Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Pirates Morning Report: All Star Break, Part One

The Pirates made it to .500, 48-48 thanks to a finishing 4 game winning streak. The Pirates are 7-0 against the Marlins and the White Sox. I will never belittle those wins. The Marlins beat the Reds in the last game before the break. This does beg the question, did the Pirates really improve, or did they take advantage of poor competition. In the 3 phases of the game, hitting, pitching, and defense, let’s see what happened. They got a lot better pitching, stayed the same hitting, and surprisingly got worse on defense since we last took a look at the Pirates, 31 games ago. Let us look at the team numbers first. The offense continues to stink but at least they did not get worse. If you listen to the broadcast booth you would think this team is ready to become the 27′ Yankees. Dream away child. In runs scored they are still at 20th in the league at 4.19 runs per game. In on base percentage they have fallen to 27th from their lofty perch of 24th. In the comparison stat OPS+ there are now only 2 teams in all of baseball that hit worse than they do. There is no question their pitching has gotten them to .500. They showed vast improvement in every category. In runs allowed they went up to 14th from 19th. In fielding independent pitching, they had a huge improvement going up to 7th in baseball from 19th. In the comparison stat of ERA+ they went up two places to 12th. Going through each position and area according to WAR the Pirate rotation is hitting elite status as they are ranked 3rd in all of baseball. Too bad the rest of the team can’t even come close to that. The next highest ranked position is left field where Bryan Reynolds has played the most at 12th. Where the Pirates stink the most is centerfield (30th), pinch hitting (26th), catcher (25th), right field (22th), and the bullpen (22nd). Then we come to what I feel is the most disappointing part of this Pirate team the defense. In defense efficiency which takes in all aspects of a team’s defense not just errors, the Pirates now are 25th, falling 8 places. Essentially, they are one of the worst fielding teams in the league.

Looking at the individual players here are the culprits that are having horrible offensive seasons up to this point. OPS+ is the comparison stat on how a player compares with his constituents. It takes into consideration the run scoring environment, the competition and the ballpark the player plays in. It comes out simply a whole number with 100 being league average. Being a league average hitter is absolutely fine and if the Pirates had about 8-9 hitters at league average or above, they would probably be in first place. Here are the Pirate players that probably could not get a hit even if there were only 5 players on the field. Their OPS+ is in parenthesis. Yasmani Grandal (42), Ke’Bryan Hayes (74), Michael Taylor (53), Jared Triolo (59), Jack Suwinski (63), Henry Davis (45), and Alika Williams (48). With the exception of Hayes, these players are hitting at a rate of 37 to 48% worse than the league average. Even though I know this won’t happen, there is not one single reason that I can think of for these players to be on the team when play resumes after the break. More on that in part 2. Even with his hot 6 to 7 weeks Rawhide Rowdy Tellez sits at 92. What Rowdy are we going to see after the break. The April May Rowdy or the June July Rowdy. The other aspect of the Pirate game that will have to improve is the bullpen. You cannot be the 22nd best bullpen and make the playoffs. Hopefully the defense will improve just by the normal course of events.

Finally let’s set the record straight. This is not the second half of the season. The season is 60% over. The Pirates have played 96 games and there are 66 games to go. With the expanded playoffs the last two years, 87 and 84 wins have made the final playoff spot. Both years that final playoff spot made it to the World Series. Let’s compromise here and say it will take 86 wins to make the playoffs. The Pirates would need to go 38-28 to get to that point. I do not see that happening in the team’s current state. In my view the Pirates need 2 outfielders, a catcher, and at least on more bullpen arm. How they will go about that or even if they will go about that will dictate how this season will go. Part 2 on Friday.

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Pirates Morning Report: Offense Back To Normal, Putrid

Final Score: Pirates 2 Mets 3

Why The Pirates Lost: Even though Oneil Cruz hit his home run in the game before against a left hand pitcher, the Pirate dumb trust decided to not play him today. They did put him in the bottom of the 7th, but without being in the flow of the game he struck out twice against right handed pitching. This offense is so bad that it is unbelievable. Yesterday they were amazing getting only 6 hits and one of those was a single that Joey Bart tried to stretch into a double and was thrown out. This all wasted another great performance by Luis Ortiz who went 6 innings giving up 0 runs on 4 hits, no walks while striking out 5. The way the Pirates think this will probably be his last appearance of the month. The bullpen gave up all the runs including 2 in the ninth after the Pirates managed to scrounge for 2 runs to take a 2-1 lead. The Pirates are five games below 500 which is the most since they were 6 games under on May 15. This is a club that is fading fast. I do not even know if the Chicago White Sox can help this team at the end of next week. The home stand is now 2-4 which is pretty sad. It’s hard to find anything positive to say about this team but I am sure the web site will.

Key Moment Of The Game. It was the top of the ninth, with the Pirates leading 2-1, when Aroldis Chapman came in and came very close to closing the game for Pirates but just couldn’t do it. He walked Francisco Alvarez on 8 pitches after being ahead 0-2. Harrison Bader singled on a 7 pitch at bat putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Miraculously Chapman struck out the next two batters on 9 pitches with 5 of the 6 pitches being called strikes including both 3rd strikes. During the two at bats, he wild pitched one runner to third. This brought to the plate the much traveled 34 year old Jose Iglesias to the plate. In a battle royale where again Chapman got ahead in the count 1-2, Iglesias battled off pitch after pitch to draw a walk after 8 pitches. Francisco Lindor took a 3rd pitch 1-1 slider and looped it into left field to drive in the 2 runs to give the Mets the lead 3-2. Chapman walked the next batter on 5 pitches and was done for the day. I would say it was valiant effort by Chapman, but he came up one strike short. Kyle Nicolos got the last out of the inning but it was too late. Naturally the Pirates did nothing in the 9th

Next Game: This afternoon, the Mets in Pittsburgh. Mitch Keller will try and get the split to end this very disappointing homestand. Just when you think this team has had it, they do seem to come back, but I do not know about this time. These were games that were against teams that were slightly above them in the race and the Pirates failed miserably to gain some ground. One has to feel that this season is slipping away.

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Pirates Morning Report: Batting Order + B Squad= Defeat

Final Score: Pirates 2 Mets 5

Why The Pirates Lost: I thought the only way that management could mess up the lineup yesterday was to not play Cruz and Taylor. Boy was I wrong. First why would you bat Ke’Bryan Hayes, who in the last 15 games, has a slash line of .175/203/.246, third in the order. Nick Gonzales should have batted third, with Hayes moving down to 7th or even 8th. Why would you start Josh Palacios a left-hand batter who has seen very little left-hand pitching in his major league career. I know Edward Olivares has not done all that well lately, but that is why you got him to face left handers. If you are going with someone else, then use Suwinski who is starting to show some life. Greg Brown was happy, because Palacios brings so much energy. I have never heard a game end 2 energy to 1 energy. But since Brown is going to Wrigley Field before the All Star break maybe he has. Then the Pirates decided to go with the B squad bullpen despite the fact that this was supposed to be an important game and nobody on the A squad pitched yesterday. The score was 3-2 Mets going into the top of the 6th inning. No Holderman, Mlodzinski, Nicolas despite this being a close game. The Pirate’s bats went back to normal yesterday anyway, so it might not have made any difference.

The Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates trailed 5-2 going into the bottom of the 7th when it looked like the Mets were about to gift the Pirates some runs. A bloop single by Rowdy Tellez and two walks loaded the bases with one out. Then Sleepy Shelton and the umpires decided not today Pittsburgh fans. This is where Shelton should have pitch hit for Ke’Bryan Hayes. Hayes had his typical at bat. Despite having the bases loaded, Hayes takes a pitch over the outer third of the plate that is belt high for a strike. He swings at the next pitch, while it was a strike, was on the outside corner at the knees breaking away. He hit a soft 73 MPH liner that Lindor made a nice play on for the 2nd out. Jack Suwinski pitch hit for Connor Joe, and it was right here that you had to figure that this was not going to be the Pirates day. In what I could only describe as the worst pitch calling I have ever seen, there were 5 pitches that were not even close to strike zone, Suwinski never swung at one, and yet the count was 3 balls and 2 strikes. It was so bad, even Sleepy Shelton realized it and was tossed from the game. Suwinski swung at the next pitch that was low, but who could blame him, ending the threat. The Pirates never came close again and the home stand is now 2-3.

Next Game: This afternoon, Mets in Pittsburgh. Luis Ortiz emerges from wherever he was since he last started. The Pirates, with all their wisdom, have allowed Ortiz to pitch only 2 innings since he had the great start on June 26th, 10 days ago. Who knows what they are thinking? Do you think he might be rusty? He was stretched out. Do you think he still is? Another injury waiting to happen. I hear Dennis Santana may be starting against the White Sox. How long can this management team be allowed to ruin a pretty good team?

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Pirates Morning Report: What The Hell Just Happened

Final Score: Pirates 14 Mets 2

Why The Pirates Won: You can kiss it good-bye, the Pirates went long ball 7 times which accounted for all 14 runs. Bryan Reynolds hit 2 home runs including a grand slam to drive in 6 runs. Rowdy Tellez was not far behind with a solo shot and another grand slam for 5 RBI’s. Paul Skenes went 7 gritty innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, walking 2, striking out 8, while throwing 107 pitches. He won his 5th game without a loss. You never know what the effect of a blowout win will be. Last year a big blowout win against the Nationals seemed to put an end to the Pirates strong start. On April 30th the Pirates fell 3 games below .500. For the last 66 days the Pirates are 28-28. It looked like if you hung around .500 that you would have a legitimate shot at the wild card. San Diego and St. Louis have upped the ante on that idea as they stand 6 and 5 games above .500 respectively. Will this type of win propel the Pirate offense to produce some numbers over the last 9 games before the All Star break. It could be a confidence builder. Michael Taylor yesterday went 4 for 4 with a home run, what else, after seeing only 5 pitches. The Pirates famous for ignoring the hot hitter will probably give Taylor another start against the left hander today. He should continue to start at least until he has a hitless game.

Key Moments Of Game: The first 3 innings looked like the same old Pirates as they scored 0 runs on 3 hits and a hit batsman. When Skenes got nicked for another run in the top of the 4th you figured this game was over, with the Mets leading 2-0. In the bottom of the 4th Rowdy (I Never Heard Of The Series Rawhide) Tellez and Jack (I Can’t Believe I’m In The Big Leagues) Suwinski homered to tie the game at 2-2. This seemed to inspire Skenes as retired 7 batters in a row and 9 of the last 10 in his last 3 innings of work. In the bottom of the 5th the Pirates had 2nd and 3rd with 0 outs when Michael Taylor got picked off third base. Right there the Pirates looked like they were going to blow a big scoring opportunity. Bryan Reynolds unloaded a 400 foot 107 MPH bomb and the Pirates led 4-2. The Pirates blew the game open after that for a nice easy win.

Next Game: This afternoon, Mets in Pittsburgh. Bailey (It’s Not My) Falter what lineup they put on the field, but I hope that both Cruz and Taylor are in it. Maybe a game like this will loosen this team up a little bit. The old saying is hitting can be contagious. It looked like that was case last night except for Ke’Bryan Hayes. It looked like he took the anti-hit vaccine.

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Pirates Morning Report: Just When You Are Ready To Give Up On This Team, They Win One.

Final Score: Pirates 4 Braves 2

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates had a solid pitching performance by Bailey (It’s Not My) Falter they think I can only throw 80 pitches, and the bullpen, who were forced to throw 4 innings because of such thinking. The bullpen was up to the task even though Aroldis Chapman had a shaky ninth inning. The offense had 8 putrid innings, scoring no runs on 4 hits. But one inning, the top of the 5th, thanks to some Braves kindness and a little luck, the Pirates were able to score, count em, 4 runs. The inning started out harmless enough when Jack (Why Do They Keep Letting Me Embarrass Myself) Suwinski got hit in his big toe. It took a Pirate challenge to get him on first base. Andrew McCutchen and Bryan Reynolds both struck out on a total of 8 pitches. Spencer (I Think Oneil Cruz Is Overrated) Schwellenbach laid a 90 MPH cutter right over the plate to the overrated Cruz on the first pitch and he belted it 452 feet to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. S. S. as I like to call him, walked Edward Olivares on 5 pitches. This brought Rawhide Rowdy (It’s A Shame That June Has To Come To An End) Tellez to the plate. Low and behold he hit an 82 MPH splitter on the inside corner of the plate into the seats to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead they protected until the bottom of the 9th.

Key Moment Of The Game: Aroldis Chapman came into the bottom of the 9th and the fun began. He got Austin Riley to ground out to the shortstop where Cruz made a very nice play. Chapman gave up a single and a double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with just one out. Orlando Arcia took an 87 MPH slider and lined it into centerfield where Michael Taylor made a spectacular catch for the 2nd out. A run scored, but instead of the Braves having runners on 1st and 3rd with one out at the very least, they had a runner on 2nd with two out. Zack Short hit a sharp ground ball but right at Jared (Why Am I In The Major Leagues And Jason Delay Is Not) Triolo to end the game. The last two outs were hit 97 and 109 MPH. All of this enabled the Pirates to salvage one game in the series and have a .500 road trip.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Cardinals in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have 13 games before the All Star break, seven home games and 6 road games. They have no days off after today until the break. I heard that the coaching staff was up all night last night trying to come up with the perfect rest schedule for this aging team. Playing 13 games in 13 days will definitely be too much for this veteran team. This will be the critical factor during this stretch giving the players the proper rest. Ten of these games will be against teams that are battling the Pirates for the wild card spot or division title. The stress will be ungodly for these poor boys. I am sure the Pirate lineup cards will reflect this and be perfect for every game. I just fell off my chair laughing.

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Pirates Morning Report: Poor Fundamentals and Bad Strategy

Final Score: Pirates 1 Braves 2 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: It all happened in the 10th inning which I will get to. This featured two of the best pitchers in the National League, Paul Skenes and Max Fried. Their performances were eerily similar. They both went 6 innings giving up 1 run on 6 hits. They were both tough when they needed to be, not giving up a hit with runners in scoring position. They both seemed to have trouble with the mound. As they like to say on MLB Now, were the Braves up to no good, trying to throw a young pitcher off. If they were, it also seemed to throw their own pitcher off. Skenes threw 102 pitches and Fried 103 pitches. Skenes walked 2, Fried walked 3. The only big difference was Skenes struck out 9 including the last 3 batters he faced, while Fried struck out 4. This game boiled down to the 10th inning and it showed why the Braves are who they are, one of the top 3 or 4 teams in the National League, and why the Pirates are in the depths of mediocrity.

The Key Moments Of The Game: Edward Olivares had moved to third with one out in the top of the tenth. A wild pitch sent Olivares home and he would have been safe, but he made the worst slide since Gregory Polanco. The umpire called him safe because there was no way he could have been out. However, the replay showed he was clearly out. He could have gone in headfirst. Hell, he would have been safe if he had just run across the plate. There was no catcher at the plate, and he was tagged from behind. Good God. We go to the bottom of the 10th and now the WINNING run is on 2nd base with nobody out. Even the Pirate broadcast booth knew what to do. Unfortunately, the Pirate bench did not. Maybe Shelton didn’t realize that Olivares had been called out. Adam Duval’s run meant nothing. You could just walk him or at the very least give him four pitches out of the zone and see if he chases. With runners on 1st and 2nd you open up the possibility of a double play and the force out at third. Certainly, what you don’t do is throw 2 pitches right down the middle of the plate, like Kyle Nicolas did. Duval, auditioning to become a Pirate, took the first one. The second one he cracked to the base of the wall and the game was quickly over. Again momentum lost for the Pirates. What were they thinking? Only the Shadow knows.

Next Game: Late this morning, Braves in Atlanta. The Pirates will probably get swept today. They should be made to drive back to Pittsburgh in a bus without air conditioning. At least send the coaching staff on it.

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Pirates Morning Report: It Was Like He Never Left

Final Score: Pirates 1 Braves 6

Why The Pirates Lost: Martin Perez made his first start in over a month, and it was not good. In 4 innings he gave up 6 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. He had the same issues that he had when he went on the IL on May 26th. He was working from behind a lot as he could not locate his pitches. With the Pirates trying to conserve innings with the young pitchers he better correct this soon. The Pirate bats were silenced by Charlie Morton pitching 6 and 1/3 innings giving up only 3 hits and walking 1. The only good news was Bryan Reynolds extended his hitting streak to 24 games by getting a seeing eye ground ball through the infield in his last at bat in the 8th inning. Ke’Bryan Hayes did get a couple of hits so maybe he might be coming out of his funk. No such signs for Oneil Cruz going 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. As a team the Pirates struck out 13 times. Keep on processing boys.

Key Moment Of The Game: It was 1-0 going into the top of the 3rd when the Braves broke it open quickly. In 19 pitches the Braves went single, walk, single, double, single to make the score 5-0 and this game was over. They were able to add a 5th run in the inning to make the score 6-0. The Pirates never really threatened to make a game of it.

Next Game: This afternoon, Braves in Atlanta. Two big guns are going today, Paul Skenes vs. Max Fried. The only hope for the Pirates is that in his last 3 starts Fried has not gone past the 6th inning and only pitched 5+ in two of them. With one of the best lefties in the game going, I do not expect to see Oneil Cruz in the lineup. I normally do not agree with that, but in this case, Cruz is in such a funk right now, I don’t think he will come out of it against this guy. The series in Cincinnati started out badly and the Pirates won the next two. Could this happen again against the mighty Braves. Who knows? Only the Shadow Shelton knows.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Win Pitching Duel

Final Score: Pirates 1 Reds 0

Why The Pirates Won: Both starting pitchers, Hunter Greene, for the Reds, and Mitch Keller for the Pirates were dominate. Greene pitched 6 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 hits, walking none, striking out 9 but was not that efficient throwing 106 pitches. The Pirates only had 3 at bats with runners in scoring position. Keller was just a little bit better going 7 plus innings giving up 2 singles, did walk 2, struck out 7 while throwing only 83 pitches. The Reds only had 4 at bats with runners in scoring position. Only once did each team get a runner to second with less than 2 outs. It was one of the most dominant pitching performances by both pitchers for the year. Great defensive plays were not even needed. The Reds had only one ball that was hit over a 100 MPH and that was a pop up. The Pirates had 4 over 100 MPH. Their 3 hits and a line out by Hayes that the centerfielder made a comfortable running catch. This was the poster child for a game of soft contact. The game only took 2 hours and 8 minutes. The Pirates took the series to hold onto 3rd place in the Central.

The Key Moment Of The Game: Bryan Reynolds took a high outside change up and drilled it 407 feet over the left centerfield fence with 2 out in the bottom of the 8th to give the Pirates that cherished 1-0 lead. It extended his hitting streak to 17 games and gave the Pirates the lead with 3 outs to get. Bednar came in the top of the 9th and shut it down easily to gain his 16th save.

Next Game: Tomorrow, the Rays, in Pittsburgh. These are not the Tampa Bay Rays of old, floundering 5 games under .500. No pitchers have been announced so there is no telling what the Pirates are going to do. They will have all day today and tomorrow to think about it which is really scary. This is a team that we have the potential to sweep. Can we finally get a hot streak? Who knows? Only the Shelton knows.

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Pirates Morning Report: Homestand Off To A Good Start

Final Score: Pirates 4 Reds 1

Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes was solid if not spectacular going 6 innings giving up 1 run on 6 hits, walking 1 while striking out 7. Not the most efficient outing as he took 96 pitches to do it. The bullpen was even better giving up only 1 hit and no walks over the last 3 innings. The A team strikes again. The Pirates won the battle of the first inning outscoring the Reds 3-1. Two out lightening struck again in the next inning as McCutchen and Reynolds had back-to-back doubles after 2 were out. That was enough for Skenes and the mighty bullpen. The Reds helped out by getting runners picked off 1st in two consecutive innings, both with no outs at the time.

Key Moment Of The Game: The top of the sixth Skenes did have some struggles. Elly De La Cruz led off the inning with a single. Paul Skenes on a great move picked off Cruz for the first out. Jeimer Candelario hit a sharp 107 MPH liner right at Conner Joe for the 2nd out. Spencer Steer singled to left. Paul Skenes issued his only walk and if not for the pick off the Reds would have had the bases loaded with one out. Skenes got out of the inning on a weak tapper back to the mound and the Reds never really threatened again.

Next Game: Tonight, the Reds in Pittsburgh. Barry Falter starts tonight and again he draws the best pitcher on the Reds in left hander Nick Lodolo. With a left hander going I use to say that was good since that meant Tellez would not play. I am sure he won’t tonight. What I will be curious about is that as long as he on this hot streak will there be a game against a righty that he will not play. All I can is say there better not be. This will be another indication if the Pirate management team is really serious about winning. You know that this streak will not last forever. Can somehow, someway the Pirates get on a roll? I just don’t know. Maybe that pathetic blowout lost to Rockies will turn things around.

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Pirates Morning Report: Surprisingly Easy Win For The Pirates.

Final Score: Pirates 8 Rockies 2

Why The Pirates Won: Josh Fleming, the previously DFA left hander, pitched a solid 4innings, and the Pirates brought back 2 out lightening to score a nice win against the Rockies. It was another bullpen game for the Pirates and this time the B team did ok. Although if Carmen Mlodzinski keeps pitching the way he has been lately he might be graduating to the A team. In his last 7 games he has an ERA of 0.93. The win enabled the Pirates to continue to hang around .500 and move up to a tie for 3rd with the Reds. The offense came alive late, scoring the first 6 runs after two were out including 5 in the top of the 6th to break the game open.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates were leading 1-0 going into the bottom of the 5th and Josh Fleming started the inning to face two left-handed batters. Good strategy but did not work as he gave up singles to both, to put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. In came Mlodzinski and in 6 pitches he was out of the jam. On the 4th pitch he got a double play ball and on the 6th pitch a ground out, maintaining the Pirates lead 1-0. In the top of the 6th the Pirates had runners on 2nd and 3rd with two out. Jared (Big Disappointment) Triolo singled in two runs. Jack (I Can’t Believe They Keep Playing Me) Suwinski got a single to put runners at 1st and 2nd. Michael (At Least I Can Field) Taylor had the at bat of the game. He had a 9 pitch at bat where he fell behind in the count 1-2. He fouled off pitches working the count to 3-2 and walked on a pitch that should have been called a strike, which would have ended the inning. That brought up Jason (I Get No Love) Delay, who was making his first start of the season. He lined a ball into the right centerfield gap to clear the bases to break the game open 6-0. The Pirates added 2 more in the 7th and the B squad shakily brought the game home giving up 2 runs on 5 hits but had enough sense not to walk anybody.

Next Game: Tonight, the Reds in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have 12 games left this month, 6 at home and 6 on the road. They have the next 2 Thursdays off and July 1. They play the Reds 6 games, 3 at home and 3 on the road. They play 3 with the Rays at home and 3 with the Braves on the road. If this team is going to be taken seriously, they need to go 8-4 during this stretch. Are you listening Derek (The Shadow) Shelton?