Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Pirates Morning Report: It Never Fails

Final Score: Pirates 8 Tigers 0

Why The Pirates Won: This looked like a mismatch from the start, and it was with the Pirates winning 8-0. However, it looked like a mismatch for the Tigers. They had one of the hottest starting pitchers Eduardo Rodriguez taking the mound against the historic hitless wonders of the last 2 weeks, the Pittsburgh Pirates. So, what happens? The Pirates light him up for 4 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in just 5 innings. For the rest of the game the Pirates added 4 more runs on 8 hits to break out of their slump and finish with the miraculous 2-3 road trip and move to 23-20 for the season. They did all of this with Ke’Bryan (Why Do You Think I’m A Lead Off Hitter) Hayes hanging an 0 for 5 collar at the top of the order. Meanwhile the only loud hits the Tigers could muster off Rich Hill were foul balls. Over 6 innings Hill only gave up one cheap off the glove hit, striking out 7 and walking 2, for his best outing of the season by far. In fact, that would be the only hit of the game for the Tigers, as the Pirate bullpen shut down the Tigers over the last 3 innings striking out another 7 batters. The Pirates came that close to pitching a combined no hitter. It was a surprising, but much needed blowout win for the Pirates.

Key Moment Of The Game: The 2nd inning had the look of another Pirate offensive failure. Connor Joe led off with a single. The Pirates caught a break on an 8 pitch walk to Rodolfo Castro when the 7th pitch was called a ball, that looked like it was well in the strike zone. Then the Pirates went back to normal. Ji Hwan Bae laid down a horrible bunt that forced the runner out at third. Chris (Look I’M Only A Triple A Player) Owings takes a called third strike for the 2nd out. Coming to the plate with his .150 average is Austin Hedges. Time to see what’s in the refrigerator. As I start to get out of my chair, there is a crack of the bat, and it appears that Hedges has hit a deep fly ball that may get to the wall. No, it looks like the centerfielder is about to make the catch, I hope there still is some left over chicken in the fridge. Wait! Off his effing glove it goes, and the Pirates score 2 runs and Hedges is actually standing on 2nd base. Hayes is coming up next, definitely go to the fridge now.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. The Pirates start a 6 game homestand against the Diamondbacks and the Rangers. They need to go 4-2 if this is a sign of righting the ship. Johan Oviedo will make the start tomorrow night and he really needs to make it a good one. It has been a roller coaster season so far, but if someone had told you at the beginning of the season that the Pirates would lose Oneil Cruz for an extended period of time and be 23-20 you would have said hell yeah. They need to make some hay on this homestand.

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Pirates Morning Report: No Miracles Last Night

Final Score: Pirates 0 Tigers 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates continue to be mired in one of the worst run scoring droughts in history. Luis Ortiz was his own worst enemy going only 3 innings with 2 of the 4 runs scoring on his throwing error and wild pitch. The bullpen held the Tigers in check the rest of the way, but it is rather easy to pitch, when you know you have no chance of winning. The Pirates flashed some pretty fancy leather that helped DUJ pitch 2 and 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. The Pirate offense managed 5 hits, 2 walks, and was 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position. They went quietly at the end, with the last 10 Pirates failing to get on base, with only 5 putting a ball in play. Maybe it is some kind of virus. Whatever it is they sure do stink at the plate.

Key Moment Of The Game: Even though 2 runs would have been more than enough for the Tigers to win, Ortiz gifted them 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd to ensure their victory. The Tigers opened the inning with a hard hit double, followed one out later by an infield single that put runners at 1st and 3rd with one out. Then the fun began. Ortiz on a pick off move that looked like he was trying to throw the ball over like Kent Tekulve, threw the ball away, allowing the 3rd run to score, and moving the runner all the way over from first to third. He threw a wild pitch on the next batter, ensuring another run scoring, giving the Tigers an insurmountable, at least with the Pirates, 4 run lead.

Next Game: This afternoon, Tigers in Detroit. On paper, this looks like the biggest mismatch of the season. For the Pirates we have Rich (The Line Drive Right At Them Master) Hill, going against the Tigers Eduardo Rodriguez, who in his last 35 and 2/3 innings has given up 1 run. Every once in a while, when you see something like this you can get the big surprise. Maybe, this will be the game that the Pirates snap out of it. Maybe Castro will finally get a start. I would still like to know what that is all about. His replacement yesterday Josh Palacios hit into a double play and struck out twice. Will the road trip be miraculous, stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: One Win Away From Miraculous

Final Score: Pirates 4 Orioles 0

Why The Pirates Won: Mitch Keller pitched another excellent game. He gave up no runs on 4 hits, no walks, while striking out 13 batters. He went 7 innings throwing 93 pitches with 70 of them for strikes. The bullpen finished the job, but Holderman made it interesting again. For the game, the Pirate’s pitchers struck out 17 Orioles. Even though the offense scored 4 runs they were still pretty putrid getting 7 singles along with 4 walks. I like the fact they put McCutchen in the leadoff spot, even though he did not do much after starting the game with a single and scoring the first run. Anybody is better than Hayes leading off. Hell, even bring the Turtle back. Just kidding, but I do miss him, the master of the 6 pitch strikeout and not swinging at one pitch.

Key Moment Of The Game: The top of the third the Pirates were leading 1-0 when Bryan Reynolds led off the inning by striking out, but was able to get to first base on a bizarre wild pitch that went toward the Oriole dugout. One out later Jack Suwinski walked. Ke’Bryan Hayes got a weak grounder through the right side of the infield to score Reynolds to make the score 2-0, moving Suwinski to third. Tucupita Marcano, for some unknown reason decided to bunt, moving Hayes, big whoop, to second base. Ji Hwan Bae got a ground ball just past a diving 1st baseman, bringing home the 3rd and 4th runs. This was a nice cushion for the Pirate pitchers to work with for the rest of the game. Things were much easier to deal with when the Orioles made some mild threats in the 8th and 9th.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Tigers, in Detroit. The Pirates are off today and need a split in Detroit to have that 2-3 road trip that I called miraculous, with the way they are playing. Hope they continue to let McCutchen leadoff. The mystery to me is why they are not starting Rodolfo Castro. He seems to be in the doghouse, since the start of the year. From not starting opening day to not starting since he hit the 2 run homer to give the Pirates their only other win in the last 2 weeks. The excuse is he doesn’t do as well batting right handed, along with the fact that his defense has not been great, and I agree completely. But he is way better than Andujar, Owings and Palacios, who combined are hitting .130. When he does not play it means one of them is. It’s just hard to understand the Pirates thinking on that one. Maybe it is some kind of attitude problem or a minor injury that they are not disclosing. Anyway, a much-needed win to send the Pirates to 22-19.

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Pirates Morning Report: DUJ IN Mid-Season Form

Final Score: Pirates 3 Orioles 6

Why The Pirates Loss: Dwayne Underwood Junior, yes, I wrote it out in its entirety, because he deserves it, had a sterling performance last night. He came in the game with one out, a runner on second and the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 7th. When the 8th inning was over the score was 6-2 as he gave up the hit that took the lead and then a 3 run homer to give the Orioles their 6 runs. Dwayne now has a sparkling ERA of 5.40. For a while, I thought I was wrong about DUJ, like I am wrong, so far at least, about Velasquez, but I guess not. I wrote last year, that if DUJ was still on the team this year, the Pirates were not serious about winning. He did have some good moments, but now he is back to normal and getting whacked at will by opposing batters. DFA or IL, hopefully, not too far off in the future. The Pirate’s attack was as anemic as ever, although they did make things a little interesting in the 9th. They did score 3 runs for the second consecutive game, managing 7 hit to go along with 2 walks but struck out 12 times. Johan Oviedo pitched 5 plus innings only giving up 1 run but walked 5, giving up 4 hits. A somewhat better performance but not like he was doing early in the season. Just like the Pirates, as they now fall to 21-18.

Key Moment Of The Game: Allowing DUJ to come out for the 8th inning. Maybe the Pirates thought that he would stink and better to know in May than in August. There were certainly better pitching options in a tight game. I kind of doubt that this will be his last appearance as a Pirate, but we can only hope. Yes, he is misunderstood Underwood. What’s misunderstood is that he can pitch.

Next Game: Tonight, Orioles in Baltimore. Roansy Contreras will get the start and he has not been super sharp lately, giving up 9 runs in a little over 10 innings, with 7 walks. This was not the Contreras we saw last year. The Pirates need him to get back on track and the bats to do something for God’s sake. Will tonight be the night?

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Pirates Morning Report: Well, At Least They Scored 3 Runs

Final Score: Pirates 3 Rockies 4

Why The Pirates Loss: Even though they scored 3 runs, at least that streak is broken, the offense still really did not do much. They had 6 hits and 6 walks but could not do much with it, as they continue to run themselves into outs. They only had 4 at bats with runners in scoring position and had 1 hit. Compare that with the Rockies who had 8 hits and 4 walks but had 14 at bats with runners in scoring position. Rich Hill cruised for 3 innings then had an inning like Ortiz did where nothing went right and an error, this time by Hill, opened up the floodgates to allow 3 runs to score. The Pirates continue to slump and the record falls to 21-17

Key Moments Of The Game: This one had many including the error by Hill that allowed the Rockies to tie the game after the Pirates had taken a 3-0 lead after 3 innings. It boiled down to this. The Pirates loaded the bases in the bottom of the 6th on a walk, a single and a walk. They could not score. In the top of the 7th the Rockies loaded the bases with a walk, a single and a walk. They were able to push across one run. Not a great performance, but in this instance, it was enough to win the game. The Pirates simply do not have enough players that are capable of hitting major league pitching. They are unwilling to bring players up that are capable of hitting major league pitching because of contract control. The injuries are beginning to take it’s toll. This could be a prolonged stretch.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Orioles in Baltimore. The Pirates will get a much needed day off today. They have lost 9 of their last 10 games and most of them have not been close. Yesterdays was, but the other 8 losses were by an average of 5.5 runs per game. All phases of their game has declined with the offense leading the way. Since the 29 game report the Pirates have loss 8 of 9. All their stats have tumbled but none as much as the offense. OBP fell to 10th from 3rd. OPS+ was 4th in baseball now is 14th. They are now 11th in Runs per Game down from 5th at the 29 game mark. They have a 5 game road trip coming up. Going 2-3 would be miraculous.

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Pirates Morning Report: Maybe Marcano Needs Glasses

Final Score: Pirates 1 Rockies 10

Why The Pirates Lost: There were lots of issues with this game, but the Pirates have scored 2 or less runs for 9 consecutive games. The amazing thing is they are looking worse not better. Even though they only got 4 hits they did manage to get 6 walks. Every time they got runners on base they decided to have a bad at bat. Jason Delay, Bryan Reynolds and Carlos Santana were particularly bad when runners were in scoring position. They were 1 for 8 as a team with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Then we have the case of Tucupito Marcano. He whiffed on a throw from Carlos Santana, missed timed a jump on a line drive and then struck out on a ball that almost hit him in the head. Maybe he just can’t see. Either that, or he is the example of being a great AAA player and that’s as high as he can go. The Pirates DFA Chase De Jong so he can start his broadcast career, and this gave DUJ so much confidence that he got scorched for 4 runs on 4 hits and a walk in one inning of “work”. The winning streak stopped at one.

Key Moment Of The Game: It was the top of the 4th and I’m not even going to go through it. Only to write that this is where Marcano forgot to catch the ball and the Rockies got a bunch of bloops and soft liners and scored 4 runs, with only 1 being earned. Luis Ortiz got touched up for 7 hits but deserved a better fate. Despite all the action in the 5 innings he pitched, he only threw 77 pitches. This made the score 5 to 1 going into the bottom of the 4th, but you knew that this game was over.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rockies in Pittsburgh. When will the Pirates score 3 runs in a game? That is the burning question that is on everyone’s mind at the moment. Will it be this week? Will it be this month? Are their iPads malfunctioning? Does Apple have it in for the Pirates. Is there something wrong with their bats? Is sabotage a possibility? Could April have just been a plot by the National League to let the Pirates hit, just to fool their fans into thinking this could be a good team. If so, they did a great job because this team looks lost now. Maybe the Pirates should put all 13 pitchers on the field and see what they can do at the plate. I would love to see DUJ bat. I really have not lost faith in this team. It just seems like it.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Offense Still Stinks But They Won

Final Score: Pirates 2 Rockies 0

Why The Pirates Won: A great performance by Mitch Keller enabled the Pirates to snap their 7 game losing streak. He pitched a 4 hit complete game shutout, striking out 8 and walking only 1 batter on 103 pitches. He finished strong by retiring the last 10 batters he faced. The Pirate’s defense was solid for the game, looking much better overall with Chris Ownings at shortstop and Castro back at 2nd. The Pirates offense did put some runners on base with 7 hits and 4 walks but hit or ran into 4 double plays. All in all, another weak performance by the Pirate batters but great pitching saved the day. The bottom line is the Pirates snapped that 7 game losing streak.

The Key Play Of The Game: Simple the 2 run home run by Rodolfo Castro with no outs in the bottom of the 7th. Castro, who has been shaky defensively playing shortstop, hit an 0-1 fastball straight away over the centerfield wall for a home run and the Pirates finally took the lead 2-0. Keller was not about give up the lead and the Pirates were never threatened, winning 2-0.

Next Game: Tonight, Rockies in Pittsburgh. Luis Ortiz takes the mound for the Pirates, a 24 year old raw talent with a fastball that can reach 100 MPH. He made a few starts last year and looked pretty good except for 1 start. Exchanging Ownings for Mark ( You Mean I Have To Take The Field) Mathias may be a bigger move than it would first appear. I would assume they may platoon him with Marcano at shortstop and Castro’s days there are over. He may get even more playing time if Marcano gets into his usual hitting funk. Whatever the Pirates do, Ownings is certainly a defensive upgrade from Mathias. I wrote yesterday that scoring 3 runs was more important than winning. If the Pirates had lost yesterday, 6-5 I might have felt better than I do now, but getting past the losing streak was huge. It gives the offense one more day to come out of their slump. Let’s start a winning streak.

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Pirates Morning Report: Where Have All The Hitters Gone

Final Score: Pirates 1 Blue Jays 10

Why The Pirates Lost: Just a continuation of a slump that just keeps on ticking. The Pirates for the 7th consecutive game failed to get more than 2 runs. They did leave 10 men on base as they got 8 hits with 3 walks. As bad as the hitting is, the pitching is worse. Chase De Jong was in the broadcast booth during a spring training game saying he would like to do this for a living. His broadcast career should start tomorrow, because he sure can’t pitch. He has a nice ERA of 10.61. The top of the 9th looked like batting practice for the Blue Jays. Contreras had a bad outing giving up 5 runs in 5 innings on 9 hits and 3 walks. This will end sometime. Let’s hope it is before June 1.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the top of third with one out Matt Chapman singled to left field. Brandon(I Have Been Reincarnated As Lou Gehrig For The Weekend) Belt took an 0-2 fastball and laced into centerfield for a hit. Whit Merrifield then took a 1-2 curveball, that was grooved right in the middle of the plate, into the leftfield seats to make the score 4-0, and you knew that the 7th straight loss was a lead pipe cinch, even without Chase De Jong coming into the game.

Next Game: Tonight, Rockies in Pittsburgh. Will the Pirates score at least 3 runs tonight. I think that is more important than winning the game. In the 7 losses the Pirates have score 9 runs. They have score 2 runs in 3 games, 1 run in 3 games and have been shutout once. When the Pirates were going good in one of the pre-game openings, John Wehner said the Pirates have no weaknesses. I think we found one John old buddy. You hope the Rockies will be just what the doctor ordered. The Pirates are 20-15. They got there a little differently than I thought they would, but this is just about how good I thought this team would be. Let’s hope they show it before it is too late.

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Pirates Morning Report: No Turn Around Last Night

Final Score: Pirates 2 Blue Jays 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Another horrible pitching performance by Johan Oviedo. He went 5 innings giving up 7 runs on 10 hits and walking 3. His breaking “stuff” was stuffless as the Blue Jays just rocked it for 4 doubles. Oviedo certainly appears lost for the moment. The Pirates still cannot score more than 2 runs and really did not show much life at the plate, getting only 5 hits. Jack Suwinski did hit a home run but that was about it for the punchless Pirates. It was a discouraging performance all the way around. The bullpen is about the only part of the Pirates that is still performing well. They only gave up 1 run in the last 4innings with the B squad. It was an easy win for the Blue Jays sending the Pirates to their 6th straight loss.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the top of the first the Blue Jays got the first 3 batters on base via a single, walk, and another single to take a 1-0 lead with nobody out. Oviedo got the next 2 batters out and looked like he might get out of the inning with the weak hitting Brandon Belt coming to bat with his .172 average. Oviedo got ahead on the count 1 and 2 by blowing a 97 MPH fastball right by him for strike 2. Let’s just do that again. Oh no, pitching sequence dunce, let’s try an 88 MPH slider, that was scorched for a double, making it 3-0 in the blink of an eye. Alejandro Kirk, proving that some teams think a catcher should be able to hit, laced another double deep to center field to make the score 4-0 and the game was over.

Next Game: This afternoon, Blue Jays in Pittsburgh. Roansy Contreras will see if he can stop the slide. It’s time to send Miguel Andujar packing. It’s time to give Jason Delay more playing time. It’s time for the Pirates to get into a more aggressive hitting mode. They are taking way too many strikes. Yes, there have been balls that were called strikes, out of the zone, especially in Tampa, but they were not that far off that swinging at them could have resulted in hits. It’s time for the Pirates to dig down deep.

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Pirates Morning Report: Running On Empty

Final Score: Pirates 0 Blue Jays 4

Why The Pirates Loss: When you do not score you do not win. There is no question, the Pirates have had some other issues on this 5 game losing streak, but the bottom line is they are just not hitting. They have scored just 6 runs on 26 hits over the last 5 games, and you are not going to win many games with that average. The worst scoring team in baseball is the Miami Marlins, averaging 3.38 runs per game and are playing .500 ball. Compound that with some base running blunders and the Pirates had the perfect recipe for another loss. Rich Hill pitched his typical weird game, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. He still managed to have some rocket shots hit right at someone.

Key Moment Of The Game: With all the base running mistakes the Pirates made, the Blue Jays made one in the first inning but did not pay for it. With one out in the top of the 1st inning Bo Bichette doubled. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled to left field and Bryan Reynolds pick up the ball in mid to shallow left field just when Bichette was rounding the 3rd base bag. Even though there was only one out, the third base coach waved the runner home and Reynolds threw a weak 3 hopper to the plate that still made it a close play. Any kind of legitimate throw and he is out at the plate. You never know, a big defensive play may have gotten the Pirates untracked. This would be the only run the Blue Jays would need, as the Pirates went quietly down to their 5th straight defeat.

Next Game: Tonight, Blue Jays in Pittsburgh. No question, the Pirates are having a rough stretch right now. The key will be how long will it last. More injuries with Bae and McCutchen having ankle problems is not going to help. All it takes is one game to right the ship. Speaking of rough patches Johan Oviedo takes the mound having given up 11 runs in his last 2 starts. He needs a good game which might lead to a double turn around tonight. One final thought: I have neither the time nor the inclination to go into it, but Greg Brown knows nothing about baseball despite watching it his entire life. The sound will be off the rest of the season. I cannot afford to throw a brick at the TV set.