Tag: pittsburgh

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Pirate Morning Report: Despite Embarrassing Offense Pirates Split 2 Games

Final Scores: Saturday Pirates 4 Giants 3 in 10 innings

Sunday Pirates 2 Giants 3

Why The Pirates Split: They were able to pull out one game because of a big 10th inning where Bryan Reynolds hit a 2-run homer, followed by Ke’Bryan Hayes’ first home run of the season to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead, that they barely held on to, winning 4-3. The Pirates “played” 18 innings of baseball and put up these offensive (as in stinks) numbers, 3 runs, 14 hits, 11 of them singles, 4 walks, 20 strikeouts, leaving 15 men on base. They were 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position. What is amazing about this decrepit, anemic hitting is that they just keep doing the same thing over and over again. They take strikes and swing at balls. Henry Davis is the leader in this group. Right now, he does not look like he can hit Little League pitching he looks so lost. Why is he playing? The Pirates are very fortunate to be only one game below .500 at this point of the season.

Key Moment Of The Games: On Saturday, the back to back home runs in the top of the 10th the Pirates hit that accounted for 3 of the 6 runs that they scored all weekend. This gave them the much needed victory. On Sunday, in the top of the 5th, the Pirates had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out and could only score 1 run. Of course, you can’t expect the Pirates to do situational hitting when they cannot hit at all.

Next Game: Tonight, the A’s in Oakland. Barry (It’s The Batting Coach’s) Falter is taking the mound for the Pirates. Will this offense ever hit again? They have lost 10 of their last 13 games. With the exception of one loss, the offense has been responsible. Their next 9 games are against teams that have a record of 29-56. It’s early but this could be the key to the season. I think 3 series wins is essential.

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Pirates Morning Report: Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Final Score: Pirates 9 Phillies 2

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirate offense got well today hitting 3 home runs and scoring 9 runs. They touched up the Phillies ace Zack Wheeler for 5 runs in just 5+ innings of work. The offense wound up having quite a line, scoring 9 runs on 10 hits, walking 6 times and striking out a whopping 15 times. Oneil Cruz and Michael Taylor led the way striking out 4 times each. The other odd thing was that the top of the order went 0 for 10 with 6 strikeouts. The 3 through 6 hitters picked up the slack, going 8 for 17 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI’s. Mitch Keller pitched not a great but solid 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 8 hits walking no one and striking out 4. Trea Turner was his nemesis hitting a home run and knocking in the other run with a 2 out single. Through 5 innings this was the tight pitching duel that was expected. Despite having an error, the Pirate defense had one of their better games turning 3 double plays and making numerous good plays in both the infield and the outfield.

Key Moment Of The Game: Through 5 innings the Phillies were leading 2-1 and Zack Wheeler was mowing them down. In the top of the 6th, Ke’Bryan Hayes reached first base on an error by the Phillies 3rd baseman when a routine ground ball went right under his glove. Then Rowdy Tellez walked. McCutchen blooped a ball into centerfield and the Pirates had the bases loaded with no outs. Up stepped Jack Suwinski who had not gotten a hit in about his last 12 at bats. On the second pitch, he laced one 106+ MPH into the right field stands for a grand slam and the Pirates suddenly were ahead 5-2, knocking Wheeler out of the box. Later in the same inning Joey Bart launched one into the left field seats and the Pirates now led 6-2. The Pirates added one in the 8th, and McCutchen hit his 300th home run with a man on in the 9th to make the final 9-2. The bullpen pitched a stress free final 2 innings and the Pirates are 11-5.

Next Game: Tonight, the Mets in New York. Martin Perez will start for the Pirates and has had a great start to the season with an ERA of 1.89. The Pirates continue to surprise. When you think they are forfeiting a game by letting Bailey Falter start his 2nd game he essentially pitches a no hitter for 6 innings and the Pirates win. When the Phillies send their ace to the mound to face the slumping Pirate bats, they score 9 runs and hit 3 home runs. These are surprises I can deal with all year. The road trip is 2-2 and now 3-4 seems very realistic.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Phillies Giving A Helping Hand.

Final Score: Pirates 5 Phillies 2

Why The Pirates Won: Thanks to the powers to be, it was a game the Pirates could not have lost, even if they tried. As we all know, thanks to Greg Brown, the Pirates are trying to win games. The Phillies, not the Pirates, had a big hand in the Pirates ability to score. In the 2nd inning the pitcher, Christopher Sanchez was totally responsible for the Pirates 1st run. A walk, an error by Sanchez on a routine come backer to the mound, and two more walks accounted for the run. In the top of the of the 4th Pirates got two good hits to put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Henry Davis struck out. Connor Joe hit a ground ball just to the right of Trea Turner, but as he went to field it, he slipped and fell with the ball hopping right over him into left field to make the score 2-0. In the top of 7th with runners on 1st and 3rd with one out, Ke’Bryan Hayes took a called third strike, but the Phillies catcher J. T. Realmuto was crossed up on the pitch, got hit in wrist and the ball got away allowing in the 3rd Pirate run. It wasn’t until the top of the 8th that the Pirates were able to score runs without the help of the Phillies. The Pirates went single, double, single to score 2 runs and stretch their lead to 5-1. Overall, the offense scored 5 runs on 9 hits and 5 walks. It was nice to see Henry Davis have a good game with 2 hits and a walk, scoring 2 runs and driving in a pair. Barry Falter pitched well again giving up 1 run on 4hits but only went 5 innings for some unknown reason, so the quality start streak ended at 7. He had thrown only 71 pitches. The bullpen did fine but did have one scary moment.

Key Moment Of The Game: Going into the bottom of the 8th the Pirates held a 5-1 lead. Josh Fleming got the first out easy enough but then walked the next batter and gave up a single to the next. In came Aroldis Chapman. Bryce Harper hit a low liner to right field that Bryan Reynolds made a diving catch. To make things interesting Chapman walked the next 2 batters to make the score 5-2. That brought up Brandon Marsh who Chapman struck out looking with the bases loaded and the threat was over. Bednar pitched a clean 9th that you knew he would in this game that the Pirates were destined to win. The Pirates improved to 10 and 4 remaining in 2nd place. Last night things went their way in a big way.

Next Game: This afternoon, Phillies in Philadelphia. Marco Gonzales takes the hill for the Pirates. It’s hard to believe that the Phillies generosity will extend to another game but who knows. The bats really did not come alive last night but a win is a win is a win. The Pirates will take them any way they can get them. The rotation continues to be strong and let’s hope we can ride that into some wins, until the offense can get rolling again. The only negative from last night was that Bryce Harper may be coming out of his hitting funk. That could lead to a bad weekend for the Pirates. Road trip 1-1, acceptable road trip 3-4.

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Pirates Morning Report: Orioles Bulletin Board: Throwing Practice 10 AM Today.

Final Score: Pirates 3 Orioles 2

Why The Pirates Won: This is an easy one. The Orioles committed 2 throwing errors that led to all of the Pirate’s scoring. The Pirates needed some hitting to set up the runs, but the bottom line was the Pirates scored 3 runs on 3 singles. What is ironic is that the Orioles flashed some pretty impressive leather in the outfield and the infield in the last 2 games. Unfortunately, they had trouble throwing the ball after some of these spectacular plays were made. The rotation is definitely picking up as Marco Gonzales gave the Pirates their 4th straight quality start. He went 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, striking out 4 and not giving up a walk. The Pirate pitching staff has not given up a walk in 2 out of the last 3 games. Over the last 3 innings the bullpen of Contreras and Hernandez shut out the Orioles on just one hit. The bats were quiet for most of the game as the Pirates only got 7 hits with 6 being singles. Henry Davis although hitless again, did get a crucial sacrifice fly to drive in a run in the bottom of the 5th. The Pirates won the series and improved their record to 8-2. Thank you, Orioles.

Key Moment Of The Game: It was the bottom of the 9th with Pirates trailing 2-1. The inning started with 2 singles, one by Ke’Bryan Hayes and the other by Jack (I Can’t Believe I Got A Hit) Suwinski to put runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out. Conner Joe walked to load the bases. Rowdy Tellez hit a ground ball to the first baseman and the throw beat Hayes by a mile, but the home plate umpire ruled the runner safe. It is hard to say what happened there. Is the home plate umpire related to Greg Brown. Did he think it was not a force out and the runner needed to be tagged. No matter, instant replay came to the rescue, with the horrible call being overturned to leave the bases loaded with one out. You just had to have that sinking feeling that the Pirates were going to go scoreless with the bases loaded and nobody out for the second consecutive game. This time it was going to cost them the game. Sure enough, Edward Olivares hit a ball up the middle that Gunnar Henderson made a diving stop, touch the bag with his glove and gunned the throw to first to double up Olivares and end the game. Except for one thing, he threw the ball about 5 yards to the left of the bag, and it went into the stands to send both runners home to end the game, giving the Pirates an unbelievable 3-2 win. As Bob Prince use to say, how sweet it is. God, I miss him.

Next Game: Tonight, the Tigers in Pittsburgh. Now that he has seen how it is done, maybe Mitch Keller can keep the quality start streak going for the rotation. Even though it has only been 10 games, it has been one hell of a start to the season. The Pirates have won 3 extra innings games and one 9th inning walk off. In the beginning it was the offense and bullpen and now the rotation is carrying the team. The 3-2 homestand seems like it can be done. Bring those Tigers on baby.

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Pirates Morning Report: Making It Look Easy Despite Misplays.

Final Score: Pirates 7 Marlins 2

Why The Pirates Won: Well, the bullpen did well again. Other than that, I don’t know why the Pirates won. They made enough mistakes to lose this game, but the Marlins managed to not even make this game close. The starting pitcher for the Marlins A. J. Puke, I’m sorry, Puk pitched so bad, that he made his manager puke. In 2 plus innings he gave up 4 runs on 3 hits while walking 6 batters. The Pirates should have scored more runs, but poor base running did them in for the second game in a row. After 3 innings it was 4-0 but you thought the Pirates may have blown it by not taking advantage of all the walks. However, the Marlins perfected the technique for hitting into double plays by hitting into 4 of them. They would have hit into more, but some bad hops tried to save them. Nothing could save the Marlins in this game. The Pirates added single runs in the 6th, 7th, and 8th inning, by getting a few hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly. Ke’Bryan Hayes made 2 errors but again the Marlins could not take advantage. The Pirates got another mediocre start, this time from Martin Perez, who could only go 4 and 1/3 innings giving up 1 run, 6 hits, 3 walks, while throwing 86 pitches. Ryder Ryan went 1 and 2/3 innings giving up no runs and Josh Fleming went the final 3 giving up 1 run on 2 hits and walk. One final note and I don’t know how much this contributed to the win, but the Pirate pitchers got the low-ball strike and the Marlin pitchers do not. Maybe the home plate umpire has some relatives that work at Disney.

Key Moment Of The Game: It came in the bottom of the 5th with score 4 to 1 Pirates. The Marlins had 1st and 3rd with one out when Ryder Ryan came into the game. The Pirates had really let the Marlins off the hook in the 2nd and 3rd by scoring only 4 runs. A big hit here would have gotten the Marlins right back in the game. Ryan shut down the rally by striking out 2 batters on 14 hard fought pitches. The Pirates started adding to their lead one run at a time beginning in the 6th inning to win going away. All Pirate fans should give a big shout out to A. J. Puke, damn it I mean Puk.

Next Game: This Afternoon, the Marlins in Miami. Jared Jones makes his Pirate debut today as the Pirates try to make it 3 in a row over the Marlins. I am not sure if the Marlins really know the regular season has started yet. The Pirates are 2-0 simply because the Marlins have played worse. It had to be challenging to play worse than the Pirates did last night. But hey, we will take it. Hopefully Jones will be able to do something the first two starters could not, give us some innings.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Boredom Goes On.

We are getting closer to opening day and Pirates are basically standing pat with this team. I am not that upset with the lack of real moves, but it would have been nice to see them make a real upgrade somewhere. I have an idea when it comes to writing about the Pirates. Instead of writing about trade rumors, title the articles wishful thinking trades. There is plenty of time for a trade and a good number of free agents are still available. For now, we must assume that the current roster is what the Pirates are going to put on the field. There are some interesting facts about the position players on this team and I will write about what this team must do to make the playoffs. The pitching is deep but already David Bednar is dealing with an injury that is probably going to jeopardize him being on the opening day roster. Everything discussed today will be mostly about position players.

Here is an interesting fact about this team. During the last 3 seasons, there are very few players on this team that have played more than 130 games in a season or catchers that have played 120 games. This has been due to injuries or being sent down to the minors. There are some surprising names on the list. Ke’Bryan Hayes has done it just once. Grandel has not done it since 2019, although he came close last year at 118. Rowdy Tellez has done it once. Olivares has never done it. Henry Davis has not done it at either the minor or major league level. McCutchen has been durable over his career but last year was the fewest games he has played since 2019. You have to wonder how many of these players are going to continue to be fragile. Right now, the Pirates have 17 players that they acquired by free agency or played a significant role on last year’s team. There are only 13 spots on the roster for position players. The Pirates will have some tough choices to make or will they be saved by the mysterious injury and the 25-day rehab assignment. What has to happen for this team to make the playoffs.

They have to avoid the catastrophic injury. Speaking of which, Oneil Cruz will need to have the big bounce back season that everyone is hoping for. To put it in WAR terms, he needs to have a 5-6 win season. It would be nice to see Bryan Reynolds get to that 4-6 WAR season again. He has had a slight decline every year over the last 3 seasons. I do not look at this as an essential part of the picture, but it would be a nice bonus. As long as we at least get the 2023 version of Reynolds it will benefit this team. One of the biggest keys to this season will be can Hayes and Jared Triolo continue the hitting like they did after the All Star break last year. Both of these players are elite glove men. After the All Star break, they both mashed. Hayes slashed .299/335/539, and Triolo slashed .298/.394/411. If they can continue to put up those numbers during the season, then this team could be an offensive juggernaut. Triolo did this while being a super utility player, playing three infield positions and being a plus defender at all 3. If he can hit like he did after the All Star break, I would love to see him settle in at 2b. That brings us to Liover Peguero and Nick Gonzales. Both were negative WAR players last year. Granted the sample size was not the largest, especially for Gonzales, but one of these players needs to step up and show that he can hit Major League pitching. The so-called fragile players need to have a healthy season, at least 80% of them. If Rowdy Tellez can approach his 2022 season that would be a plus barely. In 6 seasons he has never had a WAR 1 or over. This has to be close to wishful thinking that he will have a career year. Pitching looks like the Pirates strength, but we all know how that can go speaking of fragile. By mid-season the Pirates will have 15 pitchers that can be put into the 5-man rotation. The Pirates should be a team that considers the 6-man rotation. The battle for a spot in the starting rotation should be one of the most interesting things of spring training. The bullpen looks really solid with really no weak links.

I was very optimistic about this team last year and thought they would contend for a playoff spot. Then Oneil Cruz broke his leg and essentially the season was over. Over this winter Endy Rodriguez went down with a season ending injury. His loss is not as big as Cruz’s was, but it is still significant. This teams pitching is so deep that you would think that they have to contend for a playoff spot this year. On the other hand, I have used the phrase wishful thinking twice in this article. One thing for sure is that April, no matter what the Pirates do, will be a bad month. If the Pirates get off to a hot start, the media will say they did that last year and look what happened. If they get off to a bad start, the consensuses will be that they should have made more moves in the offseason, and they are still the same old mediocre or worse Pirates with a tightwad owner. Probably the best thing for them to do is to tread water for those first 30 games right around .500. Last year they were 20-10 at the 30-game mark. I would not mind seeing that again and be damned what anybody thinks. Bring on opening day, I can’t wait to start following.