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Pirates Morning Report: The Pirates Return The Favor

Final Score: Pirates 3 Astros 0

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates returned the favor by shutting out the Astros. Mike Burrows pitched an outstanding 5 and 1/3 innings. He gave up 5 hits. He struck out 6 and walked no one. He threw only 70 pitches. The bullpen preserved the shutout. Braxton Ashcraft had another solid performance out of the bullpen. He struck out 3, giving up one hit in 2 innings of work. The Pirate offense put 3 runs on the board. They had 8 hits and 2 walks. You could say they scratched out those 3 runs. All the Pirate runs scored on outs. Isiah Kiner-Falefa grounded out to score the 1st run. McCutchen hit a sacrifice fly for run no. 2. Adam (I Was Surprised I Was Playing) Frazier was particularly bad. He came up with the bases loaded in the 1st and grounded weakly out. In the 3rd, with 1st and 3rd and nobody out, he grounded into a double play. This play scored the Pirates’ final run. In the bottom of the 5th, he grounded into another double play. Runners were on 1st and 2nd, and this ended the inning. Fortunately, in his last at-bat, there was no one on base. He hit a soft liner to centerfield. Thank God the Pirates won. He almost single-handedly destroyed the offense.

Key Moments Of The Game: Any time there was a hint of trouble for Burrows, he quickly resolved it. He gave up a two-out double in the 2nd. On the next pitch, he got Jake Meyers to ground out. In the top of the 4th, Jose Altuve led off with a single. On the next pitch, Christian Walker grounded into a double play. He gave up another single. He struck out the next batter. He gave up a leadoff double in the 6th. Three pitches later, Isaac Paredes lined out to left field. Chase Shugart came in. He walked Altuve. He struck out Walker. He induced Yainer Diaz to ground out to third. The Astros never had another threat the rest of the game.

Next Game: Tonight, Astros in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller is going for the Pirates. Veteran starter Framber Valdez goes for the Astros. He is a lefty. This should be the starting lineup and batting order for the Pirates: McCutchen DH, Gonzales 2nd base, Reynolds RF, Endy Rodriguez 1st base, Oneil Cruz CF, Canario LF, Davis C, Hayes 3rd base, IKF shortstop. This puts Pham, Triolo, Horwitz (without the a), and Frazier on the bench. This will not happen. In fact, one or more of those four players will probably start. It is just so sad.

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Pirates Morning Report: Taking Strikes, The Best Way To Score Zero Runs

Final Score: Pirates 0 Astros 3

Why The Pirates Lost: You can’t hit the ball if you do not swing at it. The Pirates made a point of this last night. The Pirates took 27 pitches that were called strikes. The first 5 spots in the batting order took 20 strikes. They were led by Oneil (Throw It Down The Middle I Won’t Swing At It) Cruz, who took 6 strikes on his way to an 0 for 3 night, striking out twice. Bryan Reynolds took 5 strikes on his way to an 0 for 4 night with one strikeout. The top five in the order went 1 for 19 with 7 strikeouts. Just swing at the damn ball. It is not a mystery why they were shut out. Paul Skenes lost his 2nd 8-inning outing of the season. He gave up a home run and two other hits. He struck out 8 and walked one. Dennis Santana gave up a 2-run homer in the top of the 9th. Not that it would have made any difference in the outcome. This gave the Astros a nice cushion going into the bottom of the 9th. The Pirates were shut out for the 10th time this season. Not a good start to the home stand.

The Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates had 2 runners caught stealing in the bottom of the 7th and 8th. They had minor threats in the first two innings. Cruz was hit by a pitch in the 1st. He made it around to third but was stranded. In the 2nd, catcher’s interference and a walk put runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. IKF could not get the big hit. At least he did not take a strike. They did not get a hit until the 4th inning. They only got one more runner to 2nd base the rest of the game. In contrast, Christian Walker swung at the first pitch he saw in the strike zone. He hit a home run to give the Astros a 1-0 lead in the top of the 7th.

Next Game: Tonight, Astros in Pittsburgh. Mike Burrows goes for the Pirates. This must be his turnaround game, or it could be his last start as a Pirate for a while. The last two games for the Pirates have been major disappointments. The bullpen and the offense had major meltdowns. My suggestion for the Pirate batters would be to swing at practically everything tonight. You can’t do any worse. At times this offense has looked as bad as any in the history of baseball. It is not even a statistical thing; they just look bad. I do not see how this is going to change any time soon.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Sixty Game Report

The Pirates have played 60 games. That is 37% of the season. They have played better under Don Kelly. They still have not played the best players in their organization. Their record stands at 22-38. That is 16 games below .500. If they play .500 ball the rest of the way, their final record would be 73 and 89. They are 10-12 under Don Kelly. Before we explore the Pirates’ mysterious ways, let’s first review their performance in key offensive statistics. Then we’ll examine their defensive and pitching statistics.

On the offensive side of the ball, they are tied for 28th in runs per game with 3.23 runs per game. They are 24th in On-Base Percentage. In the comparison stat of OPS+, which takes into account all aspects of offensive production, they are 28th at 81. Despite some recent improvement in the offense, they pretty much stink as a team. Right now, they have three players who are above-average hitters: Oneil Cruz is at 129, Andrew McCutchen is at 116, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa is at 106. At the other end of the spectrum, of the Pirates with at least 100 plate appearances: Jared Triolo is at 36, Tommy Pham is at 47, and Ke’Bryan Hayes is at 57. Hayes does the most damage to the team. He is second in plate appearances and is always batting in the middle of the lineup, even leading off at times. On the defensive side of the ball, the Pirates rank tied for 9th with the Atlanta Braves in defensive efficiency. This is surprising to me, but it is one of their highest rankings in about 15 years. The Pirates rank 15th with 4.20 runs per game allowed. Their fielding-independent pitching ranks 11th at 3.82. In the comparison stat of ERA+, which takes into account all aspects of pitching, including competition and ballparks, the Pirates come in 14th at 106. This is above league average, but it is not elite. The leading pitching staff is the Mets at 135. The Pirates have a ways to go. Their four starters are all above league average, with Paul Skenes leading the way at 194. The Pirates have not been capable of finding an effective 5th starter, but more on that later. Only Ryan Borucki and the now-defunct Tanner Rainey are below average out of the bullpen. Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is an overall player evaluation. It takes into account all of a player’s abilities: how he hits, fields, and runs the bases. WAR is a volume stat. The more you play, the more your WAR will fluctuate depending on how you are playing. Their worst positions at the moment are 1st base, 3rd base, left field, right field, and their bullpen, all ranking in the bottom 10. The rest of the positions are in the middle 10, including starting pitching, catching, 2nd base, center field, shortstop, and DH. Remember, this is just by position, not the player per se. Bryan Reynolds missed significant time in right field. There have been other players playing third base besides Ke’Bryan Hayes. It does show where the Pirates have been bad.

The Pirates have done nothing to handle these issues. At the end of last season, they needed a 1st baseman and a corner outfielder. They needed bullpen help. What did they do? They got damaged goods, a washed-up player, and two mediocre bullpen pieces with one of those out for the season. Jared Jones went down and eventually needed surgery. What did they do? Essentially nothing. The no-brainer move would have been to promote Bubba Chandler and make him the fifth starter. They still did not do it when Carmen Mlodzinski failed miserably as a starter. Now they have Mike Burrows up, and he has been lit up twice. What are they thinking? They are not. They do not do anything to try and improve the club and win games. As bad as they have looked at times this year, there is talent out there that needs to be developed. The Pirates do nothing to do that. They bring young players up and let them languish on the bench. Even when they get their few opportunities, they perform better than the bums they replace. Yet, they still get sent down to the minors. Even though they have played better under Don Kelly, these things have not changed. Who is chiefly responsible for all this? The owner, the GM, the manager, or even the scouting department? The only answer to me is that this organization needs to be completely gutted. Do you ever get the feeling that this team would do better if they were just left to their own devices? Do everything by proxy. I bet they would not have brought Tanner Rainey into a tight game in the 7th inning if it had been left up to a vote.

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Pirates Morning Report: When It Rainey It Pours

Final Score: Pirates 4 Padres 6

Why The Pirates Lost: They must have wanted to. Why else would you put Tanner Rainey into a tight ball game? Rainey should not even be on the team. After this debacle, he has an ERA of 10.57. He threw 23 pitches, and there were 6 in the strike zone. What makes matters even worse is that there were lots of other options. Chase Shugart could have stayed in the game. Obviously, Caleb Ferguson and Braxton Ashcraft could have pitched because they did. Joey Wentz was available. You have to be wondering who is calling the shots. Hopefully, it is not Don Kelly because he certainly pulled a Shelton on this one. The Pirate offense went to sleep the last 5 innings, getting only a hit and a walk. There is not a lot more to say here. This one was a head scratcher.

Key Moments Of The Game: It all boiled down to the top of the 4th inning. The Pirates were rolling. Adam Frazier opened the inning with an opposite-field home run to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead. Of all people, Tommy Pham singled to center field. The rusty Endy Rodriguez struck out. IKF hit a soft liner to left for a single. Oneil Cruz walked to load the bases with one out. Andrew McCutchen, who homered with a man on in his earlier at-bat, came to the plate. He saw four straight changeups and struck out on one that was way low and outside. Bryan Reynolds, on the first pitch, hit a swinging bunt down the third base line. Martin Maldonado made a great play and threw Reynolds out by half a step. The Padres nicked starter Andrew Heaney for another run to make the score 4-2. The Pirates were ahead 4-2. Still, you knew the game was over when Tanner Rainey started the bottom of the 7th.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Astros in Pittsburgh. The Pirates open a 9-game home stand. They play the Astros, Phillies, and Marlins. It was a shame that the road trip ended on such a sour note when it didn’t have to. Still, it was a 3-3 road trip against two quality clubs. It just seems this organization has no interest in winning. They can talk all they want. When it comes to the Pirates, actions speak louder than words. I am not sure that it will ever change. As much as he stinks, it is not Tanner Rainey’s fault. It is an organizational failure.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Complete Win

Final Score: Pirates 5 Padres 0

Why The Pirates Won: Bailey (Just Get Me Through The First Inning) Falter survived another shaky first inning. Alexander Canario made a nice diving catch to save a run with Fernando Tatis Jr. on third base to end the 1st. From that point on, Falter and the Pirate pitching staff dominated the Padres. They gave up just 1 hit and 3 walks. They even did better than they did in the Diamondbacks game. This time they held the Padres hitless for 6 and 2/3 innings. The offense snapped out of a brief slump, scoring 5 runs on 12 hits. They scored single runs in the 1st, 4th, and 5th. They added 2 runs in the 7th. Only Canario and Davis did not get a hit. Davis did hit the ball hard but got nothing for it. He rejoined the 100 club, with his average slipping to .197. Triolo does not feel so alone now. McCutchen hit a solo home run. The Pirates did not commit an error and ran the bases well. It was a complete win. The Pirates are 3-2 on the road trip. It does not get much better than this.

Key Moments Of The Game: After the first inning, Falter pitched outstandingly. Still a little perplexed, he was taken out after 79 pitches, but maybe that is why he is successful. The Pirates never let his pitch count get too high. The Pirates, as usual, are pretty mum on the subject. There was a little concern when the Pirates scored a run in the first. They had 1st and 2nd with no outs but couldn’t score any more runs. The Pirates had 2-out lightning in the top of the 5th. Adam Frazier doubled. Ke’Bryan Hayes made rare contact with the ball and drilled a single to center to score Frazier. McCutchen hit a homer the next inning to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead. The Pirates added 2 more runs. The Padres never threatened to make a game of it.

Next Game: This afternoon, Padres in San Diego. Bailey Falter’s twin Andrew Heaney goes for the Pirates today. Can the Pirates do a 4-2 road trip? I know we will probably see the goofy Sunday lineup. Rodriguez will probably catch today, which is fine. Things that will not be fine: if they rest McCutchen. They play Triolo and Pham. Will they ever let Salak take the field again? How well is he going to do after this long of inactivity? No question it would be nice to see the Pirates do something special and win this series. Today’s starting lineup will be the first key. Remember, they have a day off tomorrow. It’s off unless they play that secret softball game.

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Pirates Morning Report: We Were Robbed

Final Score: Pirates 2 Padres 3

Why The Pirates Lost: In a game where the Pirates out hit the Padres 7 to 3, they were robbed of a run in the top of the 8th inning. The Padres made the most of those 3 hits by scoring 3 runs. In the bottom of the 4th, they took a 1-0 lead. They scored more conventionally with a double and a single. The Pirates scored 2 runs in the top of the sixth. They got 2-out hits from Bryan Reynolds and Spencer Horwitz to take the 2-1 lead. The Padres scratched out 2 runs with only one hit in the bottom of the 6th. Mitch Keller walked lead-off hitter Fernando Tatis. Tatis was running when Luis Arraez doubled down the left field line. Tatis scored easily to tie the game. Arraez took third on a rather short fly ball to right field. He scored on a ground ball that slightly handcuffed Adam Frazier. It was just enough to make the throw late, and Arraez scored the deciding run of the game. Mitch Keller is becoming the hard-luck pitcher of the year. He went 6 innings, giving up 3 runs on just 3 hits. He walked 2, but the second one really came back to haunt him. Keller’s record dropped to 1-7. His ERA+ is 115, which is one of the highest of his career. This was a real hard-luck loss for the Pirates. It did not help that they struck out 14 times, including 6 times in a row at one point. Let’s get to that fateful 8th inning.

Key Moment Of The Game: The inning started out benign enough. Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out, and Oneil Cruz flied out to start the inning. McCutchen doubled. Bryan Reynolds and Spencer Horwitz walked to load the bases. This brought up Henry Davis, who had had a rough go of it to this point. He had struck out twice and popped out to third base. Things were about to get even worse. He fouled off two pitches. He took three pitches well out of the strike zone. This worked the count to 3-2. The sixth pitch was low by a good ball and a half. The umpire called it a strike. Instead of a walk forcing in a run and tying the game 3-3, the inning was over. It was a horrible call. This is why the electronic strike zone should be in the game. These umpires today really botch up the balls and strikes in each direction. The Pirate bats did not have a great game; there was no question about that. Nonetheless, the score should have been at least 3-3 going into the bottom of the eighth. Not a good way to lose a game.

Next Game: Tonight Padres in San Diego. The Pirates lost the opening game of the Diamondbacks series and came back to win the series. The Padres will have to face the left-handed clones Falter and Heaney in the two games. Hopefully, the Pirates can win at least one game and have a .500 road trip. The offense needs to get back on track fast. They need to score at least 5 runs tonight. That will make you feel that the previous 2 games were not just a fluke. Don Kelly got ejected for the 3rd time in his short career. It was on the Davis strike call. Maybe he will catch Bobby Cox. Just 159 to go.

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Pirates Morning Report: Skenes Close To 2024 And Some Interesting Decisions Coming Up

Paul Skenes is right back in Cy Young contention. His 2025 numbers are right around last year with the exception of strike outs per 9 innings where he is a full 2 less than last year. He seems to have his command back with walks per 9 the same as last year. In recent starts he has relied more on his fastball and has touched 100 MPH at times. In the National League he is second for qualifying pitchers with an ERA+ of 195. Only Yamamoto of the Dodgers is ahead at 198. As long as he remains healthy I think he will get even better as the year rolls on and win the Cy Young just like everyone thought he would.

Some Pirates are getting healthy and others are performing very well in AAA. The latter does not seem to make much difference to the Pirates when giving promotions. You have to wonder if the Pirates will try to keep the injured that way to avoid making some tough decisions. These decisions looked a lot easier just 10 days ago. Ten days ago it looked like a no brainer that Henry Davis should be sent down. Now, he is starting to hit and looks better behind the plate. Even before he got hurt I thought Joey Bart and Davis should at least split the time behind the plate. Bart is in the throes of a prolonged batting slump. Bart is now in concussion protocol and Endy Rodriguez is back on the team. If Davis is still hitting what will they do with Bart when he is deemed ready for play. What makes this more interesting is that Rodriguez and Nick Gonzales have not exactly been lighting it up in AAA. Gonzales is 3 for 22 and Rodriguez is 4 for 26. Matt Gorsky has a slash line of 278/.318/.519 at AAA. Malcom Nunez currently on the 7 day IL slashes at .278/.346/484. He is just 24 years old. Gonzales looks to be the next call up. Jared Triolo should be the one sent down when that happens. I have a feeling it will be the little used Nick Solak. He was red hot down in AAA but the Pirates chose to let him languish on the bench while Triolo hits .152. That was after he got 2 hits on Wednesday. Somebody explain this to me please.

The pitching situation is even more crowded. At AAA you have Bubba Chandler, Dauri Moreta, Kyle Nicolas, Carmen Mlodzinski, and Isaac Mattson. The Pirates sent down Mattson instead of Tanner Rainey with his 7.11 ERA. Another explanation is needed. With the exception of Nicolas they are all pitching well. Johan Oviedo will probably start pitching toward the end of June. I have stopped trying to speculate what the Pirates will do. Will they wait until the end of June to bring up Chandler just so they will have one more year of control. The most interesting part of all of this is how long will they put off making any decision unless their hand is forced by injury. This team is starting to show some life. Will this organization finally do something to help them win. I highly doubt it.

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Pirates Morning Report: What The Hell Is Going On? Even Triolo Got Two Hits

Final Score: Pirates 10 Diamondbacks 1

Why The Pirates Won: The offense came alive in a big way. They scored 10 runs on 11 hits and 3 walks. Every member of the starting lineup either got a hit, drove in a run or scored a run. Even Jared Triolo had two hits to raise his average above the Triolo line to .152. The Pirates had 4 extra base hits including Oneil Cruz’s 12th home run that put icing on the cake in the top of the 8th. All of this was more than enough to give Paul Skenes an easy win. He was his usual brilliant self going 6 and 2/3 innings. He gave up no runs, 4 hits, no walks, while striking out 7. This lowered his ERA to 2.15. More on Paul Skenes tomorrow. Two rare days in a row. A big comeback win on Tuesday, followed by a blowout win yesterday. There may be hope for this team after all.

Key Moments Of The Game: After 4 innings the Pirates led 1-0. This looked like it was going to be another close low scoring game for Paul Skenes. In the top of the 5th the Pirates loaded the bases with no outs and Cruz was coming to the plate. Cruz grounded to second. The Diamondbacks completely botched the play allowing the Pirates to score 2 runs. The Pirates had 2nd and 3rd with no outs leading 3-0. The Pirates went back into their old ways and could not score any more runs. Any good feeling the Diamondbacks may have had was squelched by Skenes. He retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning. The Pirates buried them in the 6th by scoring 5 runs. Isiah Kiner-Falefa got the big hit, doubling in 2 runs. The Pirates head to San Diego on a high note. They have a good chance to have a .500 road trip or even better.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Padres in San Diego. For once the Pirates take some momentum into a series. Tomorrow’s blog will discuss Paul Skenes and some interesting decisions the Pirates will eventually have to make. One was delayed because Joey Bart got hit in the head. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Rally From 6 Run Deficit, Not Fake News

Final Score: Pirates 9 Diamondbacks 6

Why The Pirates Won: The offense shockingly woke up in the top of the 8th scoring 7 runs. The bullpen shut down the vaunted Diamondbacks offense by retiring the last 17 batters in a row. Bryan Reynolds came out of his slump big time. He went 4 for 4 with a walk. He had a home run, a double, driving in 3 runs and scoring 2. Isiah Kiner-Falefa only had one hit. It was a big one. His bases loaded double in the top of 8th scored 3 runs to tie the game. Reynolds followed that up 1 batter later with a 3 run homer to give the Pirates a 9-6 lead. Henry Davis who replaced the head injured Joey Bart hit a 2 run homer in the top of the 6th to get the ball rolling. At the time it made the score 6-2. To say that this was an unexpected win is a huge understatement. The one hundred club is down to one member, Jared Triolo. However, Spencer Horwitz is looking to join. Davis and Tommy Pham inched above .200 with each getting 2 hits.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the top of the 4th Mike Burrows was cruising along having given up 1 run on a Corbin Carroll home run to lead off the game. He got the first out of the inning. He gave up a triple and a single to make the score 2-0. Then Burrows became his own worse enemy. He walked the next batter. He muffed an easy ground ball by Carroll that loaded the bases. In came Joey Wentz and his luck got even worse. He gave up 3 singles in a row none of which were hit very hard. Before you could say this game is over the score was quickly 6-0. But it wasn’t over. Wentz got the next 2 batters. The Diamondbacks did not get a hit the rest of the game. Without Joey Bart getting hit in the head with a bat Henry Davis would have never been in the game. The Pirates finally got some big hits and pulled out an amazing win.

Next game: This afternoon Diamondbacks in Phoenix. Today is the unexpected rubber match with Paul Skenes going for the Pirates. Obviously it’s not been a given just because Skenes is pitching that the Pirates will win. There is always hope that a big comeback win will give the Pirates some momentum. Certainly if that is true then they must win today. The lineup should be pretty straight forward with McCutchen back as DH and Davis behind the plate. I hope Triolo is not given a start. We don’t have that much momentum.

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Pirates Morning Report: Shut Out For The Ninth Time

Final Score: Pirates 0 Diamondbacks 5

Why The Pirates Lost: Another offensive debacle. No runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. They were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. It really wouldn’t have made any difference but Andrew Heaney had a bad outing. In 5 innings he gave up 5 runs, 8 hits and walked 3. The one bright spot Braxton Ashcroft came in and pitched a nice 3 innings giving up no runs. But enough of this already. This is just too good to pass up. Going into the off season both the Pirates and Diamondbacks had obvious needs at first base. The Diamondbacks traded for Josh Naylor. They gave up one pitcher for him. His current stats; slash line .287/.348/.444 for an OPS+ 122. The Pirates traded for Spencer Horwitz or as Greg Brown calls him Hor-A-Witz. They gave up 3 players including Luis Ortiz. Horwitz was damaged goods and had to have wrist surgery. Small sample size, but his slash line is .200/.263/.348 for an OPS+ 68. We all know what the big difference is between these players. Horwitz makes around $800,000 and won’t be a free agent until 2031. Naylor is 10.9 million and will be a free agent next year. The Pirates spent close to that much on Pham, Frazier and Heaney. Even if you want to give Frazier and Heaney a little love did they really need them with the young players they have. Absolutely not. This little scenario explains why these teams are where they are. One fighting like hell for a playoff spot. The other trying to avoid another 100 loss season.

The Key Moment Of The Game: Before I get into that the blog will be coming from San Diego this week so it will be mid to late morning. I watched the Padres last night. Again it was such a pleasure to listen to true professional baseball announcers. They make the game so much better of an experience. When you boil it right down there were no truly key moments. The Pirates were never in this one. Yeah I know they had the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the 8th. Really did anyone think they were going to score. Be honest.

Next Game: Tonight Diamondbacks in Phoenix. Corbin Burnes is going for the Diamondbacks. The Pirates have had some success against him but it would be shocking if they have any tonight. Mike Burrows is going for the Pirates. This looks like such a mismatch. Many times you will get surprised. That sure would be nice.