Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Pirates Morning Report: Reds Can’t Even Beat Ramirez

Final Score: Pirates 4 Reds 3 in 11 innings

Why The Pirates Won: The Reds continue to take the pipe. The Pirates did everything they could to see the Reds through this game. They ran the bases like Helen Keller. They struck out 12 times. They took out the star of the game. They replaced him with a pinch runner who should not even be in the Major Leagues. He immediately got doubled off second on a line drive. Despite all of this, the Reds could not win the game. They struck out 14 times. They were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. They left 13 men on base. For his last start of 2025, Paul Skenes was great as usual. He went 6 innings giving up no runs on 4 hits. He struck out 6 and walked none, throwing only 85 pitches. He lowered his ERA for the season to 1.97. He is a lock to win the Cy Young Award. Thanks to the putrid Pirates, he will be the first pitcher in history to win the award with a .500 record. The AAA boys had their ups and downs. They went 1 for 10 with 3 strikeouts. Jack Suwinski had the big hit in the top of the 10th to drive in the 3rd run of the game. They made the baserunning blunder in the top of the 11th. Of course, they would not have had a chance to make the blunder if Don Kelly had not made the bonehead move to take Spencer Horwitz out of the game. He was having his best game of the year. He was 3 for 5, driving in 3 of the 4 runs. It is a good thing the Reds are choking their guts out down the stretch, or the Pirates would have certainly lost this one.

Key Moment Of Game: It all boiled down to the bottom of the 11th inning. Yohan (What The Hell Am I Doing Out Here) Ramirez got the last out of the 10th inning and came out for the 11th. He struck out Tyler Stephenson, getting him to chase 2 balls out of the strike zone. He walked Will Benson. Matt McLain fouled out to Bryan Reynolds on a ball that barely stayed in play. He walked T.J. Friedl to load the bases with 2 outs. This brought up Noelvi Marte, who was 2 for 5 with an inside-the-park home run. The count went to 3 balls and 1 strike. Ramirez threw a fastball pretty much right down the middle. Marte rolled it over right to Triolo, who stepped on 3rd to end the game. In the inning, Ramirez had thrown 27 pitches. He only threw 10 pitches that were in the strike zone. Somehow, the Reds did not score with a runner on second and no outs. Fortunately for the Reds, the Diamondbacks and the Mets lost. Four games are left. I would not bet on the Reds.

Next Game: This afternoon, the Reds in Cincinnati. This is the last meaningful game the Pirates will play this year. Will the Reds be able to beat the Pirates once? It is satisfying to watch the Pirates put a damper on the Reds’ postseason chances. It would be so nice to see the sweep. Braxton Ashcraft will go for the Pirates. He is an easy pitcher to evaluate. If he can throw strikes, the Reds will not have a chance. Ashcraft only gets into trouble if he starts to walk people. I will enjoy watching this team choke away another victory. Of course, you can never tell about these Pirates. They might just try harder to see that the Reds salvage one game of the series.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Reds Taking The Pipe

Final Score: Pirates 4 Reds 2

Why The Pirates Won: Thanks to great pitching, the Pirates won their 3rd game in a row. They had a 4-run 2nd inning highlighted by a big 2-out, 2-run homer by Oneil Cruz. Johan Oviedo had another interesting 4 and 2/3 innings. He gave up 2 runs on just 2 hits; however, one hit was a 2-run homer by Elly De La Cruz. He struck out 7 but walked 3. For whatever reason, he was not allowed to get the third out of the 5th inning, having thrown only 82 pitches. The Reds helped out by getting thrown out at 2nd base on a ball that bounced away from new catcher Rafael Flores. He made a spectacular play to throw out the runner. This was the beginning of many missed opportunities for the Reds. The AAA boys did okay. They went 3 for 12 with a run scored and 3 strikeouts. It was the pitching staff that shone again. The bullpen gave up 3 hits over the last 4 innings. They struck out 3 with no walks. Hunter Barco made his major league debut. He was obviously nervous but hung in there, giving up 0 runs on 2 hits.

Key Moments Of The Game: As good as the Pirate pitching was, the Reds batters were definitely pressing. Against Barco, they had the 1st and 3rd with 2 outs. Matt McLain rolled over a slider to ground out to short to end the inning. This pattern would prove even more costly in the last 3 innings. To start the 7th, Will Benson struck out on a pitch that was so bad it hit him and rolled to the backstop. One out later, Sal Stewart rolled over a sinker to short for a double play. In the bottom of the 8th, the Reds opened with a single. One out later, Miguel Andujar took an inside fastball and grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. The bottom of the 9th saw the nightmare continue. The Reds got a one-out walk. McLain did it again. This time he took an outside slider and pulled it right to third. The 5-4-3 double play was routine and the game was over. The uptight Reds grounded into double plays in 3 consecutive innings. Contending for a playoff spot is a bitch, man.

Next Game: Tonight Reds in Cincinnati. The big guns go tonight. Paul Skenes faces Hunter Greene. For whatever reason, the Pirates have not done badly against Greene. This comes under the heading of a must-win for the Reds. Right now, they trail the Mets by one game in the wild card. The Diamondbacks are tied with the Reds. If the Reds lose tonight and the Mets win, then they would be 2 games back with just 4 to play. The Reds will have to find a way to beat the best pitcher in baseball. It is a big chore for a team that is really feeling the pressure. At least we have an interesting game to watch down the stretch.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Pirates Offensive Woes

Anyone who follows the Pirates, even casually, knows that the Pirate offense has been bad this year. If you take a deep dive in, it is even worse than you could imagine. This team’s problems on offense run throughout the team. The Pirates were not good offensively in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, they have dropped off the face of the earth. They are the worst in baseball in runs scored, home runs, slugging, OPS, and total bases. They are between 26th and 29th in hits, doubles, batting average, OBP, leaving the most men on base, grounding into double plays, and OPS+. They have the 7th highest number of strikeouts. Believe it or not, they do have a few stats in the top half of the league. They are 11th in walks. That stat, to me, is mind-blowing. Why would you ever walk these guys? They are 15th in stolen bases with a league-average 77% success rate. That is amazing also since they don’t get on base that often. They are 12th in the league in triples. In practically all the hitting stats, the Pirates are in the bottom 5 of the league. That is after they scored 11 runs on Sunday.

Almost every player who played for the Pirates last year has sunk to new lows when it comes to hitting. OPS is calculated by adding a player’s on-base percentage and his slugging percentage. It gives an overall view of how a player is batting. There were only 2 Pirates whose OPS improved this year, and one of those should not count. Jared Triolo went from .611 in 2024 to .688 in 2025. League average is .720. Our most improved batter is 32 points below league average. The other “improved” hitter is Henry Davis. He went from .453 in 2024 to .500 so far in 2025. He just went from being very pathetic to just pathetic. Here is how far each Pirate has dropped in his OPS so far this year when compared with 2024. There were some that you thought could not get any worse but managed to do so. Bryan Reynolds -72, Oneil Cruz -91, Nick Gonzales -32, Ke’Bryan Hayes -29, Andrew McCutchen -31, and Joey Bart -91 have all had significant drops in their hitting. Special mention goes to Jack Suwinski, who dropped from .588 to .508. There have been 388 players that have had over 150 plate appearances this year. Henry Davis is ranked 387th in OPS. Jack Suwinski is 383rd. Do you think something is wrong here? I would not play either player in these last 6 games to avoid them getting worse.

Will anybody be held accountable for this mess? To me, it is highly unlikely. Will heads roll at the end of the season? Who knows? These are the facts, Jack. The Pirates were shut out 16 times this year. Nineteen times they scored 1 run. Thirty-two times they scored 2 runs. Sixty-seven games they scored 2 runs or less. That is over 40% of the season. This team has been in last place since April 24th. Tell me who deserves to keep their job. Please, someone make the case. I am dying to see it.

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Pirates Morning Report: Blowing Out The A’s

Final Score: Pirates 11 A’s 0

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates threw their 19th shutout of the season. The offense came alive for 11 runs. The AAA boys had their game of the year. They went 6 for 10 with a home run, 3 RBIs, and 3 runs scored. The Pirates had 15 hits that included 2 home runs and 5 doubles. Mike Burrows ran through the raindrops in the first 4 innings but did not give up a run. He gave up 5 hits, and it took 74 pitches. Carmen Mlodzinski went 3 innings, giving up just 2 hits. Yohan Ramirez and Dauri Moreta finished up the shutout. For the 2nd straight game, the Pirates staff did not issue a walk. They ended their final home game on a high note.

Key Moments Of The Game: The first inning told the story of this game. In the top of the first, the A’s had runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Burrows struck out the next batter and got a fly ball out to end the inning. In the bottom of the inning, the Pirates had 2 outs and nobody on base. Bryan Reynolds singled, and Spencer Horwitz walked. Andrew McCutchen singled, scoring Reynolds. Nick Gonzales doubled, and the Pirates had a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 2nd, the Pirates had a runner on 1st with 2 outs. Jared (I Am Great In Meaningless Games) Triolo hit a home run to make it 4-0. The Pirates were off and running. Joey Bart had a huge day. He went 4 for 4, including a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 5th.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, the Reds in Cincinnati. The Pirates will be thrust back into the playoff race. The Reds are tied with the slumping Mets for the last wild card spot. The Diamondbacks are only 1 game back. It should be an interesting week for the Pirates. Both wild card races are still very much undecided. In the American League, the Tigers and Guardians face off in Cleveland. The Tigers will be trying to avoid one of the biggest collapses in the history of baseball. On July 6th, the Tigers were 15 and 1/2 games ahead of the Guardians. When the series opens in Cleveland tomorrow night, the lead will be down to one game. This week will be baseball at its best. Too bad the Pirates have to be involved.

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Pirates Morning Report: Dominate Pitching Leads To Win

Final Score: Pirates 2 A’s 0

Why The Pirates Won: It was the Pirate youngsters that had a big game. Twenty-three-year-old Bubba Chandler gave up just one hit over the first 5 innings. He struck out 6 and walked 0. He did hit a batter. Braxton Ashcraft, 25, did not give up a hit in 3 innings of relief. He struck out 6 and walked 0. Dennis Santana pitched a perfect 9th to pick up his 14th save of the year. The Pirate staff gave up just one hit while striking out 13 and walking none. At least the one hit was not a cheapie. It was a line drive double by Jacob Wilson to left center field with 2 outs in the top of the 2nd. The Pirate offense was as pathetic as ever but hit two home runs. Nick Yorke hit his first this year in the bottom of the 2nd. Brian Reynolds led off the 3rd with his 16th home run. Those two runs would be enough with such a dominant pitching performance. In fact, both pitching staffs dominated after that. In the last 5 and a half innings of play, there was only one base runner. Nick York singled in the bottom of the 4th. The game took only 1 hour and 52 minutes to play. As I have written before, the pitching staff wins another one. This was the Pirates’ 66th win. Eighteen have been by shutout. The AAA boys did little going 1 for 7.

Key Moments Of The Game: Bubba Chandler struck out the side in the first inning, quickly establishing his dominance. He got the third out of the inning after the Wilson double. In the last game, the A’s scored four runs on only four hits. You felt this might happen again if they had gotten a big two-out hit. The Pirates’ staff kept the A’s in the ballpark. The Pirates were able to bring out the rare long ball to get the win. They have hit the fewest home runs in baseball. With the two home runs last night, this put them 21 home runs behind the 29th place San Diego Padres. It is really hard to believe.

Next Game: This afternoon, A’s in Pittsburgh. Mike Burrow goes today in the final home game of the season. The Pirates have a chance to win a series, a rare occurrence over the last 14 games. It would be nice to see the Pirates play just the young guys over these final 7 games. No Pham, no Horwitz, no McCutchen. I know it won’t happen; it just makes too much sense.

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Pirates Morning Report: Taking Ineptness To The Next Level

Final Score: Pirates 3 A’s 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates out-hit the A’s 10 to 4. The Pirates drew 4 walks. They only had one inning when they were retired in order. The AAA boys were 3 for 13 with 4 strikeouts. As usual, the Pirates did not hit when it counted. They were 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position. They stranded 11 runners. The A’s hit two home runs, which accounted for all of their runs. They were 1-1 with runners in scoring position. They left 2 men on base. Mitch Keller took the loss to drop his record to 6 and 15. He went 5 innings, giving up the 4 runs on 4 hits. He walked 1 while striking out 4. The bullpen pitched the final 4 innings without giving up a hit. This was mostly the B squad. The outfield flashed some nice leather last night. Suwinski, Cruz, and Reynolds all made some nice running catches. Despite a lot of positives in this game, the Pirates’ offense could only push across the 3 runs in the first inning. It was not enough as the late summer swoon continues.

Key Moments Of The Game: Mitch Keller was perfect through the first 3 innings. He got the 1st two outs in the top of the 4th. Nick Kurtz took an up-and-in strike zone pitch and lofted a high fly ball that just kept carrying. It went 363 feet over the Clemente wall for a home run. The next two batters had higher exit velocities than the home run. In the top of the 5th, Keller committed the cardinal sin of walking a .174 hitter. He walked him on 4 pitches, no less. This put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. Henry Davis went out to the mound and had a long conversation with Keller. It must have been about what they like on cheeseburgers. He got behind the next batter, Lawrence Butler, 2-1. He threw a 90 MPH changeup right down the middle of the plate. Butler did not miss it. He hit it 110 MPH and 424 feet for a 3-run homer. The A’s had the lead 4-3. The Pirates had their chances to tie the game but failed miserably. In the bottom of the 7th, with 1st and 2nd and one out, Pham flew out and Gonzales grounded out. You can call the bottom of the 9th Pham’s revenge for not being traded or waived. The inning opened with a double by Rafael Flores. Miraculously, Bryan Reynolds moved him over to third on a ground out. McCutchen walked, putting runners on first and third with one out. Up stepped Tommy Pham with a big smile on his face. He swung at a pitch well outside the strike zone. The next pitch was on the outside corner, a little above the knees. Instead of trying to go with the pitch, he pulled it right to the 3rd baseman. The A’s took their time turning the double play and still had Pham out by 5 feet. Revenge is sweet.

Next Game: Tonight, A’s in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have now lost 12 of their last 13 games. It will be interesting to see the Pirate broadcast booth come up with positive things to say about this team. They should open the broadcast by saying the Pirates have lost 12 of 13 games and they really stink. If they opened like that, do you think it would really keep the gathering down? The Pirates’ offense took ineptness to a new level last night. At least they raised their batting averages some. Good luck tonight, Bubba Chandler. You are going to need it.

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Pirates Morning Report: Making All The Wrong Personnel Decisions.

Many say that the Pirates are bad at developing position players. They point to the many failures over the past 2 to 3 years. I believe the Pirates make poor decisions. They choose the wrong ways to handle and play their players. I do not think I would classify this as bad coaching either. That is not to say that the Pirate coaching staff is doing a good job. Coaching is harder if a player is not put in the position he should be playing. Players can only do what an organization asks them to do. In other words, the Pirate management team are these players’ bosses. It is these decision makers that should no longer be around when this season is over. I am going to go down a list of players whom I think were handled poorly. In other words, the Pirate organization did not put them in the best position to succeed. In one final example, I will show that the Pirates are just petty and mean-spirited.

Let’s start with Oneil Cruz. He has had the most disappointing season of any Pirate and that is saying something. Oneil Cruz was coming off a horrific broken ankle leg going into the 2024 season. Going into that season the Pirates should have made the decision right then to move him to the outfield. Outfield is much less stressful on the lower body. This was a player who was having problems playing shortstop even before he broke his leg. When the Pirates finally did put him in the outfield at the end of 2024 they put him in the wrong position. They should have put him in right field. Why would you put a player with defensive issues in one of the most important defensive positions on the field. The Padres put Fernando Tatis Jr. in right field and he thrived. Despite the mishandling Cruz had a decent year at the plate. He was 15 % better at the plate than your average major league hitter with an OPS+ of 115. He started this year in centerfield and has generally struggled. He got off to a decent start at the plate until the Pirates made another bad move. They decided to bat him lead off. Essentially he has not been the same since. His OPS+ this year is 91. If the Pirates ever wake up which is unlikely they will move him to right field. They did the same thing with Jack Suwinski, putting him in the lead off spot last year. They tried to make both players into Kyle Schwarber. They did not have enough sense to realize there will only be one Kyle Schwarber. That is how special he is. The other disappointing player is Henry Davis. Davis looks terrible at the plate. I look him up on You Tube. He was one of the best college hitters in the country when he played for Louisville. When he hit at Louisville there were 2 distinct differences in his batting stance. His stance was more open than it is now by about 6 inches. His stance was wider than what it is now. You would think someone would just tell him to go back to that. He could not do any worse. Do the Pirates know there is such a thing as You Tube?

The Pirates make even worse decisions when they bring someone up from the minors. The Pirates’ bats have not performed well. If a player is called up and he is swinging a hot bat in AAA, you should put him in the lineup. That’s what you would think. It never happened. Nick Solak was hitting over .350 and had an OBP of well over .400 when he was called up on May 16th. He was sent back down on June 3rd. The Pirates played 17 games in that span. He played in 4 games. He has not been heard from since, even though his current slash line is .328/.411/.494. I know he is 30 years old, but come on, give him a legitimate shot. What have you got to lose? Matt Gorski was up for 20 games; he played in 15 games, but one he did not bat in. In another game, he batted once. He only had 3 or more at-bats in 8 games. Liover Peguero was brought up earlier this year on May 2. The Pirates played 9 games. He appeared in 4 games, getting to bat 9 times. Billy Cook was up for a brief time and went 2 for 6, never to be seen again. Cam Devanney is getting playing time; however, he played most of the year at shortstop at AAA. The Pirates put him at 3rd base. Nick York played 6 games at 1st base out of the 103 games he played for Indianapolis. He has been at first base 6 out of the 13 games he has played for the Pirates. I do not know how much this affects a player’s hitting. However, playing young players at positions that are not their main positions can’t help. Another thing that does not help a player develop is not letting him face the same-side pitcher. Especially this time of year, the Pirates, have nothing to play for. Not allowing Oneil Cruz, Jack Suwinski, and Spencer Horwitz to hit against left-handed pitching about 90% of the time is not helping these players at all. Oneil Cruz, before the Pirates messed him up, was hitting left-handed pitching well in the last half of 2024. How can you expect players to improve and get better if you never put them in a position to get better? You would think the Pirate organization would want their young players to succeed. Maybe it just seems like they don’t.

Then there is the case of Tommy Pham. Pham was our “big” free-agent signing. He got off to a horrible start. He was fitted with some special contacts because of some strange corneal condition he has. Once he could see, he went on a six-week tear. He was one of the best hitters in baseball at the trade deadline. The other appealing factor about Pham is he has great playoff numbers. He has had 136 plate appearances in the playoffs with a slash line of .315/.331/.492. He has hit 6 homers and driven in 12 runs during the postseason. It is hard to believe that there was not one of the contenders that was interested in him. Then on the last weekend where a player could be eligible for the playoffs, the Pirates waived Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He was picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays. IKF is headed for the playoffs. The Pirates could have done the same thing with Tommy Pham. Instead, they pretty much said you’re not playing in the postseason. I do not think this went unnoticed by Mr. Pham. Since that weekend, Pham has a slash line of .145/.277/.255. The Pirates were fine getting nothing for IKF. Now he has a legitimate chance of playing in the World Series. In my view, the Pirates are telling Pham, “screw you, buddy,” for having such a bad opening 2 and a half months of the season. It shows that the Pirates are being run by very small people. Let’s hope they are not around by October 1.

We have only 9 games to go. Three at home and then 6 on the road. Don’t expect to see much improvement down this stretch. Ninety-plus losses seem like a given. Hopefully, the Pirates will find someone to manage and develop players. With just an average offense, this team should be able to make the playoffs. That, to me, is not a tall order. It is just that this regime is so incompetent. They will have the worst offense in baseball this year by a wide margin. Somebody please find some bats. We have the pitching staff. I feel there will be hope if there is a proper house cleaning at the end of the season. With this owner I am not too sure this will happen.

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Pirates Morning Report: Sixth Inning Debacle

Final Score: Pirates 4 Cubs 8

Why The Pirates Lost: The Cubs swept the series from the Pirates. The game may have set baseball back 100 years. The first two innings took over an hour to play. Both pitchers were having many problems. In the first 2 innings, the Cubs sent 13 men to the plate. They scored 4 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks, and one hit batter. The Pirates sent 15 men to the plate. They scored 4 runs on 6 hits, 2 walks, and one hit batter. The entire game miraculously took “only” 3 hours and 17 minutes to complete. If they had kept up the pace of the first two innings, it would have taken 4 and 1/2 hours to finish the game. It was amazing that Johan Oviedo was able to go 5 innings after that start. He threw 99 pitches to do it. Matthew Boyd could only go 3 innings, throwing 83 pitches. The Cub bullpen pitched the last 6 innings, giving up 0 runs on 3 hits and one walk. After the 2nd inning, the game settled down with neither team scoring a run the next 3 innings. The AAA boys were 3 for 10 with 4 strikeouts. At one time in this game, the Pirates trailed 4-0. They scored 3 in the first and one in the second to tie the game. It looked like they might pull this game out. Then came the dreaded 6th inning.

Key Moments Of The Game: Yohan Ramirez came in to pitch the 6th. Dansby Swanson hit a soft line drive right back at Ramirez. He gloved it, then dropped it, fumbled it, fell down, and tried to throw the ball from his knees. New first basemen Rafael Flores could not make the pick and Swanson was on base. Error Ramirez. He got the next batter to fly out. Then things got even more bizarre. On a 3-1 count Swanson took off for 2nd. In a nutshell the pitch was called a ball even though it was strike. Bart threw the ball into centerfield allowing Swanson to go to third. Bart did not need to make throw. I can’t blame him too much for that one. He had to think that was strike 2 instead of ball 4. He must have known subconsciously because the throw was terrible about 15 feet right of 2nd base. Michael Busch hit a sacrifice fly to right field to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead. This left a runner on first with 2 outs. Nico Hoerner singled putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Kelly decides to bring in Evan Sisk to face switch hitting Ian Happ. Sisk’s 2nd pitch was ripped up the middle 101 MPH for a single giving the Cubs a 6-4 lead. Justin Turner took a high outside fastball to right field for a single and the Cubs led 7-4. You knew this game was over. The Cubs added another run in the 8th to win going away. The Pirates never threatened as they continued their late summer swoon.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, the A’s in Pittsburgh. What a way to finish the home schedule. The Pirates are playing a Major League team with no home, while Pittsburgh is without a Major League-quality team. I know their Vegas move is a done deal, but I don’t think the Pittsburgh A’s sound all that bad. We can only dream.

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Pirates Morning Report: What Are They Thinking?

Final Score: Pirates 1 Cubs 4

Why The Pirates Lost: In the last 26 innings, the Pirates have scored 1 run. They have 9 hits. They have struck out 27 times. They scored a run in the 1st inning. This was their worst performance overall at the plate of the 3 games. Oneil Cruz’s game sums up this team’s problems in a nutshell. In the first inning, he takes the first pitch and bangs it off the right field wall for a triple. This drove in the first and only run for the Pirates. In his next 3 at-bats, he saw 16 pitches. He took 6 for strikes. He swung at 3 outside the strike zone. He took 6 balls, bravo. He swung at one that was in the strike zone. He struck out in all 3 at-bats. His second at-bat was classic Pirates. He took the first pitch for a ball. Then he took 3 straight called strikes. None of them were borderline. He went up to the plate and stood there for 4 straight pitches. He was not the only Pirate. Nick Gonzales went the other way. He struck out in his last 2 at-bats. He saw 7 pitches. He swung at 6 of them. Only 2 were in the strike zone, and they were borderline. What kind of thought process is this? It is one where a team strikes out 12 times and walks once. They had only 3 at-bats with runners in scoring position. They were 0 for 3, stranding 4 runners. To top all of this off, Paul Skenes had one of his worst outings of the season. He went 3 and 2/3 innings, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits. He struck out 6 and walked 3. It took him 92 pitches to go less than 4 innings. The Pirates are making sure that everyone knows they stink. No strong finish for this team. The AAA boys were out in full force last night as all 4 of them played. They went 2 for 13, striking out 5 times with no walks. No comment.

Key Moments Of The Game: The score was 3-1 Cubs going into the bottom of the 3rd. Skenes had just pitched his first scoreless inning. Henry Davis opened the inning with a single. Yes, it really happened. One out later, Spencer Horwitz walked. The 3-4 hitters were coming up for the Pirates, in this case, Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz. Cruz had tripled in the 1st. They had two horrific at-bats. Reynolds, after getting ahead in the count 2-0, took a called strike. The next pitch was a ball. He took another strike and struck out on a high outside borderline pitch. Cruz took a called strike, then looked at 2 balls, and swung at a pitch way outside. He was called out on strikes on a pitch well within the strike zone. With 2 runners on base, Reynolds and Cruz each took two called strikes. What a great process these Pirates have. It must be the Vogelbach influence.

Next Game: This afternoon, the Cubs in Pittsburgh. The Cubs go for the sweep today. They will most likely get it. Lefty Matthew Boyd is going for the Cubs today. That probably means that Alexander Canario will get another start. Even though he hits 38 points worse against lefties, he always plays against left-handed pitchers. I will just write it again. What are they thinking? Looks like another loss today. Maybe the Pirates will score more than 2 runs. Probably not.

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Pirates Morning Report: Given A Methodical Beating

Final Score: Pirates 0 Cubs 4

Why The Pirates Lost: They collected only 3 hits. The Cubs tried to help them by walking 6 and hitting one batter. Why you would walk any Pirate hitter is beyond me. The Pirates made James Taillon, who is an average MLB pitcher, look like Greg Maddux. In 6 innings, he gave up 2 hits. He walked 2, unlike Maddux, and struck out 3. The bullpen walked 4 in the last 3 innings, but of course, the Pirates did not take advantage. Jack Suwinski was activated to join the AAA boys. It was like he never left. His first two at-bats were strikeouts. The first one was swinging on one out of the strike zone. The 2nd one was a called third strike. In his 3rd at-bat, he managed to pound one 312 feet to left field for an out. Of all things, he walked in the bottom of the 9th. Now that’s a pitcher with control issues. Overall, the AAA boys went 0 for 7 with 2 walks. Braxton Ashcraft, who may have the best stuff on the Pirates’ staff not named Skenes, continued to have command issues. He walked 2 in 4 innings of work. It took him 70 pitches to get through 4 innings, giving up 3 runs. The bullpen B squad did okay, giving up 1 run over the last 5 innings. The Pirate “offense” has gone 17 innings without scoring.

Key Moment Of The Game: The first two innings went well for Ashcraft. He was able to manage a one-out walk in the first and a leadoff single in the second. He walked the first batter in the top of the 3rd, and he was caught stealing. You thought this just might be Ashcraft’s day. But then, boom, home run, single, single, and wild pitch, and quickly it was 2-0 Cubs. That would be all they would need to win this one. The Cubs methodically added on with back-to-back doubles in the 4th. Pete Crow-Armstrong homered in the 6th to make it 4-0. Just can’t get away from those hyphens. The Pirates loaded the bases with 2 outs on a single and 2 walks. Jared Triolo ended the game by striking out. He swung at the last 2 pitches below the strike zone. Remember, already two Pirates had walked in the inning. Great process, dead tree. You might be able to get away with that at Indianapolis.

Next Game: Tonight the Cubs in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes goes for the Pirates tonight. Yippee! I think this will be his next to last start of the season. It will also be the last one before the home gathering. There are not enough people at a Pirate game to call it a crowd. It would be nice if the Pirates would let him pitch longer into the game. They should allow it if his pitch count is low. We will probably see Davis. Suwinski and Triolo tonight. The AAA boys will be well represented. I hear the odds for them to go 0 for 12 with no walks is 5 to 2. The Pirates scoreless streak to stretch to 26 innings is 8-5 odds. They look like sure bets to me. Just 11 games to go. Please God, no extra innings.