Tag: Pittsburgh Pirates.

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The Pirates Morning Report: The Comical Pirates

Final Score: Pirates 0 Brewers 14

Why The Pirates Lost: Even Paul Skenes could not stop the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers lit Skenes up for 4 runs on 6 hits. He gave up 2 home runs. He walked 2 and struck out 4. It took him 93 pitches to get through 4 innings. Then things got worse. At least Don Kelly had enough sense to get thrown out of the game in the top of the 5th. He must have known what was coming. Gene Lamont took over. He looked at the lineup card like, what’s that? The Pirate offense stunk as usual. They got 4 hits for the game. They have 7 hits for the series. The Brewers scored 14 runs last night. The AAA boys went 0 for 10 with 2 strikeouts. One of them could not get a hit against a position player pitching. In the 9th, they got a hit and 3 fly ball outs with 2nd baseman Anthony Seigler pitching. The Pirates can’t score even during batting practice.

Comical Moments Of The Game: There can be no key moments in a game like this. There were plenty of comical moments. It was 6-0 going into the bottom of the 6th. Yohan (I Give Up Runs Constantly) Ramirez gave up a 2-run homer the inning before. He gave up a leadoff single to start the 6th. The next batter hit a ball right to the mound. Ramirez threw the ball to 2nd. Gonzales dropped the ball. Ramirez walked the next batter. Out came Lamont. When he got to the mound, he started laughing. He probably couldn’t help it. It looked like he was introducing himself to the players. He brought in Ryan Borucki. He got one out on a sacrifice fly, 7-0. The next batters singled, 8-0. The next batter singled, 9-0. Andrew Vaughn hit a 3-run homer, 12-0. Matt Capps added to the hilarity. As Vaughn crossed the plate, he said, “Brownie, the rout is on.” Like 9-0 was not already a rout. Then Oscar The Grouch Marin made a trip to the mound. Just what the hell do you think he said to Borucki at this point? Man, you stink is my guess. Jared Triolo came in to pitch the 9th. Tommy Pham dropped a fly ball. Caleb Durbin hit a home run to make it 14-0. It was only after another double that Greg Brown said, “The ugliness continues in Milwaukee.” When the game ended, he said to send it back to the studio to break this one down. Really, break it down? You can do it in 3 words. The Pirates stink. They need a complete organizational clean-out.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Milwaukee. Mitch Keller goes up against Brandon Woodruff. Will the Pirates get a hit today, let alone a run? How many AAA boys will be out there today? Will anybody be sent down today? Will Don Kelly get ejected again today so he won’t have to watch? Will Gene Lamont look at the lineup card before the game starts? Will the Pirates catch every ball hit and thrown to them? Will the Brewers score over 30 runs for the series? Stay tuned for the answers tomorrow.

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Pirates Morning Report: Completely Dominated

Final Score: Pirates 1 Brewers 7

Why The Pirates Lost: They were playing a team that knows how to play baseball. The Brewers were not playing that good of baseball during the first month of the season. They were making baserunning blunders. They were making errors. They were missing cutoff men. They were not hitting well. Manager Pat Murphy did the unthinkable. At least it’s the unthinkable in the Pirate organization. He started benching players. They eventually got back in the lineup. The Brewers were 16-16 going into May 1st. Since then, they have won 58 games and lost just 18. All the Pirate management team does is make excuses for its players. This game was over before it started. After 3 innings the score was 5-1. Andrew Heaney had another awful outing. He went 4 innings and threw 90 pitches. He gave up 6 runs on 9 hits including 2 more home runs. He walked 2 and struck out 3. I am sure he will remain in the rotation. It would not seem possible, but the Pirate batters were worse. The last 21 batters for the Pirates had 2 walks and no hits. One of the walks was erased on a double play. The AAA boys went 1 for 5 with a walk. Jared Triolo has brought his average up almost 30 points to .180. He will never be sent down. The Brewers will be showing the Pirates how baseball should be played during this series. It probably won’t sink in.

Key Moments Of The Game: It starts with the lineup card. At this point in this miserable season, why not let Cruz and Horwitz face left-handed pitching? They can’t do any worse than what’s out there. The leadoff homer by Brice Turang set the tone for the game. The Pirates did tie the game 1-1 when Joey Bart hit his 1st home run since the Reagan administration. It only took Heaney 5 pitches to break the tie. He threw Christian Yelich a slow curve right down the middle. He hit it 395 feet for a home run. The Brewers got 4 singles that produced 3 more runs, thanks to the Pirates. They missed cutoff men. Jared Triolo did a nice head turn trying to short hop a ball thrown by Joey Bart. This scored the 4th run of the inning. I guess that is what they teach you in AAA ball. This made the score 5-1, and you knew that this game was over. The Brewers easily got their 10th win in a row.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. The only game of this road trip worth watching. Paul Skenes will start tonight with the Pirates. We may see three of the AAA boys tonight. Meanwhile, potential MLB players rot in AAA. It is hard to believe, but this season is spiraling downward from a point that began as rock bottom. Only in Pittsburgh.

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Pirates Morning Report: Triple P Offense Shines

Final Score: Pirates 1 Reds 2

Why The Pirates Lost: Despite starting only one AAA player, the Pirate offense stunk. They were passive. They took 27 pitches for strikes. They only had 1 runner in scoring position for the entire game. They were pathetic. They managed 4 hits for the game, with one double. Six Pirate players went 0 for 18. That’s putrid. The Triple P Offense was back in full force. It was a shame because the bullpen pitched a nice game. They gave up 2 runs on 7 hits. They struck out 11, walking 2. With the Triple P offense, holding a team to 2 runs is just not good enough. As mentioned before, Triolo was the only AAA starter. He did get the only extra-base hit, a double. It was on a fly ball to right that, in my view, should have been caught. The Pirates continue to be the worst hitting club in baseball. Management continues to do nothing about it.

Key Moments Of The Game: There weren’t really any key moments in this game because the Pirates are so bad. The big hit of the game was by the Red’s Noelvi Marte. He got a two-out double in the 4th inning to tie the game at 1-1. Carmen Mlodzinski gave up leadoff doubles to start the 6th and 7th. He wiggled off the hook in the 6th. He did not get the opportunity in the 7th. He was taken out after 1 out by Don Kelly. Ryan Borucki gave up the sacrifice fly and the Reds had an insurmountable lead of 2-1. In the last 6 innings, the Pirates got 2 hits and 2 walks. They erased 2 of those with double plays. We still have a little over 6 weeks of this. The Pirates should make a public apology.

Next Game: This afternoon, Reds in Pittsburgh. The Pirates, if they win today, will win the series. It will give them a winning homestand. How many AAA players will the Pirates start? It could be as many as three. I can hardly wait.

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Pirates Morning Report: Reynolds Comes Up Big

Final Score: Pirates 3 Reds 2

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates only managed 5 hits. Three of them were for extra-base hits. Bryan Reynolds came up with a big 2-out triple in the bottom of the 8th. It drove in the tying and go-ahead runs. The Pirates flashed some nice leather throughout the game. Mitch Keller and the bullpen limited the Reds to 2 runs. They gave up 8 hits and walked 3. The Reds, for the second straight night, did not take advantage of opportunities to score. Dennis Santana got back on track, pitching a clean 9th to get a good save. The game ended, fittingly enough, with Ke’Bryan Hayes striking out. The AAA boys got back to normal for the Pirates. They went 0 for 9, striking out 3 times. They got 2 balls out of the infield. It is good to see all is right with the world again. One final note on the game: it was on Apple TV. It was such a pleasure listening to their announcers. I did not use fast forward hardly at all.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Reds loaded the bases in the 2nd inning with no outs. Keller induced Jake Fraley to hit into a double play, scoring the run. Hayes hit a sinking line drive to center field. Oneil Cruz got a good jump and made a nice play to end the inning. In the top of the 4th, Keller walked Miguel Andujar with one out. Tyler Stephenson doubled to right center field. The Pirates made a great relay, Suwinski to Peguero to Davis. They nailed Andujar at the plate. The momentum continued for the Pirates in the bottom of the 4th. Reynolds and Cruz opened the inning with back-to-back doubles. This tied the game at 1-1. The Reds took the lead in the 6th. They got 2-out lightning, getting a double, walk, and another double, to make the score 2-1. Going into the bottom of the 8th, the Pirates had gone 12 up and 12 down since scoring their lone run. Henry Davis extended it to 13 by weakly grounding out to short. IKF walked. Horwitz struck out, making it 12 for the game for the Pirates. On an 0-2 pitch, Tommy Pham hit a ground ball. It just got past the shortstop, putting runners on 1st and 3rd. Reynolds, wasting no time, took the first pitch, driving it just inside the bag at first. The ball hit the short wall in foul territory. Noelvi Marte hesitated going for the ball. It was like he thought the first baseman was going out to get it. He then hustled to get the ball but could not pick it up twice. Pham scored easily from 1st, and the Pirates had the lead 3-2. The Reds did nothing in the 9th. The Pirates won the second game of the series.

Next Game: Tonight, Reds in Pittsburgh. Braxton Ashcraft will go for the Pirates tonight. It looks like this will be a bullpen game. Maybe they will let Ashcraft go 4 or 5 innings. Who knows? We will see how many AAA boys get to play tonight. The Pirates survived their usual performance last night. Their OPS stands at .472, .535, .542, and .581. The league average is .719. Can this go on much longer? It probably will.

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Pirates Morning Report: Huge Day For The AAA Boys

Final Score: Pirates 7 Reds 0

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates rode the backs of the AAA boys. Three of them started, and the miracle happened. They went 4 for 12, including a Henry Davis home run. They knocked in 4 runs and scored 3 runs. They led the Pirates to a relatively easy 7-0 win over the Reds. Despite this game nobody got promoted to MLB level. Paul Skenes gave up 7 hits for the first time in his career. The Reds did their best Pirate imitation and went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position. Skenes did not walk anyone and struck out 8. He threw 97 pitches over 6 innings. The B squad of the bullpen did a nice job. They limited the Reds to just 2 hits over the last 3 innings. The Reds are fighting for their playoff lives; it looked it last night. The Pirates have nothing to play for. They may be able to take advantage of the Reds the rest of the series.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the first inning, the first two Pirate batters made outs. Then Reds starter Brady Singer could not find the plate. He went 3-0 on Bryan Reynolds. Reynolds took the next pitch and sent it into the left field seats. He walked the next three batters, the last being .113 batting average Jack Suwinski. This brought up Jared (Dead Tree) Triolo. Singer got ahead of Triolo 1-2. He threw a slider that caught just a little too much of the plate. Lo and behold, Triolo got a hit up the middle. The Pirates had a 3-0 lead. Contrast that with the Reds’ first inning. After one out, they managed two singles off Skenes. Both were hit over 100 MPH. Austin Hays grounded into a double play. The Reds’ frustrations would continue. Two hits in the 3rd, no runs. One-out double in the 4th, no runs. Two-out double in the 5th, no runs. Pirate baseball at its best. I’m sorry the Reds did that. The Pirates added on as the game went on. They scored four more runs to take the first game of the series 7-0.

Next Game: Tonight, Reds in Pittsburgh. The game is on Apple TV. Why, I do not know. Mitch Keller goes for the Pirates. After their big game, it will be interesting to see how many of the AAA boys start. As you may notice, other than exceptional performance, I don’t name the AAA boys. To me, they are inseparable. They live as a group and they die as a group. My hope is they will all leave the team on the same day. The Pirates may go on another shutout run. Who knows, maybe they will have a 4-game shutout sweep. Right now, the Reds are 3.5 games out of the last wild card spot. The Mets have lost 8 out of their last 10 games. The Yankees are only 7 games over .500. They have a 1.5-game lead for the last wild card spot. My prediction is starting to look better that neither will make the playoffs.

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Pirates Morning Report: Bullpen Lets One Slip Away

Final Score: Pirates 2 Giants 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The worst offense in baseball continues to shine. The AAA boys went 1 for 8, but at least they did not strike out. The rest of the team struck out 11 times. Four of the 11 strikeouts were called third strikes. They were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position. They scored a run in the first thanks to 2 walks. They scored a run in the 5th thanks to a wild pitch that allowed a sacrifice fly to score a run. They needed help from the Giants to put their two measly runs on the board. The Pirate pitchers had given up only 2 hits over the first 7 innings. Of course, one of those was a home run given up by Andrew Heaney. He has given up 8 home runs in his last 22 innings of work. The Pirates clung to a 2-1 lead heading into the top of the 8th.

Key Moment Of The Game: Isaac Mattson entered the game to start the 8th. He gave up a single on a 66 MPH soft liner to right field. After one out, he walked Rafael Devers. The 6th pitch was called a ball, but it was in the strike zone. He gave up a little pop-up single to right field to load the bases. That is where Don Kelly decided to bring in Dennis Santana. It was a bad move. Mattson has shown that he is capable of pitching out of trouble. There had not been a hard ball hit off of him. Santana gave up two deep fly balls, the first one tying the game. In the 9th, he got the first out, but he gave up back-to-back doubles. Both pitches were right down the middle of the plate. The second double was on an 0-2 pitch. Patrick Bailey singled, giving the Giants a 4-2 lead. The Pirates went quietly in the 9th. The Giants took the series. They might as well have been playing the Indianapolis Indians.

Next Game: Tonight, Reds in Pittsburgh. Who will the Pirates roll out there tonight for the starting lineup? The suspense is killing me. Can we get all 4 AAA players in the lineup tonight? After all, in 557 at-bats they have 95 hits for a sparkling .171 batting average. They have 12 home runs and 41 RBIs. Kyle Schwarber they are not. In 418 at-bats he has 40 home runs. He has 94 RBIs. He is batting .258 and slugs .591. He slugs over twice as much as the AAA boys do. Do you think the Phillies might be interested in a 4-for-1 trade? I bet you if things were reversed the Pirates would be.

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Pirates Morning Report: Giants Take Revenge

Final Score: Pirates 1 Giants 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Mike Burrows had a horrible start. He went 4 and 2/3 innings, giving up 6 runs. He gave up just 5 hits, but 3 of them left the park. He walked 3. He was probably discouraged when he saw the starting lineup. Oneil Cruz was the DH. He has never done well DHing. Three members of the AAA gang were starting. They went 2 for 10 with a walk. They struck out 5 times. Nice game Suwinski, Triolo, and Davis. With batting averages of .120, .166, and .168, you can see why the Pirates would want them playing a lot. The lineup did not disappoint. The Pirates scored 1 run on 7 hits. They struck out 13 times. The only player that did not strike out was Horwitz. They were very passive, taking 27 strikes for the game. Reynolds and Suwinski each had an at-bat where they never swung at a pitch and struck out. They were putrid with the last 20 batters getting 2 hits and a walk. They got 4 hits in the bottom of the 3rd and scored only one run—pathetic. It was the Triple P offense at peak performance. The Pirates were bad in the field, making 2 errors. This is what happens when a third of your starting lineup should be in the minors.

Key Moment Of The Game: It came in the bottom of the 3rd inning. At that point, the Giants had taken a 2-0 lead on a 2-run homer by Christian Koss. After Jared Triolo was called out on strikes, what else, the Pirates got 4 straight hits. Because of conservative baserunning, they only scored 1 run. This brought up Oneil (I Don’t Like DHing) Cruz. He struck out on 4 pitches. He swung at 2 pitches outside the strike zone. Nick Gonzales swung at the first two pitches way inside and out of the strike zone. He worked the count to 3-2 but ended the inning by grounding out. For all intents and purposes, it also ended the game. The Pirates never threatened again. The Giants went yard on Burrows two more times and blew the Pirates away.

Next Game: This afternoon, Giants in Pittsburgh. Andrew (I Miss My Clone) Heaney goes for the Pirates this afternoon. He is going up against Robbie Ray, another left-hander. They are mirror images of each other. Ray is 9-5. Heaney is 5-9. Ray gives up 2 fewer runs per game than Heaney. Ray does everything significantly better than Heaney. The Pirates should win easily. That’s the way it’s been going lately. I am guessing we might see just 2 of the AAA boys today. Canario should play. Davis will sit. Suwinski might sit because of a lefty starter. Another reason to think we will win.

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Pirates Morning Report: AAA Jack Leads Pirates To Walk Off Win

Final Score: Pirates 5 Giants 4

Why The Pirates Won: Jack AAA Suwinski hit a 2-run homer. He scored the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. It still doesn’t promote up to the major league level. It is nice to see one of the AAA boys have a good game. Even though the Pirates scored 5 runs, their offense was pretty much non-existent. They only had 6 hits. They needed help from the Giants. They got it in the form of 2 errors, 3 walks, and one hit batter. The Pirates were quite helpful to the Giants. They walked 5, with 3 of the walks scoring. One walk accounted for an RBI. There was not much earning of runs in this game. Johan Oviedo had a 1-inning start. He threw 43 pitches. He walked 3, giving up 2 runs and 2 hits. He did strike out the side. Kyle Nicolas walked the first two batters in the fifth. He almost got out of it, getting the next two outs with no one advancing. Then Jung Hoo Lee tripled in the 2 runs to extend the lead to 4-1. The bullpen shut the Giants down the rest of the way, and the Pirates came back.

The Key Moments Of The Game: Jack Suwinski was in the middle of the comeback. He missed an opportunity in the bottom of the 4th. He did not produce with runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. In the bottom of the 7th, the walk would come back to haunt the Giants. They walked Peguero to start the inning. Up to the plate came AAA Jack. In a battle royale with pitcher Carson Seymour, he fouled off 5 straight pitches. He took the 8th pitch of the at-bat for a ball. He took the 9th pitch and sent it 371 feet into the seats to make it 4-3 Giants. A very surprising home run, to say the least. It raised his average to .113. The score stayed that way until the bottom of the 9th. The inning started out with, what else, a walk to Andrew McCutchen. AAA Alexander Canario ran for McCutchen. Bryan Reynolds pinch-hit for Peguero. Why, I don’t know. He struck out. AAA Suwinski came up. He took two called strikes, but one was a bad call. He took the third pitch. It was borderline but called a ball. He fouled off the next two pitches. The 6th pitch drilled him right in the forearm. Joey Bart battled for 6 pitches. On a 1-2 count, he took a pretty good slider and drilled it just over the shortstop’s head. This scored Canario and Suwinski scurried for third. He just beat the throw. An aggressive move that forced the infield to be in. Henry Davis pinch-ran for Bart. He went to 2nd on defensive indifference. Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a little chopper to 1st baseman Rafael Devers. His throw was just high enough that Suwinski slid under the tag, with his hand barely touching the plate. The Pirates had the walk-off win.

Next Game: Tonight, Giants in Pittsburgh. We will see if the Pirates can continue their mastery over the Giants. Mike Burrows will go tonight for the Pirates. In his last 3 starts, he has gone 17 innings, giving up only 3 runs. He has struck out 18 and walked 4. He will be going up against Logan Webb for the Giants. The Pirates only started one AAA player yesterday, Jack Suwinski. He did shine; he hit a 2-run homer and scored the winning run. This will probably cause them to start more of them tonight.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Edge The Giants

A little different format today as an abbreviated report. First, I made a mistake on the road trip. The Pirates are going to Colorado, not Cincinnati, after the Giants series. Following the Pirates can have a detrimental effect on your brain. I am traveling today and already having flight problems, thus the abbreviated report. Mitch Keller had one of his worst outings of the year. Maybe he is thinking of the trade deadline. He threw 73 pitches in 2 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits. He walked 3. It was obvious he did not have his command. It was a smart move by Don Kelly to take him out. The Pirate offense finally gave Keller some support, but he could not take advantage of it. The big hits were by IKF and Andrew McCutchen. IKF got a big 2-out double, knocking in 2 runs. Tommy Pham followed up with a single to give the Pirates a 4-1 lead. McCutchen hit a 2-run homer in the 7th to give the Pirates a 6-4 lead. David Bednar had some bad luck in the 9th but managed to save the game and give the Pirates a well-earned 6-5 win. They go against the Giants tonight.

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Pirates Morning Report: Skenes Comes Up Clutch

Final Score: Pirates 6 Diamondbacks 0

Why The Pirates Won: You could say that Paul Skenes was his good old dominant self. His line certainly looked it. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 3 hits, one walk, while striking out 9. He threw 99 pitches and lowered his ERA to 1.83. He got into 3 situations I will delve into when I get to key moments. The highlight of the 6-run Pirate offense was their aggressive base running. In the bottom of the 2nd, Oneil Cruz scored all the way from first on a Tommy Pham single. The score was 1-0 Pirates. In the bottom of the 3rd, Nick Gonzales scored with 2 outs on a Bryan Reynolds double. The Diamondbacks did a good job of getting the ball in. Gonzales just beat the play, with the catcher dropping the ball. Reynolds moved to third on the throw to the plate. Oneil Cruz followed with a 112 MPH shot to right for a single. Reynolds scored easily from 3rd. If he would have been on second, it would have been questionable if he could have scored. In the bottom of the 6th, Bryan Reynolds was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Oneil Cruz hit a 107 MPH bullet down the right field line. Again, the Diamondbacks did a good job of getting the ball in. Reynolds, hustling all the way, barely beat the throw. The Pirates led 4-0. After all the previous blunders on the bases, this was the best base running the Pirates had done all season. Now let’s get to the part where Skenes was his most brilliant.

Key Moments Of The Game. In the top of the 2nd, Jake McCarthy lined a one-out triple into left center field. Skenes bore down and struck out James McCann. He got the next batter, Alek Thomas, to pop out to end the inning. In the top of the 3rd, Tristin English led off with a double. Skenes then recorded a strikeout and a weak ground out to 2nd, moving the runner to third. Geraldo Perdomo popped out to Nick Gonzales to end that threat. Going into the top of the 4th, the Pirates had a 3-0 lead. The top of the fourth started with Eugenio Suarez being hit by a pitch. Skenes struck out Adrian Del Castillo. Jake McCarthy doubled down the left field line, which put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Skenes struck out James McCann again, this time on 3 pitches. He fell behind 3-1 to Alek Thomas. Thomas swung at a changeup that was in the dirt. Skenes came right back with another changeup that was on the outside corner at the knees. Thomas whiffed. For 3 straight innings, the Diamondbacks got a runner to third base. In two of those innings, there was only one out. All three times they came up empty. They were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position. For the last 5 innings, they had 2 hits. After a disastrous start, the Pirates ended the home stand 5-4.

Next Game; Tonight, Giants in San Francisco. Mitch Keller will be going for the Pirates. The Giants are just coming off being swept by the Mets at home. The Pirates will be playing a playoff contender who is fighting for its life. That can be good or bad. We will see. The trade deadline is Wednesday at 6 PM. I really can’t get too excited. This has been a horrible year for the Pirates. I do not expect much of an uplift no matter what the Pirates do. I think at least 5 players should be gone, not including Mitch Keller. If he goes, then it should be six. We should get to see a lot of young guys on the roster in August and September. That’s the key word, should.