Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Pirates Morning Report: Looks Like 11 Runs Are Enough.

Final Score: Pirates 11 Braves 5

Why The Pirates Won: The offense lit up the sky with 11 runs on 14 hits, and 2 walks. Nick Gonzales with 2 hits and 4 RBIs and Edward Olivares with 3 hits and 2 RBIs led the way. The disappointing surprise, Jarod Triolo added a 2-run homer. Barry Falter, without a doubt has been the pleasant surprise of the season, pitched shutout ball over the first 7 innings only giving up 4 hits. He got touched up for 3 runs in the top of the 8th, thanks to a 3 run homer by Ronald Acuna Jr. Luis Ortiz came in after that and continued the bullpens pitiful performance. He walked 2 even though the Pirates had an 11-3 lead. That led to 2 more runs when Travis d’Arnaud doubled. After that Ortiz did settle down getting the next 4 batters out, securing the win for the Pirates.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates got two big 2 out hits early in the game, that accounted for 4 or their first 5 runs. In the first, Nick Gonzales ripped a single to center to drive in the first 2 runs of the game. With 2 out in the 3rd Yasmani Grandal hit a double to right field that scored 2 more runs for the Pirates giving them a 5-0 lead. The Pirate offense did add on in this game to get the run total to 11, which put my confidence level at about 7 that the Pirate bullpen would hold the lead. They did, to give the Pirates a surprisingly easy win against the Braves.

Next Game: Late Afternoon, Braves in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller takes the mound for the Pirates today and he has been very effective in his last 3 starts. Unfortunately, the Braves are throwing a right hander, which means that we will probably see Rowdy (Rawhide) Tellez, especially after the ringing endorsement that Ben Cherrington gave him the other day. It is rather sad when a GM doesn’t admit his mistake and just say I wasted over 3 million dollars. For you youngsters out there I call Tellez, Rawhide because that was the name of the character that Clint Eastwood played in the TV series Rawhide, Rowdy Yates. If Tellez had played that character only 1 out of 15 cows would have been branded.

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Pirates Morning Report: Ground Hog Day Returns, Just Shorter Version

Final Score: Pirates 6 Giants 7

Why The Pirates Lost: A repeat performance by the Pirates, even hitting the grand slam home run in the same inning. They did hit better after the grand slam, getting 6 hits and a home run to put 6 runs on the board. Paul Skenes pitched a solid if not dominate 6 innings giving up 1 run on 6 hits, walking 1 while only striking out 3 batters. Then the bullpen and Derek Shelton blew another one. He allowed Hunter Stratton to get racked up for 5 runs on 5 hits without getting an out before the game was tied. He should have had someone warming up at the very least after the second single. He waited until Matt Chapman hit a home run to make it 6-5 and then another double by Jorge Soler until finally Chapman started loosening up. You could have argued that the bullpen should have been throwing at the start of the inning. Why not warm up Bednar and bring him in a high leverage situation. Who knows he might have gotten out of the inning with only a few pitches. When Bednar finally got in to pitch the 9th, he only threw 10 pitches to send the Giants down in order. Luis Ortiz had not pitched since Tuesday should have been another alternative. Nobody was warming up in time and Shelton does what he does best. sitting on his hands in crucial situations. The Braves are coming to town, this could get even uglier.

Key Moment Of The Game: Aroldis Chapman came in the game with a runner on 1st, one out, and the scored tied in the top of the 8th. He struck out Patrick Bailey. This turned out to be one of the most productive strike outs in the history of baseball, Chapman wild pitched the runner to second, then Joey Bart failed to catch a ball that was right down the middle, sending the runner to third. Say what? Chapman had the next batter Brett Wisely down in the count 0-2. Chapman must have thought that this guy must fall asleep like his manager, because he tried to sneak a 97 MPH fastball past him, throwing it right down the middle. Wisely was wide awake, because you could see his eyes get as wide as saucers, as he ripped the ball 101 MPH into center field to knock in the go ahead and deciding run. The inept Pirates did not really threaten, as the movie Ground Hog Day ended early. By the way, Rowdy (I Am Really Trying) Tellez went 0 for 4 hitting 2 pop ups at the top exit velo of 92 MPH and striking out twice. Making matters worse he had to face lefties twice which should not have been unexpected since this was a bullpen game for the Giants. Way to go Shelton, again.

Next Game: Tonight, Braves in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have started this 36 game stretch and home stand 1-2 after having a respectable road trip. The last two games have been indescribable. A total managerial and bullpen failure. There are only two bullpens worse than the Pirates right now, the Rockies and the Blue Jays. There have been some real low moments in this season already, but this feels like the lowest, so far. I know that they can and probably will get even lower than this.

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Pirates Morning Report: Mind Boggling Last 6 Innings

Final Score: Pirates 5 Giants 9 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: Bryan Reynolds hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the 4th to give the Pirates a 5-0 lead. From that moment on, the Pirates got one more hit, 2 walks, struck out 10 times and made 15 consecutive outs at one point. They did not get a hit from the 5th to the end of the game. Jared Jones pitched what I consider his standard outing now, 6 innings, 3 runs, with at least one home run. A good outing but certainly not phenom like. The bullpen thought they would get into the act by giving up 6 runs, 6 hits, but “only” 5 walks in 4 innings of work. In that 6 inning span the Pirates went from a team looking like they were going to win 3 in a row to a team that looks in total disarray. I don’t know what is worse, seeing them fill the bases and never scoring, or never getting on base period for a protracted period of time.

Key Moment Of The Game: Despite the horrible batting over 4 and 2/3 innings, the Pirates were clinging to a 5-4 lead going into the top of the 9th. Colin Holderman had limited the damage in the 8th when Aroldis Chapman walked the bases loaded to start the inning. Holderman allowed only one run to score which made the score 5-4. He got the first 2 outs in the top of the 9th. The count went to 2-2 to Luis Matos. He threw two sweepers in a row and Matos hit the 2nd one to left field for a base hit. Holderman opened the at bat by throwing a 99 MPH sinker. Reynolds booted the ball and Matos was able to make it to second. Holderman threw 3 straight sweepers to LaMonte Wade Jr. He ripped the third one to right field for a base hit to tie the game. Holderman threw a lot of sweepers in the 8th too, but when you have a 98+ MPH sinker why are you throwing the sweeper that much. Regardless, once the game was tied you knew it was over. The 10th was a disaster and the Pirates fell to 23-27. What a team!

The Next Game: This afternoon, the Giants in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes goes today for the Pirates and hopefully they can secure a series win. The big bad Atlanta Brave are coming to town. They haven’t been that big or bad lately winning only 8 of their last 17 games. I don’t know if that is good or bad. Are they due to come out of this mild funk? Let’s hope not. That’s what makes last night lost sting even more.

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Pirates Morning Report: Whoa! The Pirates Won?

Final Score: Pirates 7 Giants 6 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Won: The original opening sentence for this segment would have been the Pirates couldn’t hit, couldn’t pitch and couldn’t field. Other than that, they played a pretty good game. However, in the last two innings the Giants couldn’t do any of those things, plus went brain dead. Oniel Cruz’s night sums up this game perfectly. In the first inning he dropped a pop up that allowed 2 runs to score. He got two-line drive hits his first two times up at the plate resulting in a single and a double. His next two at bats went like this. He took a strike. He swung at a ball. He fouls a strike. He swung at a ball. He takes a strike. He swings at a ball way inside. This resulted in a strike out and a weak pop up between first and home plate. In the bottom of the ninth, he ripped a low inside pitch for a double to tie the game at 6-6 to send it into extra innings. Even though Martin Perez got a bad break when Cruz dropped that pop up in the first, he was working from behind for his entire 4 and 1/3 innings throwing 98 ineffective pitches. The bullpen gave up another 2 runs and Giants led 6-2 going into that eventful bottom of the 9th.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the bottom of the ninth, the Pirates had rallied to make the score 6-3, thanks to a walk, a double, a walk and a single, that had the bases loaded with 1 out. Andrew McCutchen hit a ground ball to short that had the potential to be a double play ball. In his urgency to turn the double play Marco Luciano did not field the ball cleanly getting nobody out and a run scored to make it 6-4. Bryan Reynolds hit a ground ball a little more toward hole at short where the force out was made but it was not hit hard enough to turn two. This enabled Cruz to get his big 2-out hit that tied the game 6-6. The Giants played like they did not realize they had a 4-run lead. In the top of the 10th the Giants moved the ghost runner over to third with one out. David Bedar went 3-0 on the next batter, LaMonte Wade Jr. Taking a page out of the Andy Haines hitting book, he takes 2 strikes essentially right down the middle. This, when all the Giants needed was a fly ball to get the run in. Wade fouled off the next pitch before striking out on a vicious splitter for the 2nd out. Bednar got the next batter to fly out to end the inning. Nick Gonzales ended the game, singling up the middle on the first pitch in the bottom of the 10th and the Pirates had an amazing come from behind win.

Next Game: Tonight, the Giants in Pittsburgh. Jared Jones goes tonight for the Pirates. He has not been quite as dominant in his more recent starts. It would be nice to see him have a great outing with 8 to 10 strike outs and no gopher balls. The Giants are going to counter with Blake Snell coming off the IL. Will he be a little rusty? The good news is we won’t be seeing Tellez. Can we make it 3 in a row?

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Pirates Morning Report: All Is Forgiven When You Win

Final Score: Pirates 3 Cubs 2

Why The Pirates Won: This was a very big win for the Pirates that could have easily been a very embarrassing loss. The Pirates had 10 hits, 6 walks, but could only score 3 runs. They were 1 for 17 with runners in scoring position. They left 12 men on base. They had runners on base in every inning. They had 1st and 3rd nobody out in the top of the 8th but could not get a much needed run across the plate. Rowdy Tellez was up 4 times and made 6 outs. The Cubs only had 2 hits to go along with 4 walks and 2 hit batsmen but managed 2 runs. They scored on 2 sacrifice flies and were 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position. On the pitching side Mitch Keller went a solid 6 innings and threw only 83 pitches. The Pirates decided to go to the bullpen and this time it was a good decision. Both Colin Holderman and Aroldis Chapman threw clean 7th and 8th innings and looked dominate doing it. David Bednar came on in the bottom of the 9th and after 2 outs committed the cardinal sin of putting the tying run on base via the base on balls. Bednar got Patrick Wisdom to pop out down the line to shallow right field and Pirates escaped with a victory. All is forgiven when you win.

Key Moment Of The Game: The score was tied 1-1 going into the top of the 5th. With one out Andrew McCutchen walked. Bryan Reynolds hit a sharp ground ball that was knocked down by the 1st baseman, but he could not hold on to it. Reynolds was called out, but the call was overturned. Jameson Taillon then wild pitched the runners to 2nd and 3rd. He got the big strike out on Oneil Cruz to get the 2nd out. Craig Counsell then decided to make a pitching change. A little surprising considering Taillon had handled Connor Joe pretty well striking him out and popping him out in his 2 at bats. Unlike the Pirates’ move, going to bullpen, this did not work out. He brought in Hayden Wesneski who has been a solid reliever for the Cubs. He walked Connor Joe. Nick Gonzales ripped a 108 MPH single up the middle, giving the Pirates a 3-1 lead. The bullpen came through for the final 3 innings, giving the Pirates the series win.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Giants in Pittsburgh. The Pirates start a stretch of 36 games, 18 at home and 18 on the road. They have 6 off days during this stretch. It will take them through the end of June and into the mid 70 game mark. They have shown some signs of life during these last 10 days. With all the off days this can only help the pitching. Will the Pirates ever put the best 9 players on the field. It remains to be seen.

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Pirates Morning Report: Falter Was Up To The Task, Too Bad Shelton Wasn’t

Final Score: Pirates 0 Cubs 1

Why The Pirates Lost: It was a great pitcher’s dual as Barry (Not My) Falter matched the best pitcher in baseball Shota Imanaga pitch for pitch. Imanaga gave up 4 hits but 3 of them were of the very weak variety, only walked 1 and struck out 7, while throwing 88 pitches in 7 innings. Falter gave up 3 hits but one of those was another pop up that should have been caught. He walked 2, struck out 2, throwing 83 pitches in 7 and 2/3 innings of work. Shelton pretty much slept though another game. In the top of the 8th he did not pinch hit for Alika Williams with Oniel Cruz when a right hander was brought in to start the inning. Colin Holderman got out of the bottom of the 8th jam throwing only 9 pitches. He should have come out for the bottom of the 9th. Instead, David Bednar pitched and after one out gave up a double and the game winning single. Yes, there was the close controversial call at the plate that replay upheld. It was not as obvious as Matt Capps made it out to be. Capps also described Imanaga has having a nice start to his career. That is like saying Shohei Ohtani is a pretty good player. The question to ask about that play is why did Bart take the ball out of his glove in the first place. Just make sure you hold on to it. It was a tough loss but the Pirates certainly did not do much to try and win the game.

Key Moments Of The Game: The decisions of Derek Shelton. The lack of moves and some moves that he made were all bad. You could argue that he should have left Falter in the game in the bottom of the 8th. Yon Gomes may have batted if Holderman had not been brought it. Holderman wound up walking the more dangerous hitter in Michael Busch. Without question this game was kept from going into extra innings or being a Pirate win by the manager.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Chicago. Jameson Taillon will go to mound for the Cubs, another one that the Pirates let get away. The Pirates will counter with Mitch Keller who has had one great and one good outing in his last 2 starts. No matter what happens tomorrow the road trip at least has not been a disaster. In the 6 games, the Pirates have been competitive in 5 of them. That is not bad considering you are playing the top of your division. Having said all of that it would be nice to see a winning road trip and a series win. The next 36 games, the Pirates play 18 at home and 18 on the road with lots of days off. They play some great teams and average teams during the stretch. We are heading into June. This team needs to get on a roll.

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Pirates Morning Report: We Now Need To Pray For Rain

Final Score: Pirates 9 Cubs 3

Why The Pirates Won: Two words, Paul Skenes. It does not get better than this, 6 innings, no runs, no hits, 1 walk, and 11 strikeouts. The Cubs only put 7 balls in play. Only one of those made it to the outfield. Back in the late 40’s and early 50’s the Boston Braves had this dynamic pitching duo of Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. In 1948 they won 39 games. In 1950 they won 41 games. During that time frame the phrase was coined, Spahn and Sain and then pray for rain. Even though it does not rhyme Pirate fans better start thinking the same way. Jones and Skenes and then pray for rain. Yes, the Pirates bats did come alive and scored 9 runs, which was more than enough, even with the B squad bullpen shakily finishing up. Connor Joe led the way getting 3 hits, with both Jared Triolo and Yasmani Grandal having 3 RBIs apiece. Tellez did get a couple of hits and hit the ball hard his last at bat, but he still stinks. Same for Suwinski. Overall, a great day for the Pirates, winning the first two games of the series and improving to 21-25.

The Key Moment Of The Game: It was that first inning, baby. First batter 4 pitch strike out the last pitch 100 MPH four-seam fastball. Second batter 6 pitch strike out the last pitch 100 MPH four-seam fastball. Third batter 3 pitch strike out the last pitch 100 MPH four-seam fastball. After that inning you knew it was going to be the Pirates’ day. The Pirate broadcast booths were wetting their pants. Joe Block on the radio side said that this was Skenes’s 2nd major league start 248 times. Greg Brown on the television side was almost dumb founded because he did not have to make up stuff to come up with something positive to say about the Pirates. It was just flat out a great day for Pirates baseball. Enjoy it because today……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Chicago. Today the Pirates may be facing the best pitcher in baseball, Shota Imanaga. At the moment, he leads all of baseball in ERA+ with a whopping 429 and FIP at 2.28. He is left-handed which means there is a good chance that both Suwinski and Tellez will be on the bench. The man faced with the challenge of going head-to-head with this guy will be Barry (No Luck) Falter. Can the left-handed journeyman defeat the left-handed ace. If that happens it could be considered the win of the year. Of course, there is always the possibility it could rain. Excuse me, while I go pray.

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Pirates Morning Report: Send Down Suwinski, DFA Tellez PLEASE

Final Score: Pirates 5 Cubs 4

Why The Pirates Won: A battling start by Jared Jones as he struggled through 6 innings giving up 3 runs, 7 hits, walking 0, striking out 7 while throwing 91 pitches. There were only two 3 up 3 down innings, but when he needed an out Jones was able to persevere. The Cubs were only 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position. The bullpen did the job, with very encouraging performances by Aroldis Chapman and David Bednar. Chapman threw 17 pitches, with 12 being strikes in a clean 7th inning. Bednar had a 3 up 3 down 9th with not even a loud foul being hit off of him. The Pirates offense thanks to a misplay in right field had just enough to pull out this tight win. What was not encouraging was the performances of Rowdy (They Are Putting Me In For Defensive Purposes?) Tellez and Jack (6 Swings And Misses, 3 Called Strikes, 3 Foul Balls) Suwinski. By the way that adds up to 4 strike outs in 4 at bats. Neither one should be playing in the majors at the moment. It is hard to win games with only 11 position players. Somehow the Pirates managed to pull out this game to improve their record to 20-25.

Key Moment Of The Game: Going into the bottom of the 8th the Pirates were leading 5-3 when Colin Holderman took the mound. The first pitch he hit the batter. Cody Bellinger on an 0-2 pitch hit a little dribbler in front of the plate. Yasmani Grandal’s throw was not good, but our defensive specialist Mr. Tellez made a half ass effort on trying to catch the ball. It got past him allowing the Cubs to have runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Holderman got the next batter to hit a sacrifice fly and the score was 5-4. From the Pirates point of view, Holderman miraculously struck out Ian Happ who crushes Pirate pitching. Just to make things interesting he walked the next batter and fell behind 2-0 on Nick Madrigal. He got 2 strikes and then Madrigal hit a weak ground ball up the middle that Alika Williams made a nice play on to end the inning. The Cubs scored a run without getting a hit, but it could have been much worse. Bednar pitched the magnificent 8 pitch 9th and the Pirates escaped with the win.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Chicago. Paul Skenes makes his 2nd start and hopefully will be able to lead the Pirates to the 2nd win of the series. Last night was a huge win for the Pirates but can they keep the momentum going in of all places Chicago. It will be hard, especially when you have only 11 major league players to choose from to start the game.

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Pirates Morning Report: Giving Up The Gopher Ball

Final Score: Pirates 2 Brewers 10

Why The Pirates Lost: About 2-3 starts ago Martin Perez was described as a pitcher who knows how to keep the ball in the ballpark on the opening of a Pirates broadcast. I guess they will have to come up with a new description of Perez. He gave up 5 home runs yesterday and the stats were amazing. Home Run No. 1 350 feet at 103 MPH. Home Run No. 2 370 feet at 104 MPH. Home Run No. 3 380 feet at 100 MPH. Home Run No. 4 425 feet at 106 MPH. Home No. 5 the grand finale, 441 feet at 108 MPH. Each one was hit longer was hit 100 MPH or harder. The last one, the crack of the bat was heard in Chicago. Nine runs on five home runs making the game a blast for the Brewers. Compare that with the last out of the game. Rowdy Tellez, 227 feet at 86 MPH. Statcast said that there was one little league park in Guam where that would have been a home run. The Pirates were not up to the task yesterday and fell to 19-25.

The Key Moment Of The Game: Any time Perez threw a pitch. In fact, things got so bad that the umpires were thinking of allowing Perez to use some kind of foreign substance to help him out. The Pirate broadcast booth was saying what a big game this was even though it was only May. Certainly, the Pirates didn’t feel that way, the way they played. The booth couldn’t get over the fact that Conner Jo leads the team in RBI’s despite playing so little. They must not realize how much the rest of the team stinks. Jo’s RBI total puts him around 60th in the league. After a promising start the road trip is now 1-2.

Next Game: Tonight, the Cubs in Chicago. For the next 2 nights, the big guns are going for the Pirates, Jones and Skenes. Could this start the turn around? Will Rowdy Tellez start all 4 games and extend his hitless streak to 0 for 35. I know he can do it if given the opportunity. He still has a long way to go to get to the 0 for 54 streak of Chris Davis. There is not much left to play for, so let Tellez go at.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Game They Should Have Won

Pirates Morning Report: Pirates 4 Cubs 5 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates could not come through when it mattered the most. This was a close, hard fought, well-played game. The Pirates had the game right in their grasp in the bottom of the 9th and failed. There was a lot to like about this game. It was the Pirates best defensive game of the year. They made no errors and made many spectacular plays that kept the Cubs off the board. If this would have been a win, the top of the 7th would have been the key moment of the game. Jack Suwinski and Oneil Cruz made great plays back-to-back to keep the game tied at 2-2. Barry (You Know What You Are Going To Get) Falter pitched his standard 81 pitch 6 innings just giving up a 2-run homer in the 1st inning. Even though his 6th inning looked pretty good, he was taken out again after a low pitch count. It is strange because right now the worst part of this team according to WAR is the bullpen. The Pirate bullpen ranks 26th and the four teams behind them are all in last place in their respective divisions. It is time to set the record straight here. The offense no question is abysmal, but this idea that the pitching is great is false. At the moment this is just an average pitching staff. In the three big categories, run prevention, true outcome results and ERA+, they are just a little above or a little below league average. Certainly, they are doing better than the hitters but this is far from some kind of an elite staff.

Key Moment Of The Game: This is really painful. The Pirates loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th with 1 out and the score tied 2-2. Shortstop Nico Hoerner made a spectacular play on a ground ball to keep the winning run from scoring from second that saved the game. None the less, eventually, the Pirates loaded the bases with one out. Bryan Reynolds swung at the first pitch that was halfway between his big toe and knee just dribbling it out in front of the plate. They forced out the runner at home and almost threw Reynolds out at first. His mother was seen vomiting in the aisle. Oneil Cruz was able to work the count to 3-1, but then tried to pull a pitch on the outer third of the plate and flew out to right field. The Cubs scored 3 in the top of the 10th and the Pirates countered with a 2-run homer by Connor Joe, but it was not enough as the Pirates fell to 18 and 23.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. This road trip of 7 games, may determine if this team has any hope of having a successful season. I not sure if even 3-4 will be good enough, but anything worse will certainly put the Pirates in a hole they may never get out. In the last 25 games the Pirates have scored over 4 runs just three times. The sad thing is, they lost one of those games, thanks to tonight’s starting pitcher Mitch Keller. He did have one great outing last time and he will probably need to do again if the Pirates are going to have any chance. How much longer are we going to have to watch Rawhide Rowdy Rally Killing Tellez. His last 7 games he is hitting .063. Steve Blass had a lifetime batting average of .177. Get the point.