Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Another Blow Out Loss, Will Good Things Follow.

Final Score: Pirates 2 A’s 11

Why The Pirates Loss: The offense could not get the 2 out hit. Even though the Pirates won the first game of the series, this has been the big difference. In the Cardinal series, the Pirates scored all their runs with 2 outs. In this game they were 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 9 runners on base. Mitch Keller had his 3rd mediocre performance in a row. In fact, you could call this outing just plain bad. It is concerning that Keller just seems to be getting worse not better. In just 5 and 1/3 innings he gave up 8 hits, charged with 5 runs, walked 4, while striking out only 1 batter. At least we did not have to listen to the Pirate booth talk about so many games in a row with 8 strikeouts. There was still some hope going into the 8th inning with the score 5-2 A’s, when Chase De Jong entered the game. De Jong pitched a splendid 2 innings giving up 6 runs, on 5 hits, including 3 home runs, walking 1, striking out 2, while throwing 53 pitches. However, all is not lost for De Jong. He got calls from numerous players who are considering participating in the home run derby, asking if he would be their pitcher. The loss sent the Pirates tumbling out of 1st place with a record of 32-28.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the bottom of the first the Pirates are facing a pitcher that has not won a game and has an ERA of over 8. Marcano opens the game with a double and Reynolds walks. McCutchen flies out. Jack Suwinski hits a perfect double play ball that goes right between the 2nd baseman’s legs, that scores Marcano and the Pirates have 1st and 3rd with one out, instead of the inning being over. It looks like the A’s are going to give us another one. Connor Joe pops out, Josh Palacios flies out and Pirates let a golden opportunity slip through their fingers. Starting pitcher James Kaprielian goes on to pitch a nice solid 6 innings, giving up only one more run to get his 1st win of the season.

Next Game: This afternoon, the A’s in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have bookend blow out losses around their 6 game winning streak. Maybe another good streak will start after this blow out loss. The A’s have only won 2 games in a row twice this season, although they recently beat the Atlanta Braves 2 in a row in Oakland. Roansy Contreras starts today for the Pirates. The year has not been kind to Contreras so far. He has been very up and down. Maybe he will find something today. I will admit I have softened some on the importance of this series. If the Pirates lose today it won’t be the disaster that I felt it would be when the series started. I think it is more important for Contreras to throw a good solid game today than what the final result will be. On Friday will be the 61 Game Report which will take a hard look at the 2023 Pirates with close to 40% of the season played.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: The A’s Said Take It. The Pirates Finally Said Yes.

Final Score: Pirates 5 A’s 4

Why The Won Pirates Won: The A’s made sure of it. They gave up 10 walks, had little discipline at the plate, and dropped a blooper that was generously ruled a hit, that allowed the Pirates to score 5 runs. The Pirates scored all 5 runs on what was essentially non-hits. The blooper that was dropped, 2 walks with the bases loaded, and 2 sacrifice flies. The Pirates were 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 9 runners on base. The one hit was the bloop “double” by Connor Joe. Oviedo pitched pretty well going 7 innings, giving up 3 runs, 2 earned, 2 walks, while striking out 5. The bullpen was shaky but scraped by thanks to the A’s. The top of 8th was another gift-wrapped job by the A’s. Rob Zastryzny gave a nice DFA performance giving up a walk, a double, a line drive out, and another walk to allow the A’s to tie the game, 4-4. Angel Perdomo came in and hit a batter on an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. He goes 3 and 1 on the next batter but threw the next 3 pitches in the strike zone, to strike the batter out. Nick Allen came to the plate to help the Pirates out. Perdomo threw the next 5 pitches out of the strike zone but fortunately Allen swung at 2 of them. Did he use to play for the Pirates? The 6th pitch was finally in the zone, and he flew out to center to end the inning.

Key Moment Of The Game: Colin Holderman came on to pitch the 9th, and you knew it was going to be exciting. Esteury Ruiz led off with a base hit up the middle. The Pirates threw him out trying to steal on a bang-bang play, where he never had his lead hand on the bag. Thank you, A’s. Then Holderman gives up a double. A bit of bad luck, as a bloop fell in for a hit and the A’s had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Somehow Holderman buckled down, like he usually does, and got a short fly ball to centerfield that could not score the run. He struck out the last batter and the Pirates had a 5-4, thank you very much, win to climb 5 games over .500 into first place.

Next Game: Tonight, the A’s in Pittsburgh. Hopefully the Pirates will play better tonight. You cannot depend on a team giving you 3 straight games. We do have Keller going tonight and this would be a good time for him to get back on track. The Pirates need 2 more wins.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Rich Hill Does It Again

Final Score: Pirates 2 Cardinals 1

Why The Pirates Won: Rich Hill went up against another very hot pitcher and outpitched him through 6 and2/3 innings. The Pirates scored their 2 runs in the first inning after 2 were out. There was a lot of traffic on the base paths during the first 3 innings. In fact, there was not a 3 up 3 down half inning until the bottom of the 4th inning. Hill followed up with two 3 up 3 down innings in the 5th and 6th. Despite all the base runners, the Pirates could only score those 2 first inning runs, and the Cardinals did not score at all. The Pirates were 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men stranded. The Cardinals failed to get a hit in 6 tries with runners in scoring position and left 8 men on base. The Cardinals broke through in the top of the 7th when Andrew Knizner hit a solo home run to make the score 2-1. Yohan Ramirez pitched a perfect 8th and Bedar got the save allowing a hit with 2 outs but striking out the last batter to give the Pirates their 5th win in a row.

Key Moment Of The Game: The first inning set the tone for the game. Tommy Edman opened the game with a double that Jack Suwinski almost made a spectacular catch on but probably kept it from being a triple. Paul Goldschmidt moved him over to third on a fly ball to right. The Cardinals kept Nolan Gorman in the 3rd slot even though he hits only .227 against left handers, and Hill was able to strike him out. Then Hill did what he does best. He got Nolan Arenado to hit a bullet right at Ke’Bryan Hayes to end the inning. Contrast that with what the Pirates did in the bottom of the first. With one out Reynolds and Suwinski had back to back singles to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Carlos Santana popped out for out number 2. Ke’Bryan Hayes then hit a hard ground ball off the glove of Goldschmidt for a single to load the bases. Ji Hwan Bae hit a soft line drive single to center to drive in the 2 runs. Hill and the bullpen were able to make the 2 runs stand up to pull out the win.

Next Game: Tonight, the A’s in Pittsburgh. The Pirates must keep the momentum going against the team with the worst record in baseball. Let’s hope they do not pull a Mike Tomlin Steeler’s move and play down to their competition. This is a must win 2 out of 3 games or this 5 game win streak has been wasted. The Pirates need to bury the A’s.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Pattern Broken Equals 4 Wins In A Row

Final Score: Pirates 4 Cardinals 3

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates were able to survive an impromptu bullpen game, where everyone did not perform all that well. Overall, the bullpen was solid with the two newest members, Angel Perdomo and Yerry De Los Santos performing very well. I will have to come up with an abbreviation for Santos. His name is longer than the dearly departed DUJ. On the offense side of the ball, they were able to produce some 2 out lightening, scoring all 4 runs after 2 were out. Ke’Bryan Hayes hit another home run. Not a misprint. Colin Holderman who has been solid but always seems to keep it interesting, did a little more than that in the bottom of the 8th. He could only get through 4 batters getting one out, then giving up a single, home run and a walk. Shelton made the move and Yohan Ramirez made him look good, by getting 2 outs on only 8 pitches. Bednar gave up one hit in the 9th, but nothing else, and the Pirates had the 4-3 win to move to 30-27

Key Moments Of The Game: Another frustrating day for the Cardinals as they could not do much with 6 hits and 4 walks. They were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and left 7 men on base for the game. On the other hand, the Pirates had the big 2 out run scoring 6th inning. It opened with a rare Nolan Arenado error. After two were out, pinch runner Ji Hwan Bae was at 2nd base. Bryan Reynolds walked. On a 3-2 pitch, Connor Joe ripped a double off the base of the left field fence to score the 2 runs. Carlos Santana followed with a pop up down the left field line that fell in for a hit and the Pirates had 3 unearned runs. That fluky little 4th run proved to be the difference in the ball game.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cardinals in Pittsburgh. Miles Mikolas goes for the Cardinals today and he has not given up a run in 15 innings. Rich Hill goes for the Pirates and the last time he hadn’t given up a run in 15 innings was when he was in high school. Just kidding! The last time Hill faced a similar situation the Pirates rocked the starting pitcher and Hill threw 6 shutout innings. If that happens again the Pirates will get the sweep. Finally, the pattern of the team that won the first game of the series lost the series ended yesterday. That has happened in the last 4 series that the Pirates have played, and it only went their way once. Ok boys let’s sweep those damn Cardinals.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: From 5 Batters, 5 Runs To Great Comeback Win

Final Score: Pirates 7 Cardinals 5

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates had a huge bottom of the 7th scoring 6 runs highlighted by Ke’Bryan( That’s Right I Did It) Hayes’ 3 run home run, followed by Josh(Maybe I’m Not Just A Triple A Player) Palacios’ solo home run to cap a big comeback from a 5-0 deficit. Roansy Contreras had one of the oddest pitching performances of the season. The first 2 and 2/3 innings he gives one hit, strikes out 5 with no walks. The next 5 batters all get hits, including 2 home runs, scoring 5 runs. The next 1 and 1/3 innings he gives up 1 hit and strikes out another batter. He threw 83 pitches in those 4 innings and his day was done. What happened with those 5 batters? The Pirate bullpen did “shut down” the Cardinals the rest of the way but it was harrowing.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates’ two 2 out homers in the bottom of the 7th were huge, but the Cardinals inability to add on after scoring 5 runs, despite the Pirates’ pitchers trying their best to give them runs was the key to this victory. How about these 2 pitching lines. Rob Zastrysny, 1 inning, 1 walk, 2 hits but 0 runs. Cody Bolton was even “better”, 1 and 2/3 innings, 4 walks, 2 hits, but 0 runs. Bolton threw 46 pitches and only 18 were strikes. The Cardinals loaded the bases 3 straight innings but could not score a run. As it turned out, this certainly cost them the game, and the Pirates won their 3rd straight in spectacular fashion to improve to 29-27.

Next Game: This afternoon, the Cardinals, in Pittsburgh. The Pirates send Luis Ortiz to the mound to break the pattern of what happens to the team that wins the first game of the series. Will the Pirates be able to get on a roll on this homestand? Any games in June you cannot consider critical but if this team is going to contend, now is the time to step up and yesterday, they did it big time. It is time to make a move.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: A Resounding Yes, Twice

Final Score: Pirates 9 Giants 4

Why The Pirates Won: I asked two questions at the end of yesterday’s report. Could the Pirates win the series and could they squeeze 4or 5 runs out of this pathetic offense. They did both in a big way. They scored 9 runs on 14 hits and 3 walks. They took the lead in the top of the 2nd and added on nicely the rest of the way. Mitch Keller for the 2nd straight game did not pitch all that well, but the Pirates gave him great run support and the manager finally took him out at the right time. Despite the nonsense that comes from Pirate broadcast booth, the fact of the matter is he has given up 10 runs in his last 12+ innings of work. I am not worried about these last 2 performances, but let’s say what they are, even if he does strikeout 8 or more batters. They are poor performances for your so-called ace of the staff. The bullpen shut the Giants down over the last 3 innings, with even Robert Stephenson having a nice 1,2,3 inning in the bottom of the 8th. I would be remiss in not mentioning that Chris Owings had another great game. He popped bunted into a double play and struck out 3 straight times. He did manage to hit some foul balls. The Pirates pulled themselves over .500 at 28-27 and are one game out of first place heading into June.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates had 9 singles and many of them just got by the Giant’s infielder. None were bigger than Bryan Reynolds’ 2 out single in the top of the 4th to make the score 6-2 that, was just out of the reach of the Giant’s second baseman. The Pirates were ahead 8-3 going into the bottom of the 6th when the Giants got two singles to put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Casy Schmitt barely missed a home run that Bryan Reynolds made a nice catch on, up against the left field fence. It did score a run, but if he had pulled it just a touch for a home run the score would have been 8-6. You never know what might have happened after that.

Next Game: Tomorrow, the Cardinals in Pittsburgh. The Pirates open a 9 game homestand tomorrow, with the Cardinals, the A’s and the Mets coming to town. It would be nice to see at the very least, a 6-3 homestand. So far, the Pirates have not really been tearing it up a home. They are 12-13 at home and this is not an acceptable record for a team that may contend for a playoff spot. This would be the perfect time to turn this around with a successful homestand. It was a rough May to say the least. The Pirate web site said they “stumbled a bit”. They stumbled all right, but unfortunately, they were at the edge of the Grand Canyon. They did come out of May with some momentum. We will see if they can carry it into June.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Surviving Walks, Going To The A Team

Final Score: Pirates 2 Giants 1

Why The Pirates Won: The Giants could not take advantage of the Pirate’s generosity. The Giants had runners on base in every inning, but the bottom of the 9th, and could only score 1 run. Johan Oviedo was only able to pitch 4 and 1/3 innings giving up only the 1 run on 3 hits, but walked 5, while striking out 5. He threw 92 pitches in the brief outing. The Giants were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position but it seemed worse than that. Every runner that got on base in the first 8 innings got on with less than 2 outs and 5 times with nobody out. The Giants only scored in the 1st inning. After Oviedo left in the 5th inning, the A bullpen took over. They did issue two more walks over the last 4 and2/3 innings but were dominate most of the way, with David Bednar having the first 3up, 3 down inning of the game, in the bottom of the 9th, with 2 strikeouts. The Pirate offense was not much better, but they found out that if you give you shall receive. The go ahead run scored in the top of the 5th on a wild pitch. Rodolfo Castro would have not even been on third base if Jason Delay’s single had not been misplayed by the left fielder.

Key Moments Of The Game: There were many, but in the bottom of the 5th, the Giants were able to move two runners into scoring position, thanks to Ji Hwan(I’m Still Trying To Understand Baseball) Bae making a nonchalant throw on a fly ball to medium right centerfield. Thankfully Dauri Moreta got the next Giant batter to hit a weak ground ball to third and the inning was over. In the bottom of the 6th the Giants led off with a single. One out later Jose Hernandez entered the game. On his 3rd pitch Ed Bailey lined a shot down the line, but right at Conner Joe for an unassisted double play, to end the inning. They had men on base in the 7th and 8th but could not advance them. The lack of the big hit helped the Pirates climb back up to .500 at 27-27

Next Game: This afternoon, the Giants in San Franscisco. Can the Pirates do the impossible and win the series to have a .500 road trip? They do have Mitch Keller taking the mound today. He did not have the best outing last time out, but I think he will come through today. The Pirate offense, now that’s another question. Could you please squeeze out at least 4-5 runs? That’s not asking too much is it? You cannot depend on wild pitches for the rest of the season.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: No End In Sight

Final Score: Pirates 2 Rangers 3

Why The Pirates Loss: It is a broken record. The punchless Pirates continue to be, quite frankly, punchless. Yesterday 8 hits, all singles, and 3 walks could only produce 2 runs. Part of the problem is the lineup construction. Why would you place a batter who has a batting average of .232, an on base percentage of .292 and has an OPS+ of 76 , 24% below league average, and bat him 3rd? Why do the Pirates think that Ke’Bryan Hayes is going to hit? Then why would you bat Chris Owings at all? Don’t tell me he got a hit. It was just a pop up that fell in. His other 3 bats were a double play ball with 1st and 3rd and one out, a failed sacrifice attempt which was pathetic, and finally taking a called 3rd strike, that was right down the middle. Johan Oviedo had a shaky 1st inning giving up 3 runs but settled down to pitch a solid 5 and 2/3 innings. His total line was 3 runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, and striking out 5 batters. It was another game of offensive ineptitude, as the Pirates fell to 25-24

Key Moment Of The Game: After scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning, the Pirate offense did not do much until the bottom of the 8th. After 1 out, the Pirates loaded the bases with 2 singles and a walk with Rodolfo Castro coming to bat to face the left hander, Will Smith. Castro is a better right handed hitter, but unfortunately hit a pop up to short left field, that could not get the run in. Jack Suwinski struck out, ending the inning and essentially the game. By the way, according to Greg Brown, Oneil Cruz made an error in the 6th inning while sitting on the bench. The only thing worse than the Pirate team right now are the Pirate announcers. I do not know what they are looking at but it is not the game. We are almost through May and they still haven’t adjusted to the pitch clock, and probably never will.

Next Game: Friday, the Mariners in Seatle. The Pirates start a west coast road trip, great, not only do we have to watch this kind of baseball but lose sleep in the process. They play 6 against the Seatle Mariners and San Francisco Giants. A 3-3 road trip would be nice but unlikely. It is hard to tell where the Pirates are going to get help with this anemic offense. Nobody in AAA is really tearing it up. Canaan Smith-Njigba is hitting a little better but not much. Travis Swaggerty is just coming off the IL and wasn’t doing that well anyway. A trade seems very unlikely, although they desperately need an outfielder that can hit. A day off today which seems to do them no good. Can’t wait till Friday. Do you see any weaknesses now John Wehner? Oh, brother.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Balk and Base Running Blues

Final Score: Pirates 1 Rangers 6

Why The Pirates Lost: Again, a punchless night for the Pirates. Even when they got hits they managed to fall asleep at the wheel. Rich Hill pitched ok but could only get one out in the sixth inning and was charged with 5 runs but 2 of those scored on balks, one of which Hill did not even commit. He threw 98 pitches and struck out 9 batters but his at them ball wasn’t working. DUJ made an appearance and promptly gave up a ball that went to the fence in left and then another that did go over the fence in left in the span of 5 pitches. At least DUJ is efficient.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates were the epitome of ineptitude throughout the game. The 1st inning runner on 3rd, one out could not score. The 3rd inning Ji Hwan (I’m Not Too Sure I Understand All The Rules) Bae singles but then gets picked off first base. McCutchen walks, followed by a Bryan Reynolds double bringing McCutchen home but could have brought Bae home, which would have tied the score. Then in the 8th Bae is on first again but now the Pirates are trailing 6-1 and McCutchen singles to right and Bae is thrown out at second because he thought he would try for third, changed his mind and could not get back into second. The Pirates balked in 2 runs. That was enough to win the game. The score could have been 4-3 after 8 innings if the Pirates knew how to play baseball. Nathan Eovaldi pitched a complete game, but it could have been a lot tougher if the game was as close as it should have been. The Pirates fall to 25-23, struggling to stay above .500.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rangers in Pittsburgh. The Pirates hope to avoid the same pattern of the previous series where they won the first game and then lost the next 2. Johan Oviedo will start for the Pirates, and he is coming off a good outing. The Pirates right now are just making blunders and not hitting with men in scoring position or on 3rd with less than 2 outs. Will today be the day they can really change this around?

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Two Out Lightening, Big Time

Final Score: Pirates 6 Rangers 4

Why The Pirates Won: Luis Ortiz picked a great time to pitch the best game of his early career, going 7 and 2/3 innings only giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, while striking out 4. He did this against one of the best hitting teams in baseball. The Pirate bats did get 11 hits to go along with 5 walks, but through the first 6 innings could not get the big hit, thus only scoring 1 run going into the bottom of the 7th.

The Key Moment Of The Game: With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 7th the Pirates quickly made 2 outs and you had to figure that it was going to be 1-1 going into the top of the 8th. This looked like it could be the third game in a row that the bullpen would blow. But wait, ye of little faith. Reynolds got a base hit, with Suwinski following that up with a walk. Carlos Santana comes up with the big hit, but Reynolds is thrown out at the plate. Replay reverses the call, and the Pirates lead 2-1. All right, Holderman in the 8th, Bednar in the 9th, the bullpen redeems themselves. Don’t get that hot dog yet. Hayes walks. Tucupita Marcano comes up to the plate and works the count to 2-2. On pitch number 5 he drills it deep over the centerfield fence for his 1st career grand slam. Paramedics had to be called to 3 sections of the stadium. The Pirates led 6-1 over the mighty Rangers. The Rangers made it interesting over the last 2 innings, but the Pirates hung on for a much needed win to get 3 games over .500 at 25-22.

Next Game: Tonight, Rangers in Pittsburgh. The Pirates go up against another hot pitcher in Nathan Eovaldi, who in his last 3 starts has not gone less than 7 innings and missed a complete game by 1/3 of an inning 2 starts ago. He will face Rich (Can I Put Two Good Starts Together At 43) Hill. The last time Hill had this kind of mismatch he pitched his best game of the season. The Pirates are battling. Will it be enough?