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Pirates Morning Report: A Series Win

Final Score: Pirates 7 Mariners 2

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates brought out the long ball hitting 3 home runs which accounted for 4 of the 7 runs. The Pirate hitters continued to like home cooking putting up 7 runs on 9 hits, walking 3 times, against a pretty darn good pitching staff. Barry No Falter Insurance pitched his typical game, going 5 and 1/3 innings, scattering 8 hits, giving up just 2 runs, walking no one, and surprisingly striking out 8 batters. The bullpen did fine until the top of the ninth when Domingo (The Ankle Hunter) German came in. He walked the first batter, then hit the next two to quickly load the bases. The Pirates brought David Bednar into the game and for a moment you thought are they going to blow this game. Whether it was Bednar or just the fact that the Mariners offense really stinks, the Pirates were able to quickly get out of the inning in 9 pitches to end the game, extending their winning streak to TWO WHOLE GAMES. They will need 8 more to get back in the race.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates were leading 3-2 going into the bottom of the 5th and even though they did not score in the inning, they made Luis Castillo throw 29 pitches to get through it. It may have not had anything to do with it but in the next inning they hit him pretty good with a Joey Bart double and Luis Castillo single that knocked Castillo out of the game and gave the Pirates a 4-2 lead. The Pirates added 3 runs in the 7th inning to seal the deal. German made it interesting by trying to cripple the Mariners in the top of the 9th. Ji Hwan Bae made a nice play on a little blooper that could have gotten the Mariners going if it would have dropped. Bednar struck out the next 2 batters to end the game.

Next Game: This afternoon, Mariners in Pittsburgh. Jake (Don’t Take Me To Vegas) Woodford will be making his 3rd start for the Pirates. He has had nothing but bad luck in both starts ranging from horrendous defense to no run support. In his last 14 innings of work, he was not walked a batter and has an ERA of 3.07. Let’s hope his luck evens out today and the Pirates get a much-needed sweep.

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Pirates Morning Report: Losing Streak Over

Final Score: Pirates 5 Mariners 3

Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes had another struggling outing, but a struggling Paul Skenes is better than most. He pitched 6 innings, only gave up 3 hits, but one was a home run after a walk to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead. He walked a career high of 4 and hit a batter so there was plenty of traffic on the basepaths. Yes, he did not throw a fastball that touched 100 MPH. The Pirate offense after a slow start scored a run in the bottom of the 4th and 2 in the 5th to take the lead 3-2. In that same inning Yasmani Grandal hit a homer to tie the game. The bottom two in the order Grandal and Michael Taylor came up big, going a combined 3 for 8 with a walk, scoring 3 runs and driving in 1. It was a good win for the Pirates to stop the bleeding. Still, don’t you think it’s time to take Bednar and his 5.83 ERA out of the closer role, at least for a while.

Key Moments Of The Game: There were two key moments to this game. The first was in the top of the sixth. The Pirates had just taken the lead 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth. With Skenes pitching, the Mariners opened the inning with a Julio Rodriguez double. He was pushed over to third on a relatively deep fly ball to right field. Skenes walked the next batter to put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. On the very next pitch Dominic Canzone hit into a shortstop unassisted put out at second on to first double play, that Oneil Cruz did not screw up and Paul Skenes was out of the inning. In the bottom of the seventh with one out Michael Taylor had a rare walk. Andrew McCutchen followed that up with a drive down the left field line that would have been a double if he had not pulled up lame. Now the Pirates had 1st and 3rd with one out. Bryan Reynolds struck out and it looked like another big opportunity would be wasted. Oneil Cruz finally got the big 2 out hit, that the Pirates have been lacking this entire losing streak, to drive in two runs that the Pirates ended up needing thanks to David Bednar. Cruz pulled up lame also, twisting his ankle after a sudden stop. Let’s hope that he will be back in the lineup today. It was nice to see the losing streak come to an end, and we will see if they can streak in the other direction.

Next Game: This afternoon Mariners in Pittsburgh. Barry Falter will start for the Pirates and let’s hope he can befuddle the Mariners. Mariners have more trouble scoring runs than the Pirates and that is hard to believe. This may be just what the doctor ordered for this struggling bullpen.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Mystery and A Change In Philosophy Needed.

The Pirates, despite their 10-game losing streak, open up an interesting part of their schedule when they host the Seatle Mariners tonight at PNC Park. They play 20 of their next 29 games at home. Granted their home record has not been anything to write home about, but it’s nice to be home for that many games. They only play 9 games against teams with winning records and 6 of those games are home. If there was any time to right the ship and at least have a season where they finish close to .500 this is it.

In order for that to happen, the Pirates need a change of philosophy. They need to become more aggressive on the offensive side of the ball. When the Pirates got off to that hot start last year one of the things they did was to take advantage of the new rule change and tried to steal a lot of bases. When they went through a phase where they were getting caught stealing, they went into a shell that they have never come out of. Right now, they are 18th in baseball in stolen bases. They have stolen 72 bases and have been caught only 14 times for a success rate of 83%. That is way over 75% which is considered the parameter for making stolen bases a positive impact. The Pirates need to be more aggressive at the plate. In my view they take way too many strikes. In the most recent series against the Padres and I know this is only 3 games, they took 23, 29, 31 strikes each game. Compare that with the Padres who took 22, 22, and 18 strikes per game. The first game was about the same, but it was dramatically less in game 2 and 3. In game 2 the Padres had more situational takes because Luis Ortiz was working from behind so much. The Pirates took most of their strikes early in the count. During the series rookie sensation Jackson Merril took only one strike for all three games. The Pirates need to start swinging at more strikes. I know the idea is to get the opposing pitchers pitch count up but there may be a hidden advantage of being more aggressive on pitches in the zone. If his count his low, then you may have more of a chance to see the same pitcher for the third or even fourth time which has been shown to be an advantage for the batter. The Pirates need to start swinging at strikes. The Pirates need to play Ji Hwan Bae more just to see what he can do and get the running game going again.

What is it with the starting rotation and fastball velocity. Beginning in 2022 almost every starting pitcher the Pirates have had that has a mid to upper 90 fast ball, loses velocity the longer he pitches for the Pirates. It is even happening to the great Paul Skenes. In his last outing he did not have one fast ball that touch a 100 MPH. In fact, there were one or two fastballs that were 96 MPH. In his first outing he through numerous fastballs that touched 100-101 MPH. I am not going to go through the numbers, but you can look it up, beginning with Roansy Contreras, Luis Ortiz, Jarred Jones, and Mitch Keller. They have all had drops in velocity from when they debuted with the Pirates. There was year that during a winter workout that Keller was throwing close to 99 MPH. He has not come close to that during the regular season. In his last outing he rarely touched 94-95 MPH. Most of his “fastballs” were 92-93 MPH. Most of these drops in velocity are anywhere from 1-3 MPH. The poster child for this phenomenon is Luis Ortiz. When he came up at the end of 2022 his fastball regularly hit 99 MPH and once in a while touched a 100. Last year his velocity mysteriously went down to 95-97 MPH and although it has gone back up to 97-98 at times, he is still not touching 100 MPH. Now if this is some kind of plan or philosophy of the Pirates’ coaching staff to help save the arms of the starters, that may not be such a bad idea, but they sure aren’t talking about it. You do not see this drop off in any of the relievers. Even though he has had some rocky outings David Bednar’s fastball is clocking in at 98-99 MPH. Could it be some flawed training method the Pirates are doing with their starting pitchers. Whatever it is, it is definitely a mystery. Keep a close eye on Paul Skenes tonight and see if he hits 100 MPH on any of his pitches. If he doesn’t, we may be watching the destruction of a starting rotation by the Pirate management team. The game is on Apple TV. I can see the documentary coming soon.

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Pirates Morning Report: Tenth Loss In A Row, A No Doubter

Final Score: Pirates 2 Padres 8

Why The Pirates Lost: This one was over in 3 innings. Mitch Keller got beat up to the tune of 8 runs on 8 hits, walking 2 and striking out 3. He gave up all of the runs in the first 3 innings. The bats were silent as usual, scoring 2 runs for a grand total of 3 runs for the series. The Pirates have lost 10 games in a row and this 10th one was no heartbreaker.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the bottom of the 1st the Padres jumped right on Keller. Luis Arraez singled on the 4th pitch of the game and immediately stole 2nd. Jurickson Profar on the 9th pitch of the game hit a hot smash down first that Connor Joe was able to stop but not hold on to, and the Padres had 1st and 3rd with no outs. On the 12th pitch of the game Jake Cronenworth hit a home run and before you could say 10 game losing streak the score was 3-0 Padres. The Padres added a run in the 2nd. They broke it open in the 3rd with 4 runs that saw Keller walk the first two batters of the inning and then on consecutive pitches give up a triple and a home run. A sad end to a very sad road trip.

The Next Game: Tomorrow night, the Mariners in Pittsburgh. Tomorrow I am going to look at a mystery about the starting rotation and what I think is a major problem with this team.

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Pirates Morning Report: Nine Hits, No Runs, Nine Losses

Final Score: Pirates 0 Padres 3

Why The Pirates Loss: Oneil Cruz and Bryan Del La Cruz both made errors on routine plays which led to 2 unearned runs. David Peralta’s solo home run in the bottom of the 5th would have been enough to win with these incompetent bats. The Pirates did get 9 hits but could not get a run because they struck out 15 times, hit into 2 double plays, left 8 men on base, and were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. In one stretch of the game 7 of the 9 outs were strike outs. For the two games in San Diego the Pirates have 1 run on 16 hits and 3 walks. They have out hit the Padres both games. Luis Ortiz while he only walked 2 batters seemed like he was working from behind on every batter. It took him 91 pitches to get through 5 innings. The big news is Ben Heller pitched another 2 scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 16.50. The ninth loss in a row would not be a memorable game by any stretch of the imagination.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates put runners on base in 8 of the 9 innings. In two innings they were immediately erased by double plays. In the 2nd inning they had 1st and 3rd with two outs, did not score. The 3rd inning, 1st and 2nd with 2 outs, did not score. The top of the 7th, runner on 3rd with one out, did not score. Top of the 8th, runner on 2nd with one out, did not score. How not to get the big hit in 4 easy lessons. It is a sad state of affairs for this team, as they become firmly entrenched in last place, 2 games behind the 4th place Cubs.

Next Game: Late afternoon, Padres in San Diego. Mitch Keller reluctantly takes the mound for the Pirates this afternoon. He is going up against former Pirate Martin Perez and he does not want to lose to him. Double digit losing streak seems inevitable. Mercifully the Pirates have an off day on Thursday.

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Pirates Morning Report: Turning Losing Into An Art Form

Final Score: Pirates 1 Padres 2

Why The Pirates Lost: It was an offensive failure this time. The Pirates did get 7 hits and 3 walks but could only muster one run. They were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. They had only one inning where they were retired in order. All of this offensive incompetence wasted a fine pitching performance by Jake (If I Didn’t Have Bad Luck I Wouldn’t Have Any Luck At All) Woodford. He gave up 3 hits, did not walk anybody in 6+ innings of work while throwing only 74 pitches. The run he was charged with scored while he was sitting in the dugout. The Padres added a run in the bottom of the 8th thanks to the combined efforts of Jalen (I Don’t Know Why They Are Using Me So Much) Beeks and Dennis (I Told You Not To Put Me In Close Games) Santana. They needed that run, since the Pirates finally scored in the top of the 9th. The game ended on a great diving catch by Padre rookie sensation Jackson Merrill to send the Pirates to their 8th straight loss.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates best chance to score came in the tip of the 6th inning. With one out Oneil Cruz singled to right field. He stole second and later went to 3rd on a wild pitch with Joey Bart at the plate. Bart walked to put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Up steps Rawhide Rowdy (If They Sign Me Again Next Year Then They’re Dumber Than I Think They Are) Tellez. He gets ahead of the count 2-1. Maybe he did not know what the count was because he swung at a pitch that you could have excused if the count was 1-2. The pitch was low and inside and he weakly popped it up to the first basemen for the second out. Isiah (No Relation To Ralph) Kiner-Falefa grounded out to end the inning. The Pirates had other chances. Oneil Cruz led off the 8th with a double but the Pirates could do nothing with that either. It was an artistic loss if you like Greek tragedies.

Next Game: Tonight, Padres in San Diego. Luis Ortiz goes tonight for the Pirates, and he has not looked good. In his last 16 and 1/3 innings of work, he has given up 13 runs on 15 hits walking 7. What is amazing the Pirates have been able to come back and tie or take the lead in every one of those games, so he has not been charged with any losses. If Paul Skenes had gotten that kind of support, he would be 10-0. Will it end tonight? Who knows? Only The Shadow knows.

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Pirates Morning Report: Losing Streak At 7

Final Score: Pirates 5 Dodgers 6 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: For the third time in the losing streak, the Pirates could not hold the lead going into the last inning. David Bednar was the pitcher for all 3 times. It is time to look for another closer. Another mismanaged game by The Shadow, in more ways than one. Kyle Nicholas threw 3 pitches in the bottom of the 7th. He should have come out for the 8th inning but did not. This would have moved everybody back an inning and Bedar would not have had to pitch 2 innings. Andrew McCutchen had a big game hitting 2 home runs and driving in 4 runs. Unfortunately, in the top of the 10 with the ghost runner on 2nd base he took all 6 pitches he saw to strike out without swinging at one pitch. The Pirates have finally made it. They are in last place in the Central Division. They are 10-17 against the National League West with 3 games coming up against the Padres. Four of the seven games, they have lost by 1 run and 6 or their last 9 losses have been by 1 run.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Dodgers, with the exception of the ghost runner scoring in the bottom of the 10th, scored all of their runs after 2 outs. In the first inning they had 2 outs nobody on when bam, double, double, single to jump out to a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 2nd, they opened with a single and a double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Barry (It’s Not My} Faulter got the next 2 Dodgers to ground out and hit a short fly ball to centerfield. Teoscar Hernandez lined a double to left to drive in both runs. The Dodgers tied the game immediately in the bottom of the 10 with a leadoff double by Enrique Hernandez. At this point Shelton fell asleep at the wheel again. Instead of intentionally walking the next batter, Andy Pages, whose run is meaningless, to set up a double play possibility, they pitch to him. This at bat turned into an 8 pitch tough at bat that ended on a pitch clock violation to walk him anyway. It would have been nice to save those 8 pitches. Bednar did get the next two outs on a strikeout and pop up. Teoscar (I Love Hitting Against The Pirates) Hernandez singled in the winning run to put the Pirates out of their misery.

Next Game: Tonight, the Padres in San Diego. The Pirates have not announced a pitcher yet to start tonight’s game. I have heard there are no volunteers. Will the Pirates make any hard decisions to help right the ship. Very unlikely, since they have not made any hard decisions all year.

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Pirates Morning Report: Even Skenes Can’t Stop The Skid

Final Score: Pirates 1 Dodgers 4

Why The Pirates Lost: Against 7 of the Dodgers, Paul Skenes gave up 1 hit, struck out 8 and walked one over 6 innings. However, Gavin Lux and Teoscar Hernandez nailed Skenes for 4 runs on 5 hits with Lux getting 3 RBI’s and Hernandez hitting a home run to plate the Dodger’s 4th run. Not making excuses for the Pirates, but this was about as hard luck of a game you could possibly have. The first two Hernandez hits were a blooper and a swinging bunt. Neither hit traveled over 77 MPH and his double traveled only 219 feet, barely fair, before bouncing into the stands. For the second straight game the Pirates out hit the Dodgers but could only score 1 run, thanks to two line drive outs, a spectacular catch by Kevin Kiermaier, and Michael Taylor being picked off first where the Pirates had 3 hits in the inning but failed to score. This all led to the Pirates losing their 6th game in a row and falling further out of the playoff picture. The Pirates are 11 games behind the Brewers so you can forget the division.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates had chances in the 2nd, 3rd, and the 6th and through a combination of bad luck and poor base running could not do it. In the top of the 2nd Joey Bart led off with a single but was doubled off first base when Rowdy Tellez lined out to the 2nd basemen. In the top of the 3rd with one out Michael Taylor singled but then got picked off first base. The Pirates followed that up with two more singles, but a ground out ended the inning. The Pirates started off the top of the 6th with a Bryan Reynolds single and a Oneil (I Did Not Make An Error Today) Cruz walk. Joey Bart smashed one down the left field line that the Dodger 3rd baseman Enrique Hernandez was able to leap up and grab, making a spectacular play. He was not able to double off anyone, but the great play saved some runs. The next two batters for the Pirates made outs and the inning and the game was over. In the 7th they did get two hits and had 1st and 2nd with 2 outs but Reynolds lined out sharply to left to end the inning. They did not mount any more threats and scored their only run on a Ke’Bryan Hayes home run in the top of the 9th.

Next Game: Late afternoon, Dodgers in L. A. Barry Falter again draws a big name as he goes up against Tyler Glasnow. He usually holds his own when he goes up against the big gun of the other team. Maybe the Pirates can get back on track today to just try and get some confidence back. Last night was a typical game when a team is going bad and nothing goes right. Can they stop the streak at 6? Only The Shadow Shelton knows.

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Pirates Morning Report: Keller Gets Rocked, Pirates Lose 5 In A Row.

I know this is mid-afternoon but with the late game and I had an early tee time not enough time to watch the game and give the report but here we go.

Final Score: Pirates 5 Dodgers 9

Why The Pirates Lost: Mitch Keller got rocked for 7 runs on 7 hits walking 2, striking out 5 in just 4 innings of work, while throwing 95 pitches. He gave up 2 home runs, and really got knocked around in the bottom of the third. He gave up 5 runs on a walk, a Shohei Ohtani 448 foot blast, another walk, a Freddie Freeman double, Will Smith single, a wild pitch, and finally a Miguel Rojas single to make the score 6-0. Not what you would call a stellar Keller outing. The Dodgers added another 2 run homer off Domingo German to complete their scoring. The Pirate offense outhit the Dodgers 11 to 8 and did put 5 runs up on the board. Oneil Cruz had a home run and drove in another run and Joey Bart hit a 3 run homer to cut the lead to 7-4 at the time. They did strike out a whopping 16 times. That’s quite a process you have going on there, Pirate offense. When the Pirates lost 13 out of 16 games in mid April it was the offense that fell flat by not scoring more than 2 runs in 13 of those games. This losing streak can be attributed to the pitching staff just falling apart. These last 5 games the Pirates have given up 6, 6, 9, 7, and 9 runs. That’s an average of 7 runs per game. It would be hard for the 1927 Yankees to overcome that.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the big 5 run third inning for the Dodgers it was Will Smith fighting off a high inside pitch, and blooping it 68 MPH down the right field line to drive in 2 runs to make the score 5-0, that really sealed the deal. A luck hit but there were no other lucky hits on some the line shots that were hit off Keller. Not a heart-breaking loss this time as the Pirates fall further out of the wild card picture.

Next Game: Tonight, Dodgers in L. A. Paul Skenes goes tonight for the Pirates and let’s hope that he can stop the slide. The game is on an hour earlier and I do not have to leave as early in the morning so the Morning Report will be back in the morning once again.

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Pirates Morning Report: This Is Getting Old

Final Score: Pirates 6 Padres 7

Why The Pirates Lost: Another bullpen failure with David Bednar blowing his 2nd consecutive save. The offense did it’s job for a change scoring 6 runs on 12 hits, walking 3 times while striking out only 7 times. They were 3 for 8 with runners in scoring position. There was no question Bednar had some tough luck with the swinging bunt single and the throwing error by Oneil Cruz to allow the go ahead run to score, on a ball he should have never thrown in the first place. Bednar was his own worst enemy by walking two batters. Could you have had a more up and down day than Cruz? He went 3 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI. But then, he tried to go to second on a ball that if he would have run out of the box right away, he would have been safe. He did not run right out of the box and was thrown out. The Pirates for some unknown reason challenged the play, and it was easily confirmed. Glasses, anyone? Maybe spend some money and get a better monitor. If things would have played out as they did, Cruz’s base running blunder cost the Pirates a run The throwing error in the 9th ended his day on the downside. Now they have Colin Holderman on the 15 IL with a wrist strain. When in the hell, did he do that. He was never taken out of any game for it. Has he been pitching with this wrist problem and is that the reason he has been getting banged around to the tune of an 11.37 ERA over his last 7 appearances. Did he not say anything, or did they know he was pitching with an injury? It does make you wonder.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The 9th inning again, as Bednar came in to protect the one run lead. Xander Bogaerts started the inning with a little dribbler down the 3rd base line for a single. A tough break. Bednar walks Jackson Merrill on 4 pitches all high and away. So much for a short memory. He strikes out David Peralta. Ha Seong Kim was the next batter. He is having a down year. Hitting in the .220’s, he is having a below league average offensive year. This is the guy you have to challenge. Instead, Bednar after getting a lucky called 1st strike, throws four straight pitches that do not even come close to the strike zone and walks the bases loaded. Kyle Higashioka hits a slow roller to 2nd and Cruz makes the throw he shouldn’t, and the Padres grab the lead for the 2nd straight game in the 9th inning. Bednar gives up a double to Luis Arraez to give the Padres an insurance run that it turned out they needed to win the game 7-6.

Next Game: Tonight, the Dodgers in LA. The 1-5 homestand just about puts a cap on this season. There is still a long way to go, and teams can turn things around. If the Pirates go 3-3 on this road trip it will be a miracle. Will the Pirates do anything to right the ship. There isn’t a lot they can do, now that the trade deadline is way gone. If nothing else, let’s hope that Ben Heller can lower his 49.50 ERA. Come on Ben we will be pulling for you. We need a feel-good story.