of the series. How does that help him? It most likely hinders his progress.
Key Moment Of The Game: The first inning, and you knew this game was over. Heaney got lit up for 4 runs. The first 5 batters, except for the one that walked, did not hit a ball under 99 MPH. He gave up 2 home runs. The last one went out at 107 MPH and carried 429 feet. The Pirates never really threatened to make a game of it. They only got 3 runners to scoring position for the game. For the third game in a row, they were blown out. The White Sox got their first 3 game sweep of the season. It is a sad state of affairs.
Next Game: Tonight, Tigers in Pittsburgh. We will see if Paul Skenes is engulfed in this starting pitching slump. The trade deadline can’t come fast enough. This team looks like they did at the start of the season. They have no interest in winning or playing baseball. It looks like we will have to endure another 7 to 10 days of this. Maybe these guys will get the shock of their lives and Cherrington won’t trade anybody. It would serve them right. It is about time Cherrington screwed over somebody besides the fans.
Pirates Morning Report: Where Has All The Pitchers Gone? Who Will Stop The Scoring?
Final Score: Pirates 4 White Sox 10
Why The Pirates Lost: For the 2nd straight game, the Pirates gave up 10 runs. The Pirate offense did put 4 runs on the board. If the Pirates could have scored 4 runs in every game in June, they would have been 18-9. In last night’s game, the starter Mike Burrows did okay. He went 5 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits. He did not give up a hit in the first 4 innings. For the second straight night, the bullpen really stunk. Caleb Ferguson could only get 1 out; he gave up 4 runs on 4 hits. Isaac Mattson could only get 1 out; he gave up 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk. Carmen Mlodzinski came in to clean up. In 2 and 1/3 innings, he gave up 2 runs on 4 hits with a walk. The Pirate offense did score 4 runs but was still inept. They were 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners. The Pirates continue to be punchless. Only 3 of the 13 hits were for extra bases. The Brewers had 13 hits with 6 doubles. The first two games after the All-Star break could not have gone worse for the Pirates. Not only do they get blown out twice, but it is the White Sox that are doing it.
Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates had just taken the lead 3-0 going into the top of the 5th. Luis Robert Jr. got an infield single with one out. He went to second on a throwing error by Nick Gonzales. Roberts then stole 3rd base. Burrows struck out the next batter. It looked like Burrows might work out of the jam. Lenyn Sosa singled in Roberts. Josh Rojas followed that with a double and the White Sox were right back in it 3-2. The Pirates added a run in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-2. Caleb Ferguson came in to pitch the 6th. He quickly got the first out on one pitch. Then the fun began. In the next 11 pitches, he gave up a double and 3 singles, tying the game up 4-4. Other than the double, nothing was hit hard. They were just placed perfectly. Isaac Mattson came in with runners on 1st and 3rd. On the 7th pitch of the at-bat, he hit Sosa to load the bases. He struck out the next batter. Again, you thought that Mattson might be able to get out of this jam. With the count 0-2 he threw the ball right down the middle. Mike Tauchman ripped it 370 feet for a bases-clearing double, and the score was 7-4. Mattson gave up another single, and the White Sox had a 6-run inning. The game was over.
Next Game: This afternoon, White Sox in Pittsburgh. The White Sox will go for their first series sweep of the season. Another great stat to mark down for this season. Who knows what is going on with the pitching? In two games, they have given up 20 runs, all earned, on 23 hits and 11 walks. This is against the White Sox, no less. The thing that keeps the White Sox from being the worst-hitting team in baseball are the Pirates. Wow! I can’t think of anything else to write.
Pirates Morning Report: Welcome Back Pirates
Final Score: Pirates 1 White Sox 10
Why The Pirates Lost: It was a blowout. In every phase of the game the Pirates stunk. Poor baserunning, weak hitting, lousy pitching, and lackluster fielding. When the game was still in doubt, Oneil Cruz made a baserunning blunder. He failed to tag up on a fly ball to left that Michael Taylor made a diving catch on. He would have scored the first run of the game for the Pirates. They only had 5 hits. They were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. The last 20 batters of the game got 1 hit and 2 walks. The Triple P offense at its best. Bailey Falter gave up 4 runs on 6 hits. He walked one and gave up 2 home runs. Braxton Ashcraft gave up 2 runs on 2 hits. He walked 4 in just 1 inning. Yohan Ramirez gave up 4 runs on 2 hits. He walked 2. All told, the Pirates pitching gave up 11 hits and walked 7. Even though the Pirates weren’t charged with any errors, they were dropping and misplaying balls all night. The Pirates looked like they took 4 years off, not just 4 days. I think you would have seen better baseball if you watched a film of an old-timers game. Thank God they were playing the White Sox. It might have been 20-1.
Key Moment Of The Game: Bailey (I’ve Tried Everything) Falter had another bad first inning. He got the first outs of the game on just 8 pitches. He gave up a home run to Edgar Quero on a 3-1 pitch that was pretty well grooved. That was followed by a walk and a double that scored the 2nd run of the game. Luis Robert Jr. singled and the score was 3-0. The White Sox got 2 out lightning to score 3 runs. The Pirates cut it to 4-1. It would have been 4-2 if Cruz had not made his blunder. From that point on, the White Sox kept adding on thanks to the generosity of the Pirates’ pitchers. By the 7th inning stretch, it was 10-1 White Sox. It was a laughable return home for the hapless Pirates.
Next Game: Does there have to be? Yes, I’m afraid so. Tonight, White Sox in Pittsburgh. Mike Burrows goes for the Pirates, bringing with him the hopes of a fan base eager for a standout performance. The offense remains dormant, leaving many fans frustrated as they watched another lackluster game unfold. Please start Liover Peguero tonight. Why bring him up if you are not going to play him? He can’t do any worse than what’s out there. There’s a strong case to be made for giving him a chance to play. One run on five hits. One run on five hits. One run on five hits. The Pirates’ formula for winning baseball.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 