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Pirates Morning Report: One Horrendous Inning

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 3

Why The Pirates Lost: Another inept offensive performance and a very badly pitched inning that saw the Brewers score 3 runs on only one ball that left the infield. The offense could only muster 2 runs on 4 hits, 4 walks, while striking out 8 times. They only had 4 at bats with runners in scoring position and of course, did not get a hit. The Pirates went to a bullpen game to give Quinn Priester extra rest and aside from the bad 3rd inning it worked out pretty well. Overall it was a tough loss that sent the Pirates record to 13 -12.

Key Moment Of The Game; This 3rd inning is pretty painful but let’s get into it. It opened with a slow roller to the right of Rowdy Tellez and he was charged with a throwing error which I thought was a bad scoring call. I think the runner would have beaten it out anyway. Even if you think that Tellez deserved the error, the sad thing is, his was not the worst sin of the inning. Josh Fleming struck out the next batter but walked the next and the Shadow Shelton decided to make the move to bring Luis (I Only Pitch Well In Extra Innings) Ortiz. On his third pitch he gave up a single to center field and the Brewers had a 1-0 lead. From that point on a ball never made it on the playing field. Hit by pitch, strike out, Hit by pitch, walk, and strike out, resulted in 2 more runs for the Brewers. The Pirates made it 3-2 in the bottom of the inning on a Bryan Reynolds 2 run homer. It stayed that way until the bottom of the 9th when the Brewers tried to hand the game back to the Pirates, but they wouldn’t take it. With one out the Brewers made two consecutive errors on easy plays to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Triolo flew out to deep right field, McCutchen struck out and the game was over.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller will take the mound for the Pirates today. They need a series win. Keller has had his good moments this year but it would be nice to see him throw a real gem. He might have to if the Pirates are going to win. The offense has scored only 1or 2 runs in 7 of the last 9 games. In the other 2 games they scored 3 and 4 runs but were aided by the other team’s miscues. Will it ever end?

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Pirates Morning Report: The Pitching Takes Over

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 1

Why The Pirates Won: I hang my head in shame. The Pirates, God love em, saw something in Bailey No Falter Insurance that I did not, and boy is it paying off. Last night he pitched one of the best games of the year and surprisingly the Pirates let him do it. He went 7+ innings giving up 1 run on just 3 hits, striking out a career high 8 batters while walking 2. He now has the 2nd lowest ERA among the Pirate starters. The bullpen preserved the win, with Bednar getting his 2nd save in a row. The offense continues to struggle but got just enough to get the win. McCutchen again led off the game with a home run and Conner (I Was Wrong About Him Too) Jo drove in the deciding run in the bottom of the 6th. The Pirates are half way to a sweep and stand 13-11.

Key Moment Of The Game: No question it was the top of the third. The Pirates were leading 1-0 and Falter had only given up a walk. The Brewers would get their only 2 hits, until Gary Sanchez led off the 7th with a home run. Unfortunately they got those 2 singles back to back to put runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out. Just like the previous game the Brewers could not get the job done. Falter bore down and got the big strike out. He got Contreras to bounce back to him to get the runner on 3rd in a run down for the 2nd out. Willy Adames grounded out to Oneil Cruz who made a solid play and the inning was over. For the next 4 innings Falter faced the minimum amount of batters, thanks to a double play, and took the game into the 8th inning.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Apparently the Pirates are going with Josh Fleming to start the game. I would assume they may be piggybacking him with Quinn Priester but I really can’t find any info. It will be another game where you hope the Pirate offense may break out. We need this sweep.

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Pirates Morning Report: McCutchen Leads The Way

Final Score: Pirates 4 Brewers 2

Why The Pirates Won: They finally put a lead off hitter in the top spot in Andrew McCutchen. He promptly led off the game with a home run to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. He got on base 2 more times and lit a spark for this team. Oneil Cruz had a big game going 3 for 4 and getting the big 2 out hit in the 6th inning that eventually provided the margin for victory. Jarod Jones pitched another solid 6 innings giving up only 1 run on 4 hits striking out 7, while walking 2. The bullpen had its shaky moments but was good enough to preserve the win. The losing streak is over and they beat the division leading Brewers.

Key Moments Of The Game: There was no question that Cruz’s hit in the 6th was huge, but it was the inability of the Brewers to get the big hit and take advantage of the Pirates generosity that proved to be the difference. The Brewers loaded the bases twice, once with 2 outs and the other with one out and could only produce 1 run. With one out in the top of the 8th Aroldis Chapman walked the bases loaded on 13 pitches. On came Hunter (I Know I Can Do It This Time) Stratton and by God he did. He got the next two Phillies batters to each hit weak ground balls, getting out of the inning with only one run scoring. Bednar gave up one hit in the 9th to seal the deal and the Pirates are 12-11.

Next Game: Tonight, the Brewers in Pittsburgh. Bailey Falter will take the mound and after the disastrous first start has pitched surprisingly well. Let’s hope that it will continue and the Pirates can find even more offense. For God’s sake keep McCutchen in the lead off spot and put Henry Davis back on the bench or a bus. A Brewers sweep while not a necessity, would sure be nice.

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Pirates Morning Report: Total Team Failure

Final Score: Pirates 1 Red Sox 6

Six Game Synopsis: A little different format today because the last two games had an eerie similarity to them. This time it was the bottom of the 4th and the top of the 5th, instead of the bottom of the 5th and top of the 6th. The Pirates trailed 2-1 going into those half innings. In a nutshell the Pirates hit the ball hard and came up with nothing. There was even a diving catch involved in both innings by the left fielder. In the top of the 5th the Red Sox added 2 runs to pad their lead with the 2 runs scoring on a little bloop down the left field line. The inning was helped along by a walk and a hit batsman to load the bases. The Pirates have lost 6 in a row to fall to 11-11 and now are in their accustomed spot of 4th place in the division. During the streak the Pirates have scored 9 runs, on 33 hits, walking 20 times and striking out 55 times. On the other side of the coin they have given up 36 runs, on 49 hits, walking 25 and striking out 50 batters. Until yesterday you could have said the Pirates weren’t doing too bad in the field but then the defense decided to contribute to the streak by having a horrible day committing 2 errors and looking lackadaisical. The good news here (I know I’m really stretching here) is that other than Jarred Jones’ 5 inning 1 hit performance, the Pirates have not wasted any good performances. There are no 9-7 or 2-1 losses to be seen. During this streak there are two places where the Pirates have been very bad. The pitchers for some reason can’t find the strike zone. They are averaging 4 walks per game in these last 6 games. This from a staff that at one point had 4 out of 5 games with no walks. The offense has hit only one home run during the streak and that was by home run king Connor Joe. Of course in order to even get singles you have to swing at the ball, which the Pirates seem to have real hard time doing. Finally, there is the Pirates broadcast booth who is on a 22 game bad broadcast streak. In trying to explain the ridiculous way the Pirates are handling Jones and Paul Skenes, they said essentially that they are saving them for the playoffs. In the famous words of former NFL coach Jim Mora, PLAYOFFS, YOU KIDDING ME PLAYOFFS. I JUST HOPE WE CAN WIN A GAME. That’s all I’m hoping for when it comes to the Pirates.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. Jared Jones will start for the Pirates and Derek Shelton said they are going to limit Jones’ pitch count to 12 so get there early. Can they snap the streak tonight against the first place Brewers? Who knows, who cares. Hopefully the coaching staff hasn’t slept well.

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Unwind Slowly

How do you unwind after a demanding day?

Now that I’m retired there are not any real demanding days. I will have really busy days, but there are differences when the busyness is something you want to do rather than something you have to do. A demanding day is often caused by demanding people. When I was that hard working veterinarian leaving the house at 7:30 and coming home at 9PM, which I did 3 days per week, I learned that unwinding is time related. There was no question that some of those long days were tougher than others. It boils down to listening to your body. You can sit down, drink whatever you want, zone out, but the time to go to sleep will be quite variable. When I got home at 9PM, I might get to bed as early as 10:30 but sometimes it might be 12 to 12:30 before I would go to bed. Not ideal when you are getting up at 5am to jog 2 miles before going to work. This was still better than forcing the issue and laying awake in bed for 60 to 90 minutes. When I would go to bed, I would fall asleep in less than 10 minutes. It only took me 15 years to learn this. It’s not how you unwind, but it is how long you unwind, that will make the next day a little more bearable.

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Pirates Morning Report: At Least They Made A Game Of It

Final Score: Pirates 2 Red Sox 4

Why The Pirates Lost: Just more of the same as the Pirate offense was as anemic as ever. They did get 9 hits and 3 walks but could only produce 2 runs which was not enough. They were 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 8 men on base. Mitch Keller pitched pretty well but had a hard luck 1st inning and then gave up the gopher ball in the 6th to do himself in. The Pirates fell to 11-10 but they at least made a game of it.

Key Moments Of The Game: This game boiled down to 2 half innings, the bottom of the 5th and the top of the 6th. It was 2-1 going into the bottom of the 5th. Keller seemed to be breezing along after the tough luck 1st where he gave up 2 runs. Michael Taylor started off the inning with a sharp single to right field. Edward Olivares hit a sinking liner that the Red Sox left fielder made a diving catch. Reynolds followed with a single to left field. Ke’Bryan Hayes walked to load the bases with one out. Suwinski took a strike, took a ball, swung at a strike but then swung at two balls outside the strike zone, fouling one and missing one to strike out. Joey Bart took the first 3 pitches one being a called strike. He fouled off the next pitch,which was a strike and missed the next pitch in the zone to end the inning with no runs scoring. In the top of the sixth after one out Keller walked a batter on 6 pitches. On the first pitch Masataka Yoshida knocked it in the seats and the Red Sox quickly had a 4-1 lead that the Pirates really never threatened to overcome.

Next Game: This afternoon, Red Sox in Pittsburgh. Martin Perez will take the mound today looking to end the 5 game losing streak. Even though he struck out in a big situation it would be nice to see Joey Bart start two games in a row. More importantly the offense has to come out of this funk they are in now. Can we stop this streak at 5? Only the Shelton knows for sure.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Struggles Continue

Final Score: Pirates 1 Red Sox 8

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates have now lost 4 in a row. In 36 innings of baseball the Pirates have scored runs in only 4 innings, for a total of 6 runs. You could have Sandy Koufax and Warren Spahn pitching for you and probably would have lost 3 of 4. Unfortunately for the Pirates they didn’t have anybody close to those guys. Quinn Priester started for the Pirates and continues to have big problems at the Major League level. In 4 and 1/3 innings he gave up 5 runs on 7 hits, including 3 home runs, walking 1, while striking out 2. One of the runs were unearned but the error was made by Priester, which begs the question, should the run be unearned when the pitcher makes the error? Roansy Contreras had a rough outing giving up 3 runs in 2 innings including, what else, a home run. The Pirates are now 11-9 and have been out scored 17- 2 in the last 2 games.

The Key Moment Of The Game: You would have to say it was the very 1st inning when Priester gave up the 2 home runs. Even though it was only two runs you just knew that last night was not going to be the game when he turned things around. I think it is way too early to give up on this guy (remember Glasnow) but he has been super bad, with almost all of his outings averaging a run per inning. He will probably get a couple more opportunities with Gonzales on the shelf. If he can get that one strong start he may be on his way, but right now that looks like one big if.

Next Game: This afternoon, Red Sox in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller takes the mound today but it is the Pirate offense that needs to find itself if the Pirates are going to turn this thing around. But get this, they are going up against a pitcher named Kutter (I Kid You Not) Crawford who at the start of the year was a below average pitcher with a record of 9-15 and an ERA of 4.58. This year he has pitched 21 innings and given up just 1 run, for an ERA of 0.42. Looks like the perfect set up for these goofy Pirates to break out of their slump.

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Jot

Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind.

First is how lousy these writing prompts are. I was looking forward to this one because the Pirates were off yesterday so there was no game to write about. I am working on a couple of golf articles, one on putting grips and the other on the dastardly golf ball that the USGA wants to change, but neither one is ready yet. Then the word jot caught my eye. The definition of jot is to write briefly or hurriedly. This makes the writing prompt seem even worse. Then I looked up the definition of prompt, which is to move to action. Today’s prompt by definition wants us to write something quickly and keep it short. I am out in California right now visiting grandkids, watching lots of grandkids sports and having a great time. It’s early in the morning and another beautiful day is about to begin. Even a lousy writing prompt can’t spoil that. I hope everyone else is lucky enough to have a wonderful day.

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Pirates Morning Report: Going From 8 To 1.5 Runs Per Game

Final Score: Pirates 1 Mets 9

Why The Pirates Lost: The offense continues to implode. They even seemed to get worse as the game wore on. They only had 5 hits, all singles, and the last 13 batters went down in order. On a positive note,the only one I might add, Oneil Cruz had 2 hits. Henry Davis still can’t make a tag at the plate and Bednar got tuned up in 2/3 innings of work. Barry Falter pitched ok with the new standard for Pirates starters, 5 innings and 78 pitches. Hunter (I love grooving pitches) Stratton won the game for the Mets giving up 4 runs in one inning of work. The Mets are looking to get Stratton in a trade so he can pitch batting practice for them. The Pirates are 11-8 and have fallen to 3rd place.

Key Moment Of The Game: Even though Falter pitched ok, the Mets had the break back inning after the Pirates took a 1-0 lead. They did a similar thing in the first game of the series. This time it was Starling Marte who hit a 2 run homer to quickly put the Mets up 2-1. At the time you did not know, that the Pirates bats would become totally inept, although you should have.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Red Sox in Pittsburgh. At the moment no starting pitcher has been named for either team. The Pirates are hoping to trade Stratton to the Red Sox if the Mets deal falls through. I have heard that the Pirates are willing to let Stratton go for 30 rosin bags. Any long baseball season is going to be full of ups and downs, with the Pirates hitting a down time right now. They were 2-5 on this road trip. They now are going to play the Red Sox 3 games and the Brewers 4, all at home. A 4-3 home stand is a minimum but 5-2 would be nice. One final note, the Morning Report will be coming from San Diego for the next week, so it will be more like a mid morning report at times.

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Pirates Morning Report: Offense Sleeps Through Another One

Final Score: Pirates 1 Mets 3

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirate offense essentially slept through another game. They scored 1 run on five hits, with 4 walks while striking out 13 times. Everybody struck out a least once except for Connor Joe. The offense was 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position and left 7 men on base. The Pirates out hit the Mets 5 to 4, but the Mets got 3 of their hits in one inning when they scored 3 runs in the 7th to take the lead 3-1. Jared Jones pitched a solid 5 innings only giving up 1 hit striking out 7, walking no one on only 59 pitches. The Pirates would not let him pitch any further for whatever reason. Luis Ortiz came on in the 6th and pitched a clean 6th inning but then all hell broke loose in the 7th.

Key Moment Of The Game: The bottom of the 7th Mets came alive and the Pirates helped along the way. After getting one out on a ground ball. Ortiz walked Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso followed with a base hit up the middle to put runners on first and third with one out. Joey Wendle doubled to tie the game, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. It looked like the Pirates were going to get out of the inning when the next batter hit a weak fly ball to left and Bryan Reynolds threw the ball into the infield instead of the dugout on 25 hops. Then Shelton took Ortiz out and brought in Jose Hernandez, who promptly balked the go ahead run in. He then gave up a double so the Mets would have an insurance run. The way the Pirates have been looking at the plate, you knew that the 2 runs would hold up. The Pirates went 6 up and 6 down in the 8th and 9th, just to show everyone how pathetic they are right now.

Next Game: This afternoon Mets in New York. Barry Falter will take the hill to salvage one game of this series and have a 3-4 road trip. Other than the last game in Philadelphia the Pirates have really lacked any power whatsoever. They are 16th in home runs at the present moment in all of baseball. Let’s hope we can go 3-4 on this road trip. Any time a club is doing this bad at the plate they are usually breaking the basic rule of hitting. Swing at strikes and take balls. The Pirates are doing the opposite, especially not swinging at strikes. Some of these balls are right down the middle and the Pirates batters are just staring at them. Are you watching this coaches, because if your not, the Mets will be getting the brooms out