Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Pirates Morning Report: Opening Day, Optimism Rampant

The Pirates open the 2024 baseball season tomorrow, visiting the Miami Marlins. There is much optimism for the coming season. This time last year it seemed like I was the only one that felt the Pirates might contend for a playoff spot. They got off to a hot start, but in the middle of that hot start Oneil Cruz suffered a season ending broken ankle. That essentially ended any hope that they would be a contender. This year many are writing that the Pirates will contend for a wild card and might even win the division. Certainly, the Pirates seem stronger this year in every phase of the game. What will determine how the 2024 season unfolds and how successful will the Pirates be? It goes without saying that the Pirates will need to avoid the devasting injury that befell Oneil Cruz last season. Assuming that the Pirates will remain relatively healthy, this is what must happen for the Pirates to make the playoffs or win the division.

I previously wrote that Ke’Bryan Hayes and Jared Triolo must come close to producing the offensive production that they showed the last 2 months of the 2023 season, and nothing has changed my mind. The Pirate management team showed they have a lot of faith in Triolo by making him the starting 2nd baseman. Last fall I thought Triolo would be on the team, but in the role of the super utility man playing 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and possibly shortstop. I also thought that the Pirates would keep both Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero. Instead, they will both open the season in AAA. They did not show enough in spring training to warrant being kept on the team, once it was decided that Triolo would be the full-time 2nd baseman. Keeping Alika Williams was a surprise, but I imagine that that he will be sent down once Ji Hwan Bae is healthy. That says something about the Pirate offense, where management is comfortable playing a no-hit glove man once in a while. Speaking of Bae, in 16 plate appearances in spring training, he did walk 4 times, so there may be hope for him yet.

Bryan Reynolds must get closer to being the player he was in 2021. He has been in a steady decline since then. Looking at two areas, WAR and OPS+, beginning in 2021 his WAR has gone from 5.9 to 3.0 to 2.4 and his OPS+ has gone from 145 to 127 to 113. In order for this team to win the division Reynold must at least play between his 2021 and 2022 levels. In an earlier blog I mentioned that the Pirates would be fine if Reynolds even played at his 2023 level. Since that time, I have changed my mind especially if they want to win the division. Reynolds has not had a particularly great spring, slashing .196/261/476. I never put a lot of weight on springtime performance. He could be experimenting around a little with his approach and swing. I feel that Reynolds will bounce back because he just seems to be a solid skilled player. How much he bounces back will go a long way to determining how this Pirate season turns out. If he would continue his decline, then this may be the first Pirate problem of 2024. On the other hand, Jack Suwinski is headed in the right direction. Using the same formula, Suwinski has seen his WAR go from 1.2 in 2022 to 2.2 in 2023. His OPS+ went from 99 in 2022 to 115 in 2023. If he can continue this upward trend the Pirates will be able to take another step closer to the division title.

There is no question that once the Pirates acquired Michael Taylor and decided to play Triolo at 2nd base they were going to put their best defensive team on the field in this century. If Carlos Santana was going to be at first base, they might be putting the best defensive team in the league on the field in 2024. Even without Santana this will be a very strong defensive team at least on paper. Will they play to that potential in 2024? In my view it is a very likely occurrence. I have always gone with Baseball’s Reference’s Defensive Efficiency Rating as my main comparison stat when it comes to fielding. Last year the Pirates finished 18th in DER. I expect them to crack the top 5 this year if they are going to win the division.

Then there is the Pirate pitching staff. The Pirates are going to prove or disprove the theory that you cannot have enough pitching. They have 24 pitchers on the 40 man Roster and only 4 are 30 years old or older. The Pirates have 9 pitchers that could easily go into the starting rotation and by mid-season that number should grow to 11. Two mainstays of last year’s bullpen are going to start the season on the IL, Colin Holderman and Carmen Mlodzinski, and it looks like the bullpen will not miss a beat. Dauri Moreta is going to miss the entire season due to elbow surgery, but there is no talk of getting bullpen help. With the high number of arms that is on this squad, hopefully, they will find 13 that will be very good to excellent in run prevention. The Pirates should be better in every phase of the game, hitting, fielding, base running, and pitching. The question will be, will this be good enough and will the players perform to their expected levels.

Can this team win the division? As long as they can avoid the injury bug, I would say they have at least a 50-50 chance. Could the Pirates win the American League East or the National League West, not a chance in hell. Thankfully the Pirates are in the National League Central, where all the teams are in a state of transition. I think it will boil down to how does the core of the Pirates perform, Jack Suwinski, Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Jared Triolo, Henry Davis, and the starting pitcher that day. They will either be the Magnificent 7 or the 7 Little Foys. It should be one of the most interesting and exciting seasons that Pittsburgh has seen in about 10 years, starting tomorrow. The Pirates Morning Report will start on the following day with a concise, no nonsense look, (well maybe a little nonsense, I just can’t help myself) at why the Pirates won or lost each game. I can hardly wait, but I must.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Boredom Goes On.

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

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

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

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

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Pirates Morning Report: 2024 Off Season ZZzzzzzzz, Sorry To Wake You Up

To say that the Pirate off season so far has been disappointing would be an understatement. The off season is far from over and things could change, but the Pirates have done almost nothing to improve their team. The re-signing of Connor Joe I took to be a bad sign that the Pirates were not really serious about 2024. It is amazing to me how much of a positive spin that some of the media have put on the Pirate off season so far. My favorite article was titled, A Look into the Bucs’ Talented New Trio. The article was referring to Rowdy Tellez, Billy McKinney, and Edward Olivares. These individuals may have some talent, but I am not too sure that it is playing baseball. The Pirates did a little better in acquiring starting pitching, but not much. For a team that was talking about contending for a divisions title when the season was barely over, they have not shown much of a propensity for trying to obtain talent to accomplish that goal. Let’s look at what they have done so far, and I know this is hard, but try and stay awake. We are going to look at the 6 main players the Pirates have acquired during the off season. Ali Sanchez looked like he was obtained in case the Pirates traded a catcher, may have a bigger role, now that Endy Rodriguez is out for the year. We will do the players in alphabetical order because they are all pretty much mediocre, with none having much of a chance of contributing to a division title. That’s not to say that there is no hope but if history is any indication, then it will be very surprising if any of these players have a WAR of 2 or over, which means they are a major league starter.

Marcos Gonzales left-handed pitcher going into his age 32 season and the last two seasons have not been that great for Marcos. In 2022 he became a below average pitcher with an ERA+ of 90 for the first time in 5 seasons. In 2023 due to some forearm issues had to have for lack of a better description a rare surgery to decompress a nerve. After the Garcia experience of last year, the Pirates thought, sure why not, let’s get him. As in most cases with such a situation, all sides are optimistic that he will be able to pitch a complete and successful season. If he is not on the IL opening day I will be surprised.

Billy McKinney, outfielder AND first baseman going into his age 29 season and for all intent and purposes has played the equivalent of 2 major league seasons. He has a lifetime OBP of 284 and OPS+ of 82, which means he is about 20% worse than the league average hitter. Last year with the Yankees he did manage an OPS+ of 98 and got on base at a 320 clip. He is at least an average fielder which as you will see is good compared to some. There is nothing in this guys DNA to suggest that he is ready for some break out season in 2024.

Edward Olivares, outfielder heading into his age 28 season. In the last 2 years he has 559 plate appearances which is about one season of playing regularly. Just to compare, last year Byan Reynolds had 640 plate appearances with an OPS+ of 113. Olivares over that 2-year period had an OPS+ of 110, close to Bryan Reynolds, so what’s the catch. That’s the key word catch. Olivares is a terrible fielder. In 4 seasons his Defensive Runs Saved is -21. When the Pirates first signed him, I thought that might mean they were not going to sign McCutchen because here was their new DH. Seeing him in right field will be quite the adventure.

Martin Perez, left-handed pitcher going into his age 33 season. The good news about Perez is that he is under 40 and has bullpen experience. He has been at or an above average league pitcher the last 4 seasons. He is the best of this group of six players but that’s not saying much. He can definitely help this rotation and be an asset to the team. His signing has not been made official, so there is always that.

Ali Sanchez, catcher heading into his age 27 season. Sanchez has practically no Major League experience having only 14 plate appearances. He has spent 10 seasons in the minor leagues. He says his favorite movie is Bull Durham. In his four seasons at AAA he doesn’t have too bad of numbers with a batting average of .275 while slugging .402. He should get an opportunity to show something this year with Endy out for the season.

Last but certainly not least, we have good old Rowdy Tellez or should we say David Vogelbach, the Turtle part 2. Both he and Vogelbach are listed at 270 pounds. Tellez has 4 inches of height on Vogelbach to spread those 270 pounds around a little better. He is coming off an injury plaque 2023 and I have not seen or read where he is trying to get into better shape. He had the big year in 2022 with 35 home runs having 599 plate appearances. Of the free agent first basemen out there, he is definitely at the bottom of the barrel. His defense is below average and considering we had one of the best fielding 1st baseman last year in Carlos Santana, this certainly can’t be considered an upgrade.

Well, are you still awake? The Pirates did re-sign Andrew McCutchen and if he can stay healthy may see some time in the field. Right now, the Pirates do not have anybody to competently play right field, unless they use McCutchen. Obviously, the off season is not over. There is plenty of time for moves, trades, and signings to be made. For the present, the Pirates cannot be taken seriously as a franchise that is trying to win a division title in 2024.

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Pirates Morning Report: What’s Next

The playoffs are in full swing, so we are not officially into the off season quite yet, but it is not too early to speculate and dream. The Pirates usually spend the off season signing low to mid-level free agents to fill in some gaps until prospects come up. The regular season was barely put to bed, when contending for the playoffs was bandied about. Since it is so early, let’s look at two things that are very unlikely to happen. The Pirates make no moves, or they make a big splash free agent signing. What would the 2024 Pirates look like if they went with just the players they have now.

As far as the position players are concerned, which normally number 13, there would be 7 players that would be locks to be on the team next year. Ke’Bryan Hayes, Bryan Reynolds, Jack Suwinski, Oneil Cruz, Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez, and Jared Triolo. Triolo’s strong finish, where he showed he might have some power potential, and his solid play at first base, easily puts him on this team at the moment. Triolo ended the season with an OPS+ of 116, higher than any other Pirate regular. That leaves 6 spots for the remaining players on the 40-man roster. They are Jason Delay, Ji Hwan Bae, Vinny Capra, Nick Gonzales, Tucupita Marcano, Liover Peguero, Alphonso Rivas, Alika Williams, Miguel Andujar, Connor Joe, Josh Palacios, Canaan Smith-Njigba, and last but certainly not least Andrew McCutchen. Vinny Capra and Alika Williams can be eliminated for obvious reasons which puts us down to 11 players. If the Pirates sign McCutchen, which is not a given, he will be on the team. I always felt they should have signed McCutchen beginning in 2021. I will admit I’m not too sure if it is the best move now, even if he comes on the cheap. I know all the positives of signing him, but they are all on the subjective side. I don’t know how much that is going to win you ball games. If they do sign him to a 1-year deal, I would not be upset or critical. I could say the same thing if they do not sign him. For the sake of argument, I will assume they sign him, and he takes the 8th spot on the roster. Next, we have the trio Gonzales, Marcano, and Peguero. All can play 2nd base, Marcano is the only glove man and the other 2 have some defensive issues but supposedly are better hitters. So far, Peguero and Gonzales have not shown they are major league hitters yet. Gonzales has had a smaller sample size, but it is underwhelming so far. Marcano has shown for sure he cannot hit big league pitching. All three will not be on the roster. I do not know if even 2 should be on the roster, but I am going with Peguero and Gonzales because of more potential and the Pirates need bats. Marcano is a good glove man, but he is not elite. That leaves 3 spots. I do not see Alphonso Rivas or Connor Joe being on this team next year. They are league average hitters, but their defense leaves a lot to be desired. Connor Joe is over 30 and Rivas is going on 28 these are not players that are going to put you in the playoffs. That leaves Jason Delay, Ji Hwan Bae, Miguel Andujar, Josh Palacios, Canaan Smith-Njigba, for the final 3 spots. During the final game of the season, the Pirate broadcast booth said that the Pirates are going to let Henry Davis catch in 2024. Even if this is true, I do not think this eliminates Jason Delay from the team. This can increase the flexibility of the Pirate lineup with 3 potential catchers. I am going to put him on the team. The final two spots go to Ji Hwan Bae and Miguel Andujar. Bae because of his potential. If he can walk like he did in AAA, then he will be an asset. I do not care if he ever bunts. He has got to be able to do the process that he incorporated in AAA to get more walks. If he can’t do this then back to the minors he goes. Even though I picked Andujar, I feel it is a tossup on all 3 players. One of the biggest disappointments in 2023 was Smith-Njigba. He did get hot at the end of 2023 in AAA, but will that ever happen at the next level. He is heading into his age 25 season, so you have to figure it is now or never in 2024. Then there is the curious case of Josh Palacios. Here are the cold hard facts on Palacious. He is heading into his age 29 season. In 264 plate appearances his slash line reads, .239/.279/.413, for an OPS+ of 86. His WAR was -0.2. He is a below average fielder in every defensive metric. However, he always seemed to find himself in big situations and he came through many times to get a lot of big hits. Even though I favored Andujar I am still not sure you can put much stock in his good September. What all this is telling you is that the Pirates need an outfielder.

What better way to fill that need than to make the splash signing of Cory Bellinger. Bellinger had the very nice bounce back year with the Cubs having an OPS+ of 133, way above what any Pirate did this year. Very solid indeed, but he did not approach his MVP season. There is no question he will be a highly sought after free agent, but I do not think he will bring one of those mega deals. I think he is a 200-million-dollar man but not a 300-million-dollar man. The Pirates could certainly pull this off if they wanted to. Not a likely happening but if you’re not going to dream now, you will never have a chance.

The other interesting thing about 2024 will be what will the Pirates do with Oneil Cruz. They have a plethora of middle infielders, so would they consider making him the right fielder, much like the Padres did with Fernando Tatis. Would they move him to 1st base? No matter what, the major factor is that Cruz needs to make a full recovery from his broken leg/ankle.

On the pitching side of the ledger what would the starting rotation and the bullpen look like in 2024 if the Pirates made no moves. The rotation would set up like this. Mitch Keller, Max Kranick, Luis Ortiz, Quinn Priester, and Johann Oviedo. If Roansy Contreras can regain his old form, then he might get back into the rotation. J. T. Brubaker should be ready to pitch sometime in June. First round pick Paul Skenes seems pretty determined to make the club right from spring training. Despite his determination that would be shocking. However, it is not unfathomable that he may be pitching for the Pirates in June. The rotation does not look as bleak as you might have thought, and the bullpen is very solid. Just to list the 8 guys I would put in the bullpen, they are David Bednar, Colin Holderman, Andre Jackson, Carmen Mlodzinski, Dauri Moreta, Kyle Nicolas and rounding out with the left handers Ryan Borucki and Bailey Falter. My pick of Nicolas may surprise some but after that horrible debut he pitched 5 innings gave up 1 run, 4 hits, striking out 7 and his stuff looked awesome. Cody Bolton and Hunter Stratton are good options if any of the above falter or get injured. Will the previous mentioned Jarlin Garcia ever pitch again? Who knows? Only the Shelton knows. There are some big-time pitchers that are becoming free agents, but I do not think the Pirates will try to sign any of them. As much as I would like to see the Pirates sign Bellinger, I am not expecting that either.

Could this be the first off season where the Pirates sign a free agent that will get the fans excited. Like every off season, there will be plenty of names out there, both position players and pitchers. Would the Pirates make a trade to upgrade the team. Right now, they do have this overflow of middle infielders, especially if they decide to leave Cruz at shortstop. I do not see this happening, but it opens up all kinds of possibilities to improve the team. Looking at the team right now, I think there are three things that need to happen if the Pirates are going to jump to 85 to 92 wins which usually gets you in the playoffs. This year it took 84 in the National League and 89 in the American League. Ji Hwan Bae needs to become the AAA hitter he is, in the Major Leagues. If he could post an on base percentage of .360 or better the Pirates would have a great 1-2 punch at the top of the order with him and McCutchen, if he is signed. Oneil Cruz needs to put in a full season and have a 4 WAR year. The pitching has to make a comeback. Despite all the injuries the Pirates have an amazing number of young arms. Even more than what we named earlier. There could be a pitcher in AA and AAA that could be the big surprise in 2024. The offseason is always a fluid situation and right now we have no idea what kind of moves the Pirates will or won’t do. No matter what they do, it will still be one of the most interesting off seasons the Pirates have had in a long long time.

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Pirates Morning Report: Walking May Be The Right Thing To Do

Final Score: Pirates 2 Reds 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The bats finally had a bad day and the Pirates refused to pitch around the red-hot TJ Friedl. The Pirate first four batters went 0 for 16 with 2 walks. The rest of the team scored 2 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. Jack Suwinski hit his 26th homer of the year to account for one of the runs. The most encouraging part of the day was the pitching performance of Quinn Priester. He had his first Major League quality start going 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 2 hits but walked 5. The bottom of the 6th he gave up a 2 run homer to TJ Friedl with nobody out. Each time through the order he had walked the first two batters in the Reds lineup and came out unscathed. This time Jonathan India led off the inning with a single and Priester failed to pitch Friedl careful enough. With no one out and leading 2-0 you could excuse this somewhat. However, in the bottom of the 7th with a runner on 2nd and 2 out Jose Hernandez served up 2 pitches in a row right over the plate slightly above the belt, and Friedl did not miss the 2nd one, and singling into left to give the Reds a 3-2 lead. Why the Pirates gave him anything to hit in that situation who knows? Only The Shadow knows for sure. The Reds added a run in the 8th on a home run and the 4 game win streak was over.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the top of the 7th the Pirates had 1st and 2nd, nobody out with the top of the order coming to bat. In 7 pitches the inning was over. Joe flew out, Reynolds popped out, and Hayes lined out to centerfield. The Pirates had a slight threat in the top of the 8th, thanks to two walks, but failed to score. They went down quietly and quickly, 10 pitches, in the top of the 9th. It has been a good road trip so far with the Pirates going 4-2, as they head for Philadelphia.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Phillies in Philadelphia. The Pirates have a shot at 77 wins if they can split their next 6 games. If they do, that will be a 15 game improvement from last year. The Phillies have not quite cinched the top Wild Card spot so they will be serious at least for those first 2 games. The Pirates took 2 out of 3 from the Phillies in Pittsburgh. Let’s hope that the Phillies do no more than return the favor.

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Pirates Morning Report: If Not For College Football I Would Have Gone To Bed

Final Score: Pirates 13 Reds 12

Why The Pirates Won: With the exception of Alika (I Am Looking To Buy A McDonalds In San Diego) Williams the Pirates bats boomed. The Reds built that 9-0 lead and I thought another 14 to whatever loss was coming to bookend the 3 game winning streak. There were lots of great College Football games on or I would have gone to bed. The Pirates scored a run in the top of the 4th to make it 9-1. Beginning in the top of the 6th the Pirates offense went crazy. Five in the 6th, three in the 7th, and four in the 8th to take a 13-9 lead. The Reds made a stirring comeback but just fell one run short to lose the game 13-12. In an exciting bottom of the 9th the Reds had the tying run on third with one out and could not push it across to send the game into extra innings. There were 25 runs, 32 hits, 9 walks in this offensive fest of a game. Alfonso Rivas went 3 for 5 with 5 RBI’s. Ji Hwan Bae was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI’s. Bryan Reynolds only got one hit, but it was a big one, a 3 run homer to cut the lead to 9-6. This win will always be one for the ages, and I have this on my DVR. I will watch this on one of those cold winter nights when I am craving baseball once more.

Key Moment Of The Game: Despite the exciting bottom of the 9th, the big moment of this game came in the bottom of the 8th. Colin Selby was brought in to start the 8th. From the very first pitch you knew he was in over his head. On top of all that he did not have the best luck in world either. The Reds had 1st and 3rd with nobody out thanks to a walk, wild pitch and a bloop single to right field. The Pirates gave up a run to get an out at 2nd and the score was 13-10. Another infield hit put runners on 1st and 2nd. A solid single to center scored another run making the score 13-11 with runners still on 1st and 2nd and one out. Tyler Stephenson hit a hard ground ball right back up the middle that Ji Hwan ( I Know I Said He Can’t Play Second Base) Bae made a spectacular play on, getting up, stepping on second base, and throwing to first to complete the inning ending double play. What made this play so big was, despite all his problems, Colin Selby was not coming out of this game because of the overworked Pirate bullpen. Carmen Mlodzinski came up big in the bottom of the 9th after getting into trouble and the Pirates had one of their greatest wins of all time.

Next Game: This afternoon, Reds in Cincinnati. There is no truth to the rumor that the Reds are just going to forfeit today’s game. They have to be pretty well shell shocked after last night’s game. It will be interesting to see how they respond.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Just A Little Bit Better

Final Score: Pirates 7 Reds 5

Why The Pirates Won: Where both teams had similar offensive lines, the Pirates were able to take advantage just a little better and they went long ball. The Pirates hit 4 solo home runs by Endy Rodriguez, Henry Davis, Jared Triolo, and Ke’Bryan Hayes. Each team had 7 walks, were 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position, while the Pirates left 9 men on base and the Reds 10. The back end of the bullpen did the job, shutting out the Reds over the last 3 innings. The Pirates got a big insurance run in the 9th when the Reds gifted them the run with 2 walks and hit batter, that enabled the Pirates to score the big run without the benefit of a hit. It was another hairy bottom of the 9th, but David Bednar was able to get through it unscathed., The Reds had 1st and 2nd with nobody out when Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit into a double play. Bednar stuck out the next batter and Pirates won their 3rd in a row. Now the Pirates just need 2 more wins to get to 75.

The Key Moment Of The Game: It was the first 2 innings where the Reds had lots of traffic on the bases but could only manage to score 1 run. In the first, the Pirates walked 2 and hit a batter to load the bases with 2 outs but they could not get the big hit. In the bottom of the 2nd a single and 2 walks could only net them 1 run. They could have had two crooked innings and wound up having none. Every time the Cubs took the lead the Pirates were able to come right back and either tie the game or go ahead, beginning with the 4th inning.

Next Game: Tonight, Reds in Cincinnati. The Pirates are taking advantage of another team that is in unfamiliar ground. The Reds are fighting for that final playoff spot, just like the Cubs, and are feeling the pressure. The Pirates are young and loose, clearly enjoying their role as spoilers. The offense has come alive scoring 13, 8, and 7 runs the last 3 games. Let’s hope they can still put a hurtin on the Reds the rest of the weekend.

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Pirates Morning Report: Rundown 101

Final Score: Pirates 8 Cubs 6

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates were less inept than the Cubs. More on that at the key moment of the game. With the 14 runs last night the series totaled 49 runs for both teams. The first two games were the starter’s failures, but last night it was the bullpens that got rocked around. In only 3 innings of work, the Cubs bullpen gave up 5 runs and the Pirates bullpen 6. Johan Oviedo was the better Oviedo last night not giving up a run in 6 innings despite walking 5 batters. On offense each team got 6 walks and the Pirates collected 11 hits and the Cubs 10. Miguel Andujar had a big game, knocking in 3 runs, while going 3 for 4. About 10 days ago it looked like the Central Division could possibly have 3 teams in the playoffs. Now it is looking more like the it could be just the division winning Brewers who will make it. The Cubs have now lost 7 out of 8 and the Reds have lost 3 of their last 4 games. Both teams finish up on the road with Cubs playing 6 and the Reds 5 road games. The Pirates start a 3 game series with the Reds tonight and can put a big dent in their playoff hopes. Both teams have lousy managers so my guess is they both will miss the playoffs.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Cubs scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to pull within 1 run of the Pirates at 5-4. Bryan Reynolds led off the top of the 9th with a walk. Ke’Bryan Hayes scorched a ball off the left field wall for a double with Reynolds trying to score from 1st base. Reynolds was thrown out at the plate and Hayes was undecided on whether to go to third on the throw. He got caught up in a rundown between 2nd and 3rd, and it looked like the Pirates were going to run themselves into a double play on a double. However, the Cubs came to our rescue by throwing the ball into right field and Hayes made it to 3rd. Jack Suwinski walked after falling behind in the count 0 and 2. Then up stepped Josh (I Will Never Say Another Bad Thing About Him) Palacios. For whatever reason, David Ross did not elect to go to a left hander to face Palacios. Maybe there was not a lefty available. Palcios hit a 3-2 slider for a homer into right center field, that proved to be the difference in the ballgame. David Bednar gave up a 2 run homer to Dansby Swanson in the bottom of the 9th. Instead of it being a dramatic walk off win for the Cubs, it just got them 2 runs closer to lose the game 8-6.

Next Game: Tonight, the Reds in Cincinnati. Another team with playoff hopes, but they are in must win situations. Can the Pirates take advantage of another team that may be choking their guts out. Only the Shadow knows for sure. The Pirates need to go 3 and 6 to get to 75 wins.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pitching Duel? What Pitching Duel?

Final Score: Pirates 13 Cubs 7

Why The Pirates Won: They simply just out hit the Cubs. This has been quite an offensive series. There has been a total of 35 runs scored combined in the 2 games, 21 by the Cubs and 14 by the Pirates. This game looked like it should be a pitcher’s duel with both clubs sending out their best pitcher. The Pirates got to Justin Steele in the 4th inning in a big way, getting 7 runs in the inning, with 6 runs being charged to Steele. He could not get an out in the 4th inning, giving up 6 singles in a row. Josh Palacios got the big hit a 3-run homer to make the score 7-1. With Keller on the mound, you had to have the feeling that this one was in the bag, especially after having such an easy 4th inning. Wrong, Josh Palacios hater. The Pirates added a run in the top of the 5th on a Jared Triolo solo home run. In the bottom of the 5th the Cubs just started hitting rocket shots, and I do mean rocket shots off of Keller. In order, home run, single, single, home run, double, with none of the hits under 103 MPH. There was on one weak ground ball that resulted in an out. Again, Oscar Marin came out in the middle of all this, probably setting a major league record. For two games in a row, shortly after one of his worthless trips to the mound, a grand slam home run was hit. I was surprised that the Shadow let Keller stay in the game, but I guess in his warped mind, it was more important for Keller to get a pitching victory, rather than the Pirates winning the game. Somehow, he did manage to get the last 2 outs to pick up his 13th win. Fortunately, the bullpen came through, shutting down the Cub offense, allowing the Pirates to beat the Cubs for only the 2nd time this year.

Key Moment Of The Game: The 4th inning explosion by the Pirates. The Pirates wasted a golden scoring opportunity in the top of the 1st when they had 2nd and 3rd and 1 out. Connor Joe, taking a page out of the Daniel Vogelbach hitting instruction manual, took 4 pitches in a row, with 3 of them called strikes. Two runners in scoring position and Joe does not take the bat off his shoulder. There is an old adage, if you let a good pitcher off the hook in the 1st inning you will pay the price. If looked like this was going to happen when the Pirates went up and down in order the next 2 innings. However, in the top of the 4th the Pirates’ bats came alive, resulting in the big 7 run inning that carried the Pirates to victory.

Next Game: Tonight, Cubs in Chicago. Let’s hope that anybody attending tonight’s game does not have to go to work early tomorrow. The Pirates are sending Johan (100 Pitch 5 Inning) Oviedo to the mound. If Kyle Hendricks is having control issues, which sometimes he does, this could be the longest 9 inning game of the year. The longest 9 inning game this year that did not go extra innings is 3 hours and 58 minutes. This could be broken tonight.

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Pirates Morning Report: Thank God, Just Two More Cubs Games

Final Score: Pirates 1 Cubs 14

Why The Pirates Lost: They were playing the Cubs. Even for a Cub game some of the game’s stats were mind blowing. The Cubs used 5 pitchers despite the score. The Pirates struck out 16 times. The offense produced only 4 singles and a home run for their only run. The Cubs had 8 extra base hits, including 4 home runs. The Pirate pitchers walked 6 and hit a batter along with giving up 12 hits. There was one good thing that happened in this blowout loss. Quinn Priester pitched 6 innings and gave up “only” 4 runs. He is off the run an inning schneid. His ERA has finally dropped below 9. Now we can say he is making progress. Then there was the major league debut of Kyle Nicolas. He showed he was a true Pirate pitcher by hitting the first batter he faced, and after getting one out, walked the next two. In the middle of all this Oscar Marin went out to the mound for another one of his worthless trips. He must have told him to just throw the ball over the middle of the plate, because that’s what he did, the result being a grand slam home run. Why did it have to stop raining?

Key Moment Of The Game: When it stopped raining.

Next game: Tonight, Cubs in Chicago. The Pirates are 1-10 against the Cubs this year. If they could have been 5-6 a .500 season could have been a possibility. Mitch Keller is going out on the mound tonight, but it is against their ace, Justin Steele. It would be nice to see Keller outpitch Steele tonight and get the win.