Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Pirates Morning Report: Looking At The Young Inexperienced Pirates

With the addition of Adam Frazier, the Pirates have 7 players on their 40 man roster that have over 1000 Major League plate appearances. In the last blog I discussed what I called 4 intriguing players that might help the Pirates. That leaves 11 players that have little or no experience in the Major Leagues. I will list them in the order I think that they will have the best chance of making a positive impact on the season. To show what dour straits the Pirates are in, Jack Suwinski comes in 5th on this list. At the end I will mention a couple of other players, one who better not be given the opportunity to have an impact on the season and another who needs to find himself this year.

  1. Joey Bart, 28 years old. Bart was the most pleasant surprise of the season. In 2024 he slashed .265/.337/.446 which was a big improvement over his previous numbers. His defensive metrics were just slightly below average but he established himself behind the plate as the Pirates starting catcher for 2025. It would be great to see him continue to improve but if he can just maintain those numbers it would be a huge boon for the Pirates at the catching position.
  2. Nick Gonzales, 26 years old in May. Gonzales may not have been great, but he had a decent year at the plate, raising his OPS+ from 66 to 96 in 2024 with 100 being league average. Gonzales is a below average fielder at the moment but that can always improve. Right now, he is essentially the Pirates starting 2nd baseman and they could do a lot worse. His other positive is that he may bring something of value in a trade. There are not many Pirates on this team that can say that.
  3. Spencer Horwitz, 27 years old. The new first baseman. In 425 plate appearances he slashed .264/355/428 for an OPS+ 123 which is better than any Pirate did last year. He is an average glove at first base which is ok. He will have an opportunity to play an entire season this year and if he can just maintain those numbers, he will be another huge upgrade at the position.
  4. Jarod Triolo, 27 years old. Triolo after showing promise in 2023 had a very disappointing 2024. His OPS+ plummeted from 114 in 23 to 71 in 24. He did not have a bad last 30 games but overall his offense was horrendous. He is by far the best glove man of the group with a +8 in DRS over all positions. It would be nice to see him settle in at 3rd base if the Pirates trade Hayes and IKF.
  5. Jack Suwinski, 27 years old in July. Yes, there he is with still a chance to start in right field. As bad as he looked last year, his career stat line is not bad for a Pirate. In 1183 plate appearances his slash line is .207/309/409 for a 97 OPS+. His first two years were better, with last year being a disaster. I think the Pirates messed him up by trying to turn him into Kyle Schwarber by having him lead off for an extended period in 2023. He seemed to never recover from that. On top of all that he is a horrible fielder with a defensive runs saved of -15. I bet you can’ wait for the final 6.
  6. Emanuel Valdez, 26 years old. In 372 plate appearances his slash line is .235/.286/400 for an OPS+ 86. Another below average fielder with a DRS of -5. Why they acquired him I have no idea other than to continue the pattern of having below average hitters and fielders.
  7. Liovar Peguero, 24 years old. He has 227 plate appearances with a slash line of .237/.280/.370 for a 75 OPS+. He has been an average fielder. Expected to contend for a roster spot in 2024 he took a step backward in AAA, where he put up mediocre numbers. He will need to find something this year to stay in the organization.
  8. Jason Delay, 30 years old in March. Delay is a bit of a mystery man. The Pirates have not given him much opportunity and he has not really lit it up, but at times as shown some promise. I would assume somebody needs a backup catcher that they would be able to give a mid level prospect for. Delay is average behind the plate and in 373 plate appearances has a 70 OPS+
  9. Alika Williams, 26 years old in March. Williams has the rep of being a very good glove, but the metrics don’t support that with his DRS being 0 which is average. If he was an average hitter that would be great, but he is not close with a horrible OPS+ of 46. If he is on the opening day roster again, say goodbye to the season.
  10. Henry Davis, 26 years old. Maybe the new hitting coach will perform a miracle with Davis. His AAA numbers have been good to excellent. His Major League numbers have been awful. They are too embarrassing to print. I will be rooting for the guy but I think it is pretty much hopeless
  11. Tsung Che Cheng, 23 years old. He has not played in the majors yet and hasn’t done a whole lot at the minor league level, but for whatever reason the Pirates have him on the 40 man roster. I assume he will spend the season at AAA.

That leaves us two players that are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Josh Palacios who will turn 29 years old in July. He did not see a lot of action last year but did not disappoint. He continued to hit at below league average. If he sees any action this year the Pirates are in big trouble. Finally, we have former no.1 pick Termarr Johnson who will be 21 years old in June. This fall, when you looked at the Pirate prospects, it was projected that he would be brought up most likely in 2025. Now it looks like 2026. He had a good spring training last year but got off to a slow start in the minors, recovered somewhat, but did not really make any strong impressions. With a small sample size, he had a pretty good fall league experience. In 54 plate appearances he slashed .250/.444/.475. Hopefully he won’t become Henry Davis Jr. He will have to take a big step forward if he is going to make the Pirates this year. When you think about trades at the present moment, the two names that are at the top of the list are Ke’Bryan Hayes, who supposedly requested to be traded and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Possibly Nick Gonzales and/or Jason Delay could be thrown into the mix. When the season ended and for most of the winter, there was talk of the Pirates trading for a right fielder. However, when you look at this 40 man roster, the position players are so weak that the Pirates are in desperate need of high level prospects that are very close to being ready to play at the major league level. This has never been made clearer by the fact if you just go on past performance, then the opening day right fielder should be Jack Suwinski. That is how sad of a state the Pirates are in at the present moment, unless you think that Adam Frazier is going to come to the rescue.

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Pirates Morning Report: Four Intriguing Pirates and One Interesting Fact.

The Pirates have done practically nothing in the free agent market, causing fans and the local media to be very frustrated. Frankly I wish they had made at least one splash signing or even a big trade. There is still time for both, to happen, especially the trade. I am the last person to make excuses for the Pirates, but maybe one of the reasons they have done so little is to see how some of their young players may do this year. It is time to put up or shut up for some of these players. There are four of them that I feel have a very good chance to contribute and make the Pirates a lot better, even to the point of contending for the top spot in the division. In order of their best chance of doing so, we have;

Nick Yorke. He will turn 23 this year and was acquired in the Quinn Priester trade. He has had only 42 plate appearances in the major leagues slashing .216/.286/378 with an OPS+84. He has solid AAA numbers with a line of .333/.420/478 in 78 games. He has a very small sample size at the MLB level but he seemed to have a good plate process and was more than adequate in the field. He can play right field the big hole in the Pirate lineup.

Ji Hwan Bae, turning 26 in July. Bae had an injury plagued 2024 with a reluctance of the Pirates to bring him up to the major league level after having spent a lot of time with the parent club in 2023. His career AAA numbers are mind blowing slashing .310/.393/.461. Last year he slugged .504 at Indianapolis. For whatever reason he cannot come close to these numbers with the Pirates. In 489 plate appearances, his line is .231/.296/.304. He should be the no. 1 project for the new hitting coach. If he could come close to those AAA numbers, he would be dynamite at the top of the order with his speed. Even though he has not produced I still do not understand why the Pirates insist on batting him 9th when he does get an opportunity to play. Another player who could play right field.

Endy Rodriguez, turning 25 in May. Many people out there think Rodriguez is going to be some kind of savior for the team this year. It would be great to see him have a big year but the odds are against him. First, he sat out almost an entire season because of elbow surgery. Second, where he is going to play. He has potentially 3 fill in areas, 1st base, catcher, and DH. The Pirates have all three positions covered at the moment. Third, even when healthy his numbers were not that great. In 204 plate appearances, he slashed .220/.284/.328 for a 68 OPS+. I would love to see him have a breakout season but certainly at the beginning of the season barring injury he will have to quickly make the most of his opportunities.

Billy Cook turned 26 in January. He is simply the wild card. Why is he the wild card? He has spent so little time at AAA and MLB. He has 377 minor league games and only 100 at AAA since being drafted out of college. At AAA he slashed .278/377/.485. Like Yorke his only major league experience is with the Pirates having just 49 plate appearances slashing .224/.224 (no walks)/ 449 with an 82 OPS+ Hopefully he can find something and be a major league hitter. Another outfield potential.

The Pirates have a lot of young inexperienced players. Of their 22 position players on the 40 man roster only 6 have had 1000 or more plate appearances. That leaves 16 players with little or practically no time at the major league level. Right at the time I was writing this it was announced that the Pirates signed Adam Frazier to a 1year deal for a little over a million dollars. This was going to be my next six sentences. Maybe the reason the Pirates are not signing free agents is because they think it is time to see what their young players can do at the big league level. This includes players that I did not mention like Henry Davis and Liover Peguero. Jack Suwinski is one of the 6 that has over 1000 plate appearances but certainly this is his do or die season. Signing these low end free agents like they did last year may actually be impeding the progress of the younger players by not allowing them to see playing time. Last year that group was Tellez, Grandal, and Taylor. I was going to write next that the Pirates have no such signings this year. Bingo, we have Adam Frazier. Maybe they will trade Ke’Bryan Hayes or even IKF then I would be fine with the Frazier pick up. I feel all four players that I found to be intriguing should be on the team at the start of the season, especially the first 3. You absolutely know that Frazier is taking up a roster spot. I guess we can only hope that somebody will be traded. The Pirates are so bazaar,

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Pirates Morning Report: Free Agent Dead Zone

I have been wanting to write this article for a while now, but every time I thought about doing it, I figured there would be a slew of free agent signings right after it. Now with only about 3 weeks to spring training there are still around 20 quality free agents that are unsigned, but teams are obviously being cautious because of perceived warts that all of these players have. The one thing that all of these players have in common is that they are 30 years old or older. I am sure the sticking point for every one of these players is the length of the contract. Teams do not want to give them more than 3 years, with players and their agents thinking more like 5 to 7 years. Many players had a down year on their contract year that added fuel to the fire that most of these players are on the downside of their careers. Recent history of some very bad long term contracts of players 30+ years are making teams proceed even more cautiously. The Pirates of course are in a terminal dead zone when it comes to signing free agents. Despite this, there is one available free agent that is just screaming for the Pirates to sign and get out of that dead zone.

Anthony Santander plays right field and has slugged .455, .472, and .506 over the last 3 seasons. His OPS+ has been 120,121 and 134 over this period of time. No Pirate, including Brian Reynolds, has come close to putting numbers up like that in the last 3 years. Last year he had his best production hitting 44 home runs and driving in 102 runs. He is just turning 30 years old. The Pirates have a gaping hole in right field. He is a below average fielder, but the Pirates are used to having that in right field. Most baseball sites put a contract value on him at 5 years for about 17 to 18 million a year. If the Pirates are really serious about winning, which I doubt, this should be a no brainer signing. There is really nobody else out there that the Pirates really need. There are lots of relief pitchers available that would sign 1 year deals. If they would only sign Santander, it would be much less than they spent on free agent garbage last year. Unfortunately, this will probably not happen. If they would sign him, I would just go out my back door, fall face down in the snow and just lay there until I died. There have been 1 year rentals, like Alex Verdugo mentioned as possible signings to fill the right field void for the Pirates. I will be surprised if that even happens. Verdugo’s OPS+ the last 3 years has been 102, 100 and 83. He has never hit more than 13 home runs in a season. He seems to be in decline. After further thought, this does sound like the perfect Pirate. They’ll sign him. The garbage will be picked up on opening day.

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Pirates Morning Report: Any Team In Need Of Mediocre Infielders Just Call The Pirates.

The one positive thing, pretty much the only positive thing, about the Pirates is their abundance of high quality starting pitching. An old adage in baseball is you cannot have enough pitching. However, the Pirate’s front office must feel that you cannot have enough infielders. In the case of infielders, quality is not even a consideration. Here is a list of the players that the Pirates have available to play 2nd, 3rd and shortstop. All of these players are on the 40 man roster and they have played any one of those positions for the Pirates or in the minors. Some of them have played in the outfield but all of them have a decent number of games in the infield. Here is a list of the future Hall of Famers with the position they have played the most in the infield or what I consider their best position: Liover Peguero 2b, Nick Gonzales 2b, Ke’Bryan Hayes 3b, Isiah Kiner-Falefa 3b, Jared Triolo 3b, Enmanuel Valdez 2b, Alika Williams SS, Ji Hwan Bae 2b, Nick Yorke 2b, and finally Tsung-Che Cheng SS. Count them, 10 players for 3 positions. The Pirates also have no. 3 ranked prospect Termar Johnson, who is projected to make his major league debut in 2025, playing, you guessed it, 2b.

These infielders have a lot in common. All of them are below average major league hitters. Half of them are not that good of fielders. The Pirates have 11 infielders that have the potential of being on the team this year. Granted Bae saw practically all of his limited action in 2024 in the outfield but he still has played 69 games at 2b for the Pirates. So, what’s a mother to do. The Pirates only carry 13 position players. It would be shocking if the Pirates wound up only carrying 12 pitchers. Will the Pirates just have a massive DFA party around March 24th? Most likely it would be Hayes, IKF, and Gonzales as the starting infield opening day. Quite frankly, these players would be the only ones that would generate any trade interest. I do not think that you would get much for them but certainly you could get some bullpen pieces. What if the Pirates traded all three of them. The new infield would look something like this, Triolo, Peguero, and Valdez. In reality this is not much of a drop off. When you add both groups’ OPS+ they come out exactly the same at about an average of 73. If Valdez gets off to a rough start, you always have Johnson waiting in the wings. You still have Williams, Chang and Yorke as replacements also. If you are going to get bullpen help, this seems the way to do it.

What do the Chicago Cubs know about Cody Bellinger that nobody else does. They traded him to the Yankees for a pitcher that is 30 years old and has pitched in only 24 major league games in his career. Plus, they had to give the Yankees 5 million dollar. Talk about a salary dump trade. The Pirates had to give up more to acquire Spencer Horwitz who has not had 400 major league at bats. It will be more than interesting to see how Bellinger does in the big apple. Will the Pirates ever pick up somebody and pay him between 15 and 25 million ? Highly unlikely. Let’s just hope they don’t spend another 35 million on garbage. I would rather see them do nothing that just pick up these washed up free agents again. Not only do they not produce but they block the progress of the younger players. One thing is for sure, the Pirates have enough infielders to field 3 teams. The sad thing is it does not matter what players you plug in, the 3 infields are going to perform about the same. Mediocrity is a hard thing to overcome. It may also be a hard thing to trade. Please, answer this cry for help, the other 31 teams in baseball. The Pirates need a right fielder and some bullpen arms. We can only pray.

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Pirates Morning Report: 2024 Season Wrap Up, Team

The Pirates finished 23rd in baseball overall with their 76-86 record. All phases of their game were mostly in the bottom of the statistics. I am going to hit the same basic stats that I went through at various times during the season plus look at some additional stats. According to baseball reference the Pirates were the 7th luckiest team in baseball. They were fortunate to win 76 games with the way they played. The cold hard statistics will bear that out. The overall problem with this team is that they were never a very aggressive bunch. Let’s get to the data.

The offense was pretty much nonexistent all year. They finished 24th in runs scored with 4.1 runs per game. There were only 3 teams in baseball that struck out more than the Pirates. The Pirates struck out a whopping 1,506 times. That is an average of a little over 9 times per game. They finished 17th in walks with 485 for an average of just under 3 per game. The tradeoff for strikeouts is supposed to be home runs. That is the new baseball philosophy to swing for the fences despite striking out a lot. This did not work out for the Pirates. They hit only 160 home runs to place 25th in baseball. Wouldn’t you think management might figure this out and try to stress making more contact. Apparently not. The Pirates were 27th in on base percentage at .301 when the league average is .312. The Diamondbacks led all of baseball with .337. Seven of the top eight on base percentage teams are in the playoffs and the Diamondbacks just missed. In the league comparison stat of OPS+ the Pirates rank 28th with 87 where the league average is 100. One area where the Pirates did well but did not do it often enough was in stealing bases. They stole 106 bases ranking them 16th with an 85% success rate. With that much success, where 75% is considered very good, the Pirates should have been trying to steal more bases. Another management failure. Another indication of the overall lack of aggression with this team. The team needs to find a new identity. I wonder if anyone in the Pirate organization knows this. This is not a power laden team despite what they say in the broadcast booth. This team needs to start making more contact and be more aggressive on the bases to increase the run total next year.

The pitching was better than the offense but not by much. They were 21st in runs allowed. In fielding independent pitching the Pirates had one of their highest rankings coming in at 13th. Overall, they had a league average pitching staff with an ERA+ 101. The starting pitching ranked 7th and the bullpen ranked 21st. The pitching staff gave up 515 walks which was the 11th most in baseball. The bullpen seemed worse losing many games in the late innings. The bullpen will need to be revamped but more on that when I go through the players. A little better year for the pitching staff and at least something to build on.

When the Pirates are evaluated position by position with the rest of the league, they do not come out all that well. The highest ranked position is left field and that is 15th. The rest of their positions are ranked from 18th down to having the worst right fielder in baseball. Their pinch hitters were ranked 27th. On the defensive side of the ball the Pirates were really bad. Their defensive efficiency rating was 24th in the league.

It is obvious by now that the Pirates will need a lot of help if they are going to improve in 2025. This organization is one of the worst in baseball. Since 2000 the Pirates have only had 4 seasons where they won 80 or more games. The next closest to that mark are Colorado and Cincinnati with 6 seasons. There is one team in the American League with 7 and the rest of the teams have a lot more seasons with 80 wins. Bob Nutting has been the owner since 2007. Will he ever loosen the purse strings. With a couple of good free agent signings and building a bullpen the Pirates could go right to the top. They have a good but not great young core. When I evaluate the players in the next blog, you will see that most of the players on the Pirates are overrated thanks to the hyperbole in the Pirate broadcast booth. If you just listened to them and knew nothing else, you would have thought the Pirates won the division by 10 games. I do not see that much hope for the coming year unless Shelton and the coaches are gone. I think it would be really interesting if they gave the players a vote. As long as it would be secret ballot, he would be gone. It is this team’s only hope.

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Pirates Morning Report: Thank God, It’s Finally Over

Final Score: Pirates 4 Yankees 6

Why The Pirates Lost: For me the season ended perfectly. The last 4 innings of the game the Pirates only got 1 hit. They struck out 13 times for the game. The bullpen gave up the winning runs. They did this loading the bases, by hitting a batter and walking 2, after 2 were out. Shelton pissed off another pitcher by taking him out. In that bizarre 8th inning, the Yankees sent 7 men to the plate and there was only one ball put in play, which was the single that drove in the 2 runs to take the lead. There were 13 walks in the game, 7 by Pirate pitching. The game took almost 3 hours to play under miserable conditions. A perfect way to put the 2024 season in the books.

The Key Moment Of The Game: In the top of the 5th the Pirates were trailing 4-3. The inning started with what else, 2 walks. Joey Bart ripped a double down the left field line to score the tying run and put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Josh Palacios struck out swinging on a ball out of the strike zone. Jared Triolo struck out swinging, swinging at 2 balls out of the strike zone. After another walk to load the bases, Billy Cook struck out by swinging at a pitch out of the zone, taking one in the strike zone and swinging and missing on a pitch out of the zone to end the inning. I wonder what Andy Haines thought of that process. The Pirates never threatened again and finished the season 76-86 just like last year. This from a team and organization that was talking about winning the division when the season started.

The Next Game: March 27, 2025, Marlins in Miami. Yes, the Pirates open against the Marlins again. I don’t imagine that Mitch Keller will be the opening day starter. Over the next couple of days, I will do the team 2024 wrap up and evaluate each player in another blog. One thing is for sure, if Derek Shelton is the manager next year, there will be another losing season.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Bucco Bombers?

Final Score: Pirates 9 Yankees 4

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates brought out the long ball hitting 5 home runs that accounted for 8 of the 9 runs. Skenes pitched 2 innings, why, I do not know. Mike Burrows made his major league debut going 3.1 innings giving up 1 earned run on 2 hits but walking 3 while striking out 2 batters. He picked up the win in his debut game. The rest of the bullpen did ok, except the guys who usually don’t, Ryan Borucki and Shelton’s favorite Jalen Beeks. Greg Brown thought this game was one to remember even though it was pretty much meaningless. He gave the name Bucco Bombers to the offense, what a joke, but he was serious. He was all over Juan Soto for his base running blunder late in the game. If he followed baseball at all, which I don’t think he does, he would have known that Soto does this all the time. He is one of the worse base runners in the league. Even though the Yankees are still trying to get the best record in the American League you can tell they are just playing out the string. Aaron Judge struck out 5 times in 5 at bats. The fact that Skenes struck him out in his first at bat is not that big a deal when he wound up having a day like he had. The Pirates did reach 66 wins.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Yankees for the 2nd day in a row could not take advantage of opportunities that the Pirates gave them. The bottom of the 6th the Pirates walked the bases loaded, then gave the Yankees a 4th out, but the Yankees could only score 1 run. In the bottom of the 9th Jalen Beeks gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases with one out. Aroldis Chapman came in and joined the crowd by striking out Judge and getting a line out to end the game. It will be interesting to see today if the Yankees get down to business. With their playoff history could this be a prelude to an early exit. Only time will tell. Still better than the Pirates who exited in August.

Next and Final Game: This afternoon, Yankees in New York. Thankfully this season for the Pirates will come to an end today. No matter what happens today there will be no more watching the Bucco Bombers. After the season I will do a team and player wrap up and then on to the playoffs.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Defeat Yankee B Squad

Final Score: Pirates 4 Yankees 2

Why The Pirates Won: The Yankees rested 4 regulars including Aaron Judge which enabled the Pirates to pull out a 4-2 win. The Pirates managed only 6 hits to go along with 5 walks, but only had 2 at bats with runners in scoring position. Bryan Reynolds hit 2 home runs, including a 2-run shot in the top of the 8th to give the Pirates a 4-2 lead, that the bullpen protected easily against the B squad. Jared Jones pitched 4 and 1/3 innings giving up 5 hits, 2 walks and was charged with 2 runs thanks to Joey (There He) Wentz. After Wentz got out of the way the bullpen did not give up a hit over the last 3 and 2/3 innings. Can the Pirates make it to 66 wins? Be still my beating heart.

Key Moment Of The Game: The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the 5th. The Yankees opened the inning with 2 sharp line drives that put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out. Jones got the next batter to hit a weak ground ball to short to get the first out, with no advancement of the runners. It was a shame that at that moment Derek The Fox woke up. He decided to walk Juan Soto and then remove Jared Jones, who was visibly upset at the move. He was probably more upset because Shelton was bringing in Wentz. Right away on a beautiful cutter right out over the plate, Jazz Chisholm ripped a single to center driving in 2 runs and putting runners on 1st and 2nd. The Yankees pulled off a double steal and Wentz walked the next batter on 6 pitches with the 4 balls not even close to the strike zone to load the bases. Miraculously, he got Alex Verdugo to pop out to short centerfield. He went 3 and 2 on Anthony Volpe. Wentz pretty much grooved a 94 MPH fastball that Volpe drilled 107 MPH, the hardest hit ball of the inning, but right to Billy Cook for the final out. It looked like the Yankees might put up a big crooked number and wound up getting just 2 runs. Derek The Fox comes through again.

Next Game: This afternoon, Yankees in New York. Paul Skenes makes his final start of the season, and I have the feeling the Yankees will be putting the A team on the field today. Many people are saying that with a big performance here, Skenes could wrap up the rookie of the year. No matter what he does today it will be a close race between him and Padre centerfielder Jackson Merrill. It would be nice to see Skenes mow the Yankees down. Have no fear Joey Wentz and Jalen Beeks are ready to come in when needed.

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Pirates Morning Report: Routine Lack Luster Loss

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 5

Why The Pirates Lost: Just a matter of routine. Mitch Keller had a routine outing giving up 3 runs in 5 innings of work. The defense was routine with some kicked balls and plays not made even though no errors were charged. The offense was definitely routine scoring just 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. They were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and left 6 men on base. The game almost took 3 hours to play and most of fans had to be woke up after the game was over. Now the Pirates have to take 2 out of 3 from the Yankees to win as many games as they did last year. Big deal. What a miserable season.

Key Moment Of The Game: This game was so boring that there was not a key moment. There was never a point in this game from the very beginning that you thought the Brewers were going to lose. I guess you could say the key moment was when the Pirates lethargically took the field. You could sum up the Pirates effort in the top of the 3rd when Joey Ortiz hit a line drive in right center field and Bryan (I Should Be A DH) De La Cruz tried to stop the ball with his foot. He is also considering inventing the foot glove. I guess it was just too much effort for him to bend over. This resulted in Ortiz getting a triple. De La Cruz has a WAR for the entire year -1.3. Essentially this means a minor leaguer. It is worse than Rowdy Telez and the broadcast booth wants the Pirates to keep this guy. Oneil Cruz had two base running blunders just to top the day off. Not a good day if your name is Cruz, even though Bryan hit a home run to avoid the shutout. Yes, Derek Shelton is the right man to manage this team if you want another losing season. The players could care less.

Next Game: Tonight, Yankees in New York. The Pirates should be thankful the Yankees do not have a lot to play for. They are trying to get the best record and are only 1 game ahead of the Guardians. If the Yankees are serious this could be embarrassing. If the Yankees clinch home field early they may show some mercy on the Pirates. Let’s hope not. Three more days and it will be over.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pitchers Win Another One

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 1

Why The Pirates Won: Luis Ortiz pitched 7 terrific innings giving up 1 run on 4hits, walking 1 while striking out 5 to lower his ERA to 3.32. Dennis Santana and Aroldis Chapman closed out the game thanks to Willie Adames trying to stretch a hit into left field into a double and was thrown out to end the game. The offense was its usual awful self with only 3 hits and striking out 11 times. Freddy Peralta was pitching one fine game going into the bottom of the 5th.

Key Moment Of The Game: Peralta got the first two outs in the bottom of the 5th on just 5 pitches. Things got tough after that. On two battling at bats Yasmani Grandal on 7 pitches and Nick Yorke on 6 pitches, both walked. Liover Peguero battled for 7 pitches taking the count to 3 and 2. Peralta, not wanting to walk 3 in a row, grooved a 97 MPH fastball and Peguero did not miss it. He ripped into left center field to drive in the 2 runs to give the Pirates their 2-1 lead that they protected for the last 4 innings. The Brewers only got 2 hits the rest of the way with the last one being run into an out by Adames. The Pirates need 2 more wins to equal last years win total.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Pittsburgh. PNC Park will be put out of its misery this afternoon as the Pirates play their last home game of the season. Mitch Keller makes his last start of the season, and it would be nice to see him finish on a high note after all of his struggles over the last 6 weeks. He better pitch a good game with that offense. It will be interesting to see if Peguero starts today. He should play all of the remaining games but that is highly doubtful with this organization. Just 4 games to go with the final 3 in Yankee Stadium. There is a merciful God.