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Pirates Morning Report: All Is Forgiven When You Win

Final Score: Pirates 5 Rockies 3

Why The Pirates Won: Despite some base running gaffes that cost the Pirates a couple of runs, they had a big 4th inning where they scored 4 runs, and held on to win, upping their record to 11-7. Jack Suwinski had the big night hitting 2 home runs and driving in 3 runs. A bold baserunning move by Tucupita Marcano accounted for the 5th run when he came home on a wild pitch that only got about 20 feet past the catcher. This turned out to be nice insurance in the tense late innings. Vince Velasquez, after a shaky 1st inning, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits, settled down just enough to dance through the raindrops for the next 5 innings without giving up a run. He only gave up one more hit but walked 3 to keep things interesting. He only retired the side in order once, although an error in the 6th by Ji Hwan (Boy Did I Have A Bad Game) Bae, gave the Rockies an extra out. All in all, the Rockies left 10 men on base. Grudgingly, I have to give Velasquez credit for a gritty performance over 6 innings. The bullpen kept the Rockies in check the rest of way but not without a little bit of luck. The Pirates missed many opportunities to extend their lead, but all is forgiven when you win.

The Key Moment of the Game: In the bottom of the 8th with the Pirates leading by 2 runs, the Rockies opened the inning with a double and a single to put runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs, against Robert Stephenson, who had just come into the game to start the inning. He got the next batter to strikeout. Alan Trejo hit a rocket on the 2nd pitch, but right at Ke’Bryan Hayes for the second out. Pinch hitter Mike Moustakas on a 3-2 pitch lined a deep ball to left field that Bryan Reynolds made a nice over the shoulder catch to end the inning. Bednar got the save but gave up a 2 out double before striking out C. J. Cron to end the game.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rockies in Colorado. The Pirates will be going for the sweep and a 5-2 road trip. Johan Oviedo will be starting for the Pirates, who has been pretty spectacular after giving up 5 runs in the 1st inning against the Red Sox. He has given up only 1 run in the last 17 innings. This is already a successful road trip and a sweep would just put whip cream and a cherry right on top. Go Bucs!

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Pirates Morning Report: Rocky Mountain High

Final Score: Pirates 14 Rockies 3

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirate bats exploded for 14 runs on 16 hits and 2 walks. Five players had 2 or more hits led by none other than Mark, (No I’m Not Josh Van Meter In Disguise) Mathias with 4. There were lots of singles, but Andrew McCutchen and Jack Suwinski hit homers and Rodolfo Castro added a double. It was very nice to see the Pirates on the right side of a blowout. Rich Hill pitched a solid 6 innings to bring his ERA below the inflation rate. It was a little surprising to see the Pirates bring in Will Crowe in a mop up role the day after he lost the extra inning game in St. Louis. I don’t know if this is a prelude to a demotion or they might have been trying to get his confidence back, but he did not perform that great giving up 2 runs, while walking 2 and hitting a batter. Could he be another future IL member? An unexpected easy win for the Pirates, considering the Rockies were starting their hottest pitcher, to make their record 10-7.

Key Moment Of The Game: Rich Hill getting out of a 2nd and 3rd and no one out situation in the top of the 1st. It certainly looked like the Pirates were going to give back another early lead when Hill got off to the shaky start of giving up a walk and a double to start the game. After getting an out, on a sharply hit ground ball that did not score a run, Hill walked the next batter to load the bases. The he induced Elias ( I Would Still Be The Best Catcher The Pirates Have AT The Moment), Diaz to hit a ground ball down the third base line, that Hayes made a nifty scoop on, stepped on third for one and easily doubled up Diaz to end the inning. Little did we know at the time, the Pirates would explode for 6 runs in the next inning.

Next Game: Tonight, Rockies in Colorado. Vince (Can I Just Pitch Every Game Against The Cardinals), Velasquez will start for the Buccos. It will be interesting to see if he can follow up his good start he had against the Cardinals or is this one of those things, where a pitcher has a hex over a particular team. The Rockies certainly looked in disarray last night. It was more than just the score as they just looked lackadaisical. The Pirates have accomplished my preset goal on this road trip of 3 wins, so any more would be gravy. As we all know just like bacon, everything tastes better with gravy.

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Pirates Morning Report: Looking For The Third Out

Final Score: Pirates 4 Cardinals 5 10 innings

Why The Pirate Loss: Mitch Keller pitched a very odd game. In 6 innings he got the first 2 batters out 4 times. Only twice did he get the next batter out. With the exception of their 4th run, the Cardinals scored all their runs with 2 outs. In the first, after 2 were out, Keller gave up a walk, and 2 singles to allow the Cardinals to tie the game. Then in the bottom of the sixth, there was a Wilson Contreras double sandwiched between two outs, when Lars Nootbaar took a first pitch high inside cutter and drilled into the seats to tie the game at 3. Overall, just an ok performance by Keller as he gave up the 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks, while only striking out 3. The bullpen hung tough, with Colin Holderman getting out of a 2nd and 3rd nobody out jam in the bottom of the 8th, which would have been the key moment of the game if the Pirates had won. Will Crowe came close to getting out of the bottom of the 10th, but just could not get the job done, giving up the winning run with, what else, 2 outs. The same could be said for the Pirate batters. They had 8 hits and 4 walks but could only muster 3 runs in the first nine innings, and one of those was a gift by Cardinals. They were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the top of the 6th inning the Pirates were given a 4th out but could not take full advantage of it. They loaded the bases in the top of the 7th, but could not score a run. In a nutshell, the Cardinals were able to get 2 out hits, as they batted 5-13 with runners in scoring position. As a result, the Cardinals were able to gain a series split, and the Pirates record fell to 9-7.

Next Game: Tonight, Rockies in Colorado. At first glance it would appear that the Pirates are catching the Rockies at the right time, as they are 5-11 and on a 5 game losing streak. However, they are always tough at home and tonight they are throwing lefty Kyle Freeman, who has an ERA of under 1, with 2 or his 3 starts being in Colorado which is a hitter’s paradise. We are throwing up, I mean starting Rich Hill who at 43 may be more concerned with his oxygen levels at the high altitude, rather than throwing strikes. I will be happy if we can come out of Colorado with 1 win. If we do better great, I just hope we avoid the sweep.

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Golf Diary

The Round: Played Black Hawk Score 83 Green In Reg: 11 Putts: 36

The Good: Iron play came around some as I hit 11 greens, the highest number in a long time. Drove the ball ok and over all the driver did not get me in any big trouble.

The Bad: Putting as I was yipping some putts and it was costly. I had only one 1 putt green and that was on the last hole. One 3 putt, with rest being 2 putts. I did putt much better on the back did not have anything to show for it. The ground was very hard and I did not have that many good looks at birdie. It was very difficult to stop the ball on the green. The short game was bad, with some yipping creeping in. I did chip a little better on the back nine.

Luck OF The Round. I really did not have any bad luck but I could not gage the bounce into the green and most of my bounces were not toward the hole. Overall it was just another blah round with no birdies.

Next Round: The weather is going to take a nasty turn but should have 18 holes in by Wednesday.

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Pirates Morning Report: Working Overtime For The Win

Final Score: Pirates 6 Cardinals 3 in 10 innings.

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirate bats came alive with 10 hits, including 2 doubles, 1 triple and 2 home runs. They hit a dry spell in the middle of the game where they did not get a hit for 3+ innings. They perked up at the end picking up a run in the 8th with 2 out and scoring 3 in the top of the 10th when Andrew McCutchen led off the 10th with a home run to score 2 runs. They added another run on a Conner Joe triple and a Rodolfo Castro single. Castro had a big game going 3 for 5 with 2 RBI’s. Roansy Contreras pitched a nice 6 innings after getting off to a bad luck shaky start giving up 2 runs in the first inning. He then, shut the Cardinals down the rest of the way, giving up only 3 hits in the next 5 innings. For the game he had 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. It was a good enough bounce back start for the young right hander.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The bullpen took over the game in the bottom of the 7th and almost blew it. Rob Zastryzny started out the inning by giving up a walk and a single, getting one out on sacrifice bunt. Zastryzny walked another batter to load the bases and was pulled, to be replace by Robert Stephenson. He struck out the first batter he faced, but then walked in the go ahead run. The inning ended on a nice play by Ke’Bryan Hayes to get a force at 2nd. Even though the Cardinals managed to take the lead, it could have been a lot worse. The rest of the game the bullpen was solid, and the Pirates improved to 9-6.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cardinals, in St Louis. Mitch Keller gets the start today as the Pirates try to take 3 out of 4 from the Cardinals. Tucupita Marcano joined the team yesterday as Ji Man Choi’s not too serious injury put him on the IL. I’m telling you he won’t be back until July 4th. Marcano was red hot down in AAA but it will be interesting to see if he can continue this at the Major League level. So far, he has not been able to do so. He is a great fielder, if he can only learn to hit.

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Pirates Morning Report: Untimely Loss

Final Score: Pirates 0 Cardinals 3

Why The Pirates Loss: The Pirates defined the meaning of lack of timely hitting. Everyone got a hit but Conner Joe, but nobody got more than one. There were 7 singles and a double by Austin (I did get a hit in April), Hedges. All of this wasted a very good performance by Johan Oviedo who pitched 7 innings, allowing 1 run, 6 hits, 1 walk, while striking out 10, on only 93 pitches. Just think, if Brubaker doesn’t get injured, he is pitching in Indiana. DUJ came in the 8th inning to seal the deal, but to be fair, the Cardinals just hit the ball where the Pirates weren’t. DUJ has never had an ERA under 4 in his career and it’s nice to see he is right back on track. I still don’t see what anybody sees in this guy. The injuries just keep piling up. Chase De Jong has a back issue and Ji Man Choi has left posterior ankle discomfort. Choi does not believe that it will be serious. He probably won’t play until July 4.

Key Moment Of The Game: There was not one key moment of the game, but the overall lack of timely hitting by the Pirates. They had 7 of their 8 hits in the first 5 innings and had nothing to show for it. Even when they got a hit, it did not turn out well. In the top of the 4th, Mark (I don’t understand why I am in the Major Leagues), Mathias hit a sharp line drive single to right, but Canaan Smith-Njigba, who was on 2nd base, was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. In the top of the 5th, with 2 out, and Austin Hedges on 3rd base, Andrew McCutchen hit a hard line drive to left field that was corralled by Tyler O’ Neill. The Pirates have not had much luck lately as they fell to 8-6 on the season.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cardinals in St. Louis. Roansy Contreras will start today and will be looking for a bounce back start. The Pirates will be looking for that 2nd win on the road trip. It is time to be timely again. It’s too early to tell how Derek Shelton will do this year, but it sure would have been nice to see Carlos Santana or Ke’Bryan Hayes bat when the Cardinals brought in the left hander.

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Golf Diary:

The Round: Played Mt Lebanon Score: 81 Greens In Reg: 6 Putts: 32

The Good: Pretty much nothing. Did hit a few good drives but that was about it.

The Bad: The iron game did regress as I hit almost all of my irons fat. The putting was mediocre and another 4 putt for the second round in a row. The short game had its ups and downs instead of getting up and down. All in all, it was a back to the drawing board round but we will see what the weekend brings.

The Luck Of The Round: No bad luck here I just stunk.

Next Round: Black Hawk on Sunday.

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Pirates Morning Report: Are You Sure That Was Vince Velasquez?

Final Score: Pirates 5 Cardinals 0

Why The Pirates Won: Vince Velasquez pitched a solid 6 innings allowing no runs, on 3 hits, walking 2 and striking out 6. He was aided by some aggressive swings by the Cardinals and some good to spectacular fielding in the outfield. It really was hard to believe that that was really Velasquez out there to tell you the truth. Apparently, he has had previous success against Arenado and Goldschmidt in the past, holding them both under .200. The bullpen pitched the last 3 innings, giving up only 3 hits and walking 1. They added 4 more strikeouts. The Pirate bats were quiet for the first 5 innings extending their no run streak to 14 innings. In the top of the 6th Carlos Santana and Andrew McCutchen put back to back doubles together and the Pirates had a 1-0 lead. They added a run in the 7th on a McCutchen sacrifice fly. In the top of the 8th the Pirates went back to back again, but this time it was home runs, by Connor Joe and Rodolfo Castro to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead. They added a run in the ninth to win easily and stretch their record to 8-5.

Key Moment Of The Game: It was still a scoreless battle in the bottom of the 4th and Velasquez got the first 2 outs quickly. But then he walked the next two batters, and when the Cardinals pulled a double steal, there were 2 runners in scoring position. Tyler O’ Neil came to bat and on a 2-2 count sent a drive deep into the left center field gap. Ji Hwan Bae made a great running catch crashing into the wall to end the inning. If he doesn’t come up with that ball the Cardinals score 2 runs, and the game could have taken a completely different turn.

Next Game: Tonight, Cardinals in St. Louis. Johan Oviedo will start tonight against his former team. Hopefully, the Cardinals will see what the Quintana rental really cost them. The Pirates have 1 win and need 2 more to make this trip a success. Don’t get me wrong if they could win all 7 road games it would be euphoric, but a 3-4 trip would be just fine. Velasquez seems to have a spell over the Cardinals. We will see what he does on his next start against a non-Cardinal team. If Velasquez has found something it would be a huge boon to this team.

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Golf Diary:

Round: Played South Park Score: 80 Greens in Reg: 7 Putts: 32

The Good: Putting made a spectacularly long putt from the fringe on the 1st hole for birdie. Drove the ball pretty well. Iron play improving but did not show up in stats. The course was hard and fast because of an unusual lack of spring rain. Some shots went over the green as they did not hold but the shots were solid and crisp. Short game was ok but did mess up a few chips.

The Bad: Did have a four putt on the 4th green for a double bogey. Overall, even though the score was not all that great I really can’t find a lot of bad in this round.

The Luck Of The Round: Now this is a different story. No breaks today. Because of the dry conditions I had a few drives that looked pretty good, roll into sand traps or under trees. The drive on the second hole which I thought it was well left of the trap, bounced to the right and into the trap. From 140 I hit an 8 iron left and it rolled under a tree. I had a drive on 16 that was cutting back from the left side of the rough, ticked a tree, which caused it to bounce crazily to the left and under another tree. Both of these led to double bogies for a total of 3 for the round. This was a round where I played well enough to break 80 but it was not in the cards. After the long putt on the first hole I thought this was going to be my day. Not so, ball wash breath.

Next Round: Tomorrow, Mt. Lebanon. Things seem to be coming along. This was the best ball striking day of the year. Between the conditions and not being so lucky, the score did not materialize. I played 15 holes 2 over par. Unfortunately, a round is 18 holes.

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Pirates Morning Report: Back To Reality

Final Score: Pirates 0 Astros 7

Why The Pirates Loss: No runs and only 3 hits is never going to win any game. There were a lot of line drives that were caught, and no bloops found any holes yesterday. The Pirates were not destined to win this game. Rich Hill looked like the reincarnation of Cy Young, compared with his previous 2 starts. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 2 runs, on 5 hits, 2 walks, while striking out no one. Hopefully he can build on this performance. The bullpen got racked up in this game. Dauri Moreta had his first bad outing of the season giving up 3 runs, on 3 hits, including a home run, walking 2 and only getting 1 out. Chase De Jong gave up the other 2 runs but at least it took him 1 and 2/3 innings to do it. Rodolfo Castro did not play so the Pirates made no errors. A game to quickly put behind you.

Key Moment Of The Game: The bad 7th inning by Moreta, who had been so effective up to this point. When Alex Bregman hit the 3 run homer, on a pitch that was about as center cut as a pitch could be, to make the score 5-0, Astros, you knew the game was over. No miracles yesterday as the Pirates fall to 7-5

Next Game: Tonight the Cardinals, in St. Louis. Vince Velasquez starts for the Pirates. I see no hope for this guy, but I hope I am wrong. After we go to St. Louis, we are headed for Colorado which is always a tough place to play. It would be nice to see them go 3-4 on this trip which would keep them one game above .500. There is no question this is a tough stretch of games coming up. We will see if this team can keep the vibe going.