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Pirates Morning Report: All Gifts Accepted

Final Score: Pirates 6 White Sox 2

Why The Pirates Won: The White Sox showed why they are one of the worst teams in baseball. They handed this game to the Pirates on a silver platter. Through both mental and physical errors the White Sox contributed to the Pirates scoring in all 3 innings the Pirates scored. Only one of the Pirates 6 runs were unearned but they really did not have to work much to score runs. The Pirates got 9 hits but only 4 of the Pirates got those hits, with Reynolds getting 4, and McCutchen and Hayes getting 2 each. I refuse to write the name down of the other Pirate that got a hit, I just can’t do it. Luis Ortiz had another strong outing giving up 1 run on 4 hits, walking 1, striking out 5, but he had to throw94 pitches to go 5 and 2/3 innings. The bullpen gave up another run in the 8th and the score was 3-2 Pirates going into the top of the 9th. Then the White Sox said Merry Christmas Pirates.

Key Moment Of The Game: Conner Joe started off the 9th with a 5 pitch walk. Yasmani Grandal hit a double play ball right to the first basemen but then he threw high to second and everybody was safe. Joey Bart walked on 4 pitches to load the bases. Bryan Reynolds wasted no time lining a single to right field on the second pitch to give the Pirates a 5-2 lead. Oneil Cruz hit a sacrifice fly to get his second RBI of the game without getting a hit to make it 6-2. The Pirates scored 3 runs on just one hit, thank you White Sox. The Pirates were so confident that they brought in Dennis Santana to pitch the 9th and he showed he was up to the task by retiring the White Sox in order.

Next Game: This afternoon, White Sox in Chicago. The Pirates have won 3 in a row. Hard to believe. If they win today they will be 48-48 at the All Star break. Hard to believe. The only question remains will the White Sox help us out again.

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Pirates Morning Report: Beating The White Sox

Final Score: Pirates 4 White Sox 1

Why The Pirates Won: Marco Gonzalez, doing his best Colin Holderman impression, scattered 7 hits over the first 4 innings only giving up 1 run. His friend was the double play ball as he induced the White Sox to ground into 2 of them to help get him out of jams. The bullpen took over in the 6th and shut the White Sox down, with the exception of Colin Holderman doing his best Colin Holderman impression, by allowing the first two batters to reach base in the bottom of the 8th. Again, the double play ball came to his rescue, and he got out of the inning with no runs scoring. The offense was able to put 2 good innings together so the Pirates could win the opening game of the series against the pathetic White Sox.

Key Moments Of The Game: Going into the top of 5th the Pirates had gotten just one hit. In the top of the 5th the bottom half of the order, be still my beating heart, manufactured 2 runs. Ke’Bryan Hayes singled to start the inning. Then Joey Bart got one of the most missed strike calls of the year. On a ball that was well inside the strike zone but was called a ball, that was completely lost in the action, because Hayes tried to steal 2nd on the 3-2 pitch. The ball was thrown into centerfield and Hayes advanced to third. Now Hayes would have scored on the Triolo (Another miracle) single, but the Michael Taylor sacrifice fly should have been the 3rd out of the inning. I guess this is what happens to you, when you are one of the worst teams in baseball. The Pirates added 2 more runs in the top of the 6th and the umpires didn’t help at all this time. In typical Pirate fashion they only got 2 hits in the last 3 innings. They still have a shot at the sweep.

Next Game: This afternoon, White Sox in Chicago. Rumor has it that Greg Brown was late getting to the radio booth because he went to Wrigley Field first but I can not confirm that. Luis Ortiz is taking the mound today for the Pirates and the poor bastard is pitching on only 5 days rest. I hope he will be able to hold up against such an elite lineup. I know the Pirate “brain trust” will be keeping a close eye on him in the early innings to see if he is showing signs of fatigue. The pressure is unbearable.

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Pirates Morning Report: Making 2024 Bearable

Final Score: Pirates 1 Brewers 0

Why The Pirates Won: Two words, Paul Skenes. He is making this disappointing season worth watching. In a remarkable performance Skenes went 7 innings, gave up 0 runs, 0 hits, walked 1, hit a batter, struck out 11, while throwing 99 pitches. What was amazing that after 3 innings he had thrown 62 pitches. At the time I thought he would be lucky to get through 5 innings. He made it through 7 in under a 100 pitches. Of course with this putrid offense the score was tied going into the 7th. We managed to get a run in the 7th and we held on to win and take the series.

Key Moment Of The Game: Colin (How In The Hell Does He Do It) Holderman came into the game in the top of the 8th. He ended the no hitter suspense right away giving up a single on his 2nd pitch of the inning. Holderman gave up another hit to put runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. He struck out Andruw Monastario on 4 pitches getting him to chase on two of them, thank you very much. He struck out Brad Perkins on 5 pitches. He walked Brice Turing on 7 pitches with only 2 being in the strike zone to load the bases. He got out of the inning by striking out William Contreras on 5 pitches with one of them in the strike zone. He faced 4 batters, struck out 3, walked 1 and only threw 6 pitches out of 21 in the strike zone. WOW! Aroldis Chapman pitched a clean 9th to pick up the save and someway, somehow the Pirates took the series from the 1st place Brewers.

Next Game: Tonight, White Sox, in Chicago. Greg Brown called the stadium to make sure the Pirates are playing the White Sox and not the Cubs. The White Sox are 27 and 68. How many ways will the Pirates find to lose 2 out of 3 to them. We will start counting tonight.

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Pirates Morning Report: Brewers Return The Favor

Final Score: Pirates 0 Brewers 9

Why The Pirates Lost: The offensive blues returned. The Pirates had 5 innings where they were retired in order. They were 1 for 3 with runners in scoring position and that was all in the same inning. They only left 4 men on base. They hit more home runs in the game before than they got hits in this one. On the pitching side Martin (The Hell With His Arm) Perez toiled for 4 and 2/3 innings giving up 5 runs on 9 hits walking 3, striking out 5 while throwing 107 pitches. His ERA is now over 5. The bullpen gave up 4 runs in 2 and 1/3 innings to round out a great game for the Pirates. At least they didn’t make any errors other than showing up at the ballpark.

Key Moments Of The Game: In a game like this there are not many key moments, but the Brewers scored their first 5 runs after 2 were out. They scored 2 in the first, 2 in the 4th, and 1 in the fifth. The Pirates made some noise in the top of the 7th when Rowdy (I Never Hit This Well In My Life) Tellez legged out a double to lead off. One out later Josh (We Have A Lot Of Energy When I’m In The Game) Polacios singled to left. According to Greg Brown, Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a sharp, but really only 75 MPH, ground ball that Rhys (What Kind Of Spelling Is That) Hoskins made a nice play on to turn it into an inning ending double play.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Milwaukee. Paul Skenes goes today, so we do have a legitimate shot at taking the series, but I am sure that Shelton is going to have a goofy lineup. Maybe lead off with Hayes and bat Grandal 2nd. I really do wish that they would just lose these last 4 games so they can sell and maybe find some good young hitters. However, if this organization was capable of finding good young hitters, then I guess they would have done so by now.

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Pirates Morning Report: Breaking Open Another One.

Final Score: Pirates 12 Brewers 2

Why The Pirates Won: For the second time in five games the Pirates brought out the long ball. They hit five home runs including a grand slam by Joey (Don’t Ever Say My Name Rhymes With Fart) Bart to break the game open in the top of the 6th inning. Quinn Priester pitched one of his better games of the year. Starting in the 2nd inning he gave up 2 runs, 1 earned, 4 hits, walking 2, striking out 8 in 6 innings of work. Four of those innings the game was close. The other thing the Pirates learned last night is if you have a 10 run lead to protect, Dennis Santana is your man. At least the Pirates won’t get swept.

Key Moments Of The Game: Josh Fleming survived a very shaky first inning as the opener. He threw 24 pitches and only 9 of them were for strikes. A double play helped and the final Brewer batter of the inning swung at a pitch way above the strike zone to pop out. Going into the top of the 6th inning the Pirates had gotten only 1 hit, the Bryan Reynolds home run to take a 2-0 lead at the time. Then they turned into the ‘27 Yankees. Reynolds single. Tellez single. Gonzales bad hop single, 3-2. Hayes single, bases loaded. Suwinski single, 4-2. The Brewers brought in Bryse (Love Milwaukee Beer) Wilson. Joey Bart lit up a 2-2 curve ball for a grand slam home run and this game was over. The Pirates had just gotten 6 hits in a row, where many times, they don’t get that many for an entire game. They added another 4 meaningless runs, on 3 more home runs, but I heard that Santana breathed a big sigh when the 12th run crossed the plate.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. Martin Perez will start tonight. Let’s hope he can replicate his last start. Looks like Oneil Cruz may be headed to the IL, but this would be a good time to rest the hamstring with the All Star break coming up. I am in California for the week. That is the reason these are like mid morning reports. Could it be possible that the Pirates will rattle off 7 wins a row to take them to the All Star break. I hear that Derek (The Shadow) Shelton is burning the midnight oil to make sure that does not happen.

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Pirates Morning Report: Met’s Two Out NightMare

Final Score: Pirates 8 Mets 2

Why The Pirates Won: Harkening back to the first two weeks of the season, the Pirates broke open a tie ballgame in the bottom of the 6th by scoring 5 runs, after there were 2 out and nobody on base. Mitch Keller pitched a solid 8 innings giving up 2 runs on 7 hits, walking no one, while striking out 6. It brought this disappointing home stand to a 3-4 end. The Pirates head to Milwaukee and Chicago to get to the All Star break. Hopefully someone has informed Greg Brown that the Pirates are playing the White Sox and not the Cubs. Reynolds and Skenes made the All Star team and if there are any injuries Keller may soon follow. He should be on it regardless.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Mets had just tied the game in the top of the 6th on a 2 run home run by Brandon (Yes Spellcheck Nimmo Is A Name) Nimmo. In the bottom of the 6th the Mets seemed to get a huge break when a hit by pitch on McCutchen was overturned, especially when he made the second out of the inning. Magically the calendar went back to late March and early April. First, the Mets decided to inexplicably make a pitching change and the nightmare began. Reynolds walked. Cruz singled to left. Tellez INFIELD HIT. 3-2. Another pitching change😀. Gonzales doubled. Jeff McNeill fumbled the ball so much that Rowdy (Big Train) Tellez scored all the way from first, 5-2. Wild Pitch, Gonzales scored 6-2. Last but certainly not least Josh (No I’m Not Related To Greg Brown) Palacios homered 7-2. The Mets finally get the third out.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. As I am writing this the Pirates have not announced a starting pitcher, but who cares. Yesterday was a nice win but this team almost has to win all 6 games on this trip for me to feel they have any chance of making the playoffs. My only other glimmer of hope would be if they fired Shelton at the All Star break and that ain’t gonna happen, for sure.

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Pirates Morning Report: Offense Back To Normal, Putrid

Final Score: Pirates 2 Mets 3

Why The Pirates Lost: Even though Oneil Cruz hit his home run in the game before against a left hand pitcher, the Pirate dumb trust decided to not play him today. They did put him in the bottom of the 7th, but without being in the flow of the game he struck out twice against right handed pitching. This offense is so bad that it is unbelievable. Yesterday they were amazing getting only 6 hits and one of those was a single that Joey Bart tried to stretch into a double and was thrown out. This all wasted another great performance by Luis Ortiz who went 6 innings giving up 0 runs on 4 hits, no walks while striking out 5. The way the Pirates think this will probably be his last appearance of the month. The bullpen gave up all the runs including 2 in the ninth after the Pirates managed to scrounge for 2 runs to take a 2-1 lead. The Pirates are five games below 500 which is the most since they were 6 games under on May 15. This is a club that is fading fast. I do not even know if the Chicago White Sox can help this team at the end of next week. The home stand is now 2-4 which is pretty sad. It’s hard to find anything positive to say about this team but I am sure the web site will.

Key Moment Of The Game. It was the top of the ninth, with the Pirates leading 2-1, when Aroldis Chapman came in and came very close to closing the game for Pirates but just couldn’t do it. He walked Francisco Alvarez on 8 pitches after being ahead 0-2. Harrison Bader singled on a 7 pitch at bat putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Miraculously Chapman struck out the next two batters on 9 pitches with 5 of the 6 pitches being called strikes including both 3rd strikes. During the two at bats, he wild pitched one runner to third. This brought to the plate the much traveled 34 year old Jose Iglesias to the plate. In a battle royale where again Chapman got ahead in the count 1-2, Iglesias battled off pitch after pitch to draw a walk after 8 pitches. Francisco Lindor took a 3rd pitch 1-1 slider and looped it into left field to drive in the 2 runs to give the Mets the lead 3-2. Chapman walked the next batter on 5 pitches and was done for the day. I would say it was valiant effort by Chapman, but he came up one strike short. Kyle Nicolos got the last out of the inning but it was too late. Naturally the Pirates did nothing in the 9th

Next Game: This afternoon, the Mets in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller will try and get the split to end this very disappointing homestand. Just when you think this team has had it, they do seem to come back, but I do not know about this time. These were games that were against teams that were slightly above them in the race and the Pirates failed miserably to gain some ground. One has to feel that this season is slipping away.

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Pirates Morning Report: Batting Order + B Squad= Defeat

Final Score: Pirates 2 Mets 5

Why The Pirates Lost: I thought the only way that management could mess up the lineup yesterday was to not play Cruz and Taylor. Boy was I wrong. First why would you bat Ke’Bryan Hayes, who in the last 15 games, has a slash line of .175/203/.246, third in the order. Nick Gonzales should have batted third, with Hayes moving down to 7th or even 8th. Why would you start Josh Palacios a left-hand batter who has seen very little left-hand pitching in his major league career. I know Edward Olivares has not done all that well lately, but that is why you got him to face left handers. If you are going with someone else, then use Suwinski who is starting to show some life. Greg Brown was happy, because Palacios brings so much energy. I have never heard a game end 2 energy to 1 energy. But since Brown is going to Wrigley Field before the All Star break maybe he has. Then the Pirates decided to go with the B squad bullpen despite the fact that this was supposed to be an important game and nobody on the A squad pitched yesterday. The score was 3-2 Mets going into the top of the 6th inning. No Holderman, Mlodzinski, Nicolas despite this being a close game. The Pirate’s bats went back to normal yesterday anyway, so it might not have made any difference.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates trailed 5-2 going into the bottom of the 7th when it looked like the Mets were about to gift the Pirates some runs. A bloop single by Rowdy Tellez and two walks loaded the bases with one out. Then Sleepy Shelton and the umpires decided not today Pittsburgh fans. This is where Shelton should have pitch hit for Ke’Bryan Hayes. Hayes had his typical at bat. Despite having the bases loaded, Hayes takes a pitch over the outer third of the plate that is belt high for a strike. He swings at the next pitch, while it was a strike, was on the outside corner at the knees breaking away. He hit a soft 73 MPH liner that Lindor made a nice play on for the 2nd out. Jack Suwinski pitch hit for Connor Joe, and it was right here that you had to figure that this was not going to be the Pirates day. In what I could only describe as the worst pitch calling I have ever seen, there were 5 pitches that were not even close to strike zone, Suwinski never swung at one, and yet the count was 3 balls and 2 strikes. It was so bad, even Sleepy Shelton realized it and was tossed from the game. Suwinski swung at the next pitch that was low, but who could blame him, ending the threat. The Pirates never came close again and the home stand is now 2-3.

Next Game: This afternoon, Mets in Pittsburgh. Luis Ortiz emerges from wherever he was since he last started. The Pirates, with all their wisdom, have allowed Ortiz to pitch only 2 innings since he had the great start on June 26th, 10 days ago. Who knows what they are thinking? Do you think he might be rusty? He was stretched out. Do you think he still is? Another injury waiting to happen. I hear Dennis Santana may be starting against the White Sox. How long can this management team be allowed to ruin a pretty good team?

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Pirates Morning Report: What The Hell Just Happened

Final Score: Pirates 14 Mets 2

Why The Pirates Won: You can kiss it good-bye, the Pirates went long ball 7 times which accounted for all 14 runs. Bryan Reynolds hit 2 home runs including a grand slam to drive in 6 runs. Rowdy Tellez was not far behind with a solo shot and another grand slam for 5 RBI’s. Paul Skenes went 7 gritty innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, walking 2, striking out 8, while throwing 107 pitches. He won his 5th game without a loss. You never know what the effect of a blowout win will be. Last year a big blowout win against the Nationals seemed to put an end to the Pirates strong start. On April 30th the Pirates fell 3 games below .500. For the last 66 days the Pirates are 28-28. It looked like if you hung around .500 that you would have a legitimate shot at the wild card. San Diego and St. Louis have upped the ante on that idea as they stand 6 and 5 games above .500 respectively. Will this type of win propel the Pirate offense to produce some numbers over the last 9 games before the All Star break. It could be a confidence builder. Michael Taylor yesterday went 4 for 4 with a home run, what else, after seeing only 5 pitches. The Pirates famous for ignoring the hot hitter will probably give Taylor another start against the left hander today. He should continue to start at least until he has a hitless game.

Key Moments Of Game: The first 3 innings looked like the same old Pirates as they scored 0 runs on 3 hits and a hit batsman. When Skenes got nicked for another run in the top of the 4th you figured this game was over, with the Mets leading 2-0. In the bottom of the 4th Rowdy (I Never Heard Of The Series Rawhide) Tellez and Jack (I Can’t Believe I’m In The Big Leagues) Suwinski homered to tie the game at 2-2. This seemed to inspire Skenes as retired 7 batters in a row and 9 of the last 10 in his last 3 innings of work. In the bottom of the 5th the Pirates had 2nd and 3rd with 0 outs when Michael Taylor got picked off third base. Right there the Pirates looked like they were going to blow a big scoring opportunity. Bryan Reynolds unloaded a 400 foot 107 MPH bomb and the Pirates led 4-2. The Pirates blew the game open after that for a nice easy win.

Next Game: This afternoon, Mets in Pittsburgh. Bailey (It’s Not My) Falter what lineup they put on the field, but I hope that both Cruz and Taylor are in it. Maybe a game like this will loosen this team up a little bit. The old saying is hitting can be contagious. It looked like that was case last night except for Ke’Bryan Hayes. It looked like he took the anti-hit vaccine.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Horrible Offense

Final Score: Pirates 2 Cardinals 3 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: Not counting the 2 extra innings the Pirates played 27 innings against the Cardinals and scored runs in just 4 innings. If you go back one more game they played 36 innings and scored runs in 5 innings. This was another game that was lost by the Pirates management team. For all the rest days they give their young players they should have rested McCutchen yesterday. In his last 7 games he is hitting .143. They are battling their division rival in the rubber match of a 3 game series when they put their waiver pitcher in the game in the 10th. Carmen Mlodzinski had only thrown 9 pitches the day before. They used Holderman and Nicolas who threw 23 and 15 pitches respectively, in the previous game. If they were available then certainly Mlodzinski was. The only good news was that Martin Perez pitched a great game going 7 and 1/3 innings giving up 1 run on 6 hits. He came through, too bad nobody in the starting lineup did.

Key Moment Of The Game: It was the top of the 10th when the Pirates brought in Dennis Santana to lose the game. No further words needed.

Next game: Tonight, Mets in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes goes tonight but who cares. This team stinks. The Pirates put Jared Jones on the IL and brought up Josh Palacios. I don’t have any problem with Palacios being brought up but send Suwinski or Triolo down. Why wasn’t a reliever brought up. Big sigh.