Tag: pittsburgh pirates

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Pirates Morning Report: Maybe O’ Hearn Should Be An All Star

Final Score: Pirates 12 Braves 4

Why the Pirates Won: Ryan O’Hearn had one of the best offensive games in MLB history. He hit one grand slam and two three-run homers to knock in 10 runs in the first six innings. The Pirates scored a run in the seventh and eighth to make the final total 12. They collected 14 hits and walked seven times. Paul Skenes did not pitch great but pitched better. He gave up eight hits in six innings, walking one but limiting the damage to only two runs. It was a much-needed quality start with a victory for both him and the team. He should be feeling good going into the finale with the Brewers. It was a rousing start to the homestand. Hope the Pirates will continue to roll.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Braves had two out lightning in the first inning to get a run. The Pirates tacked on 4 in the first, thanks to the O’Hearn grand slam. The top of the 3rd started with a Michael Harris double. Ozzie Albies singled to center to make it 4-2 Pirates. Neither ball was hit very hard, going less than 74 MPH. You thought, here we go again; the dark cloud is still hanging over Skenes. The heart of the order was coming up for the Braves. Matt Olson hit a lazy fly ball to left for one out. Drake Baldwin hit an 0-2 mistake pitch sharply on a line at 100 MPH, but Esmerlyn Valdez was able to track it down for out number two. Skenes struck out Mauricio Dubon on 8 pitches. Dubon battled hard but eventually was called out. The top of the 5th opened with 2 singles. Skenes got Albies to pop out. Matt Olson hit the ball hard on the ground at 108 MPH, but right at O’Hearn, who threw to second for one, and Jared Triolo made a nice throw to Skenes covering the bag to turn a beautiful double play. In the 6th inning, the Braves could not push home a one-out double. In the bottom of the inning, O’Hearn hit his third home run, making it 10-2.

Next Game: Tonight, Braves in Pittsburgh. Jared Jones will be going for the Pirates. It is time for him to get that ERA down under 5. Yesterday the Pirates got the bad news that Konnor Griffin will be out for an extended period due to a torn tendon in his finger. At least for one game the Pirate offense did not miss a beat. The Pirates have won 3 in a row. The Braves are reeling right now because of injuries and babies. They have 5 players on IL or paternity leave, including Ronald Acuna Jr. Hopefully the Pirates can take advantage of all this and sweep the Braves.

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Pirates Morning Report: Batting And Bullpen Failures

Final Score: Pirates 2 Marlins 4

Why The Pirates Lost: The bullpen could not keep the game close and the offense failed to hit in the clutch going 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 men on base. The top 2 and bottom 2 batters in the order went 1 for 17 with 9 strike outs. Paul Skenes had one bad inning where he gave up 2 solo home runs. He went 6 innings giving up the two runs on 4 hits walking one and striking out 10 over 6 innings. The bullpen gave up 2 in the 8th which proved to be the margin of difference. The Pirates are back to .500.

Key Moments Of The Game: The score was 2-1 Marlins going into the bottom of the 5th. The Pirates had scored 1 run in the bottom of the 4th but could have scored more. With one out in the 5th Bryan Reynolds walked. Ryan O’ Hearn struck out. Nick Gonzales singled and Tyler Callihan was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jake Mangum took the first pitch and lined it into right center field. Jakob Marsee made a spectacular diving back hand catch. If the ball is just another yard or two toward right field it would have cleared the bases. The score was still 2-1 going into the top of the 8th. The Pirates brought in Brandon Bidois to pitch. He struck out the first batter. On the next 3 pitches the Marlins got 2 singles to put runners on 1st and 2nd. This should have been the time the Pirates got the bullpen up and started stalling for time. The Pirates should have had someone throwing when the inning started. As we all know this is not the Pirates way to be prepared for a pitcher failing. On the very next pitch was another single scoring the 3rd run of the game. Even the 4th straight single did not move the Pirate bench. It was too late by then anyway. Bidois got a fly ball out. Then he hit a batter and was finally taken out of the game. Bryan Reynolds who had a good day at the plate hit a home run in the bottom of the 9th to make the final 4-2

Next Game: Tonight, the A’s, wherever they play. The Pirates will have to win tonight to keep from dropping below .500. The A’s record is 35-36. Another team in the Pirate weight class that has been playing better lately, even though they lost yesterday 23-9 to the Rockies who the Pirates will be playing next. Can the Pirates do it one more time and not fall below .500?

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Do It Again Despite Themselves

Final Score: Pirates 3 Marlins 2

Why The Pirates Won: For about the 6th time this year the Pirates won a game to keep from going below .500. The pitching staff gave up under 3 runs for the first time in 8 games. The Pirates were able to overcome many bad decisions by the manager and the players to pull out a hard fought 3-2 win. They snapped the 6 game Marlins winning streak. You could say the Marlins snapped it themselves. Bubba Chandler pitched one of his better games of the year giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and walking just one batter. The only criticism is that he gave up hits on 3 pitchers counts. There were two 0-2 and one 1-2 counts that ended up being hits. He should have been allowed to finish the 6th inning but Don Kelly thought it would be a good idea to bring in a left hander to face right handed batters. It was not and the Marlins tied the game. This game boiled down to a very strange 8th inning.

Key Moments Of The Game: The score was tied 2-2 going into the fateful 8th inning. Yohan (How Many Outs Are There) Ramirez started the inning for the Pirates. He gave up a single and then walked the next batter on 5 pitches with none of the 4 balls anywhere near the plate. He came back and struck out the next batter on 3 pitches. He fell behind Heriberto Hernandez 3-0. The 4th pitch was just barely below the strike zone but was called a strike. No challenge or the bases would have been loaded. Ramirez came back with 2 good pitches to strike him out. Ramirez was headed for the dugout. One problem, there were just 2 outs. Leo Jimenez helped Ramirez out by swinging at two balls way low and outside. Pitch 3 was low but called a strike and Ramirez was headed off the field again. This time it was challenged and overturned. Back out he came to throw two more pitches outside the strike zone, but Jimenez swung at the last one to strike out. Ramirez struck out a batter without throwing a pitch in the zone. More importantly he headed for the dugout for third time and finally was right. The bottom of the 8th was a complete opposite. The first two Pirate batters struck out. Tyler Callihan and Jake Mangum singled putting runners on 1st and 3rd. Mangum stole 2nd with no play. This is where the Marlins handed the game to the Pirates on a silver platter. First they walked one of the worst hitters in baseball Jared Triolo on 5 pitches. Wasting no time they hit Spencer Horwitz on the first pitch of the at bat and the Pirates led 3-2. Brandon Lowe made the last out after failing to challenge a pitch that would have forced in another run. The 9th was shaky for Gregory Soto but after that 8th inning you just knew the Pirates were going to pull out the game.

Next Game: Noon, Marlins in Pittsburgh. The Pirates are on Peacock today on what’s called the opener or something like that. Paul Skenes starts today and hopefully the Pirates will get back into some run prevention again. The Pirates need this series win to get some momentum heading on the road. I wonder if the Pirates realize that.

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Pirates Morning Report: Not Making Moves

Final Score: Pirates 3. Marlins 8.

Why The Pirates Lost: Braxton Ashcraft could only go 5 innings. He gave up 2 runs on 5 hits walking 2 and striking out 4. He threw 90 pitches. Wilber Dotel age 23 went 1 and 2/3 innings giving up 4 runs on 4 hits walking 3 and striking out 2. He was followed up by recent call up Antwone Kelly, age 22, who went 2 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 2 hits walking 1 and striking out 1. The question is why were they allowed to do this, especially Dotel. He opened the 7th by walking a batter on 6 pitches. No action in bullpen. Remember, the score is 2-2. First pitch bunt single. No action in the bullpen. Next we have A SEVEN PITCH WALK TO LOAD THE BASES. IT WAS ONLY AFTER THE WALK THAT THE BULLPEN GOT UP. It was Mason Montgomery. Kelly got up later. 4 runs and 2 outs later Dotel was taken out of the game. By then it was way too late. The Pirates’ bats did not do much against Sandy Alcantara. In 8 innings he gave up 3 runs on 5 hits. At the end of the game Greg Brown said that Ashcraft had taken the loss when of course Dotel took the loss. Does anybody know what’s going on. I think this is a fair question.

Key Moments Of The Game: Don Kelly being asleep at the wheel in the pivotal 7th inning. The Marlins got the big hits in the top of the 7th. After Dotel had loaded the bases, the Marlins scored their 3rd run on a sacrifice fly leaving runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. It was possible that the Marlins could be held to just the one run. Maybe now would be a good time for a pitching change. Don are you there? Wake up. No? Let’s stick with Dotel. Rocket no. 1. 103 MPH single making it 4-2. Now? No? Rocket No. 2 107 MPH double to make it 6-2 Marlins. Not even now? He strikes out the next batter. He takes him out now. What a manager.

Next Game: This afternoon, Marlins in Pittsburgh. For about the 6th time this year the Pirates are going into a game at the .500 mark. They have always been able to win the game to keep from falling below .500. They have not been below .500 since game 5 of the season. I hate to say it but this team seems to be folding up like an accordion. The pressure seems to be getting to them at every level. They have lost 6 out of 7 games. With the exception of the game they won they have only been close in one other game. In other words they are getting slaughtered. If this team is to turn it around the pitching is somehow going to have to get back to last year’s performance. It needs to start today.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pitching Problems Continue

Final Score: Pirates 6 Dodgers 8

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirate pitchers “led” by Mitch Keller gave up 8 runs on 10 hits walking 8, and hitting 3 batters. I guess you could say they made them pay for their thrills. In the 6 games that the Pirates faced the Braves and the Dodgers the pitchers gave up 43 runs for an average of 7.16 runs per game. The Pirates were fortunate to win one game. The Pirates tried to come back from a 5 run deficit two games in a row but fell just a little bit short.

Key Moments Of The Game: Shohei Ohtani hit a solo home run with one out in the top of the third. Andy Pages singled. Keller hit a batter, almost gave up a home run to Mookie Betts for an out and hit another batter to load the bases. Overpaid Kyle Tucker hit a little pop up blooper just over the outstretched glove of Nick Gonzales to make the score 3-0. The last thing the Pirates need right now is bad luck. In the top of the 4th Keller got 2 outs on 4 pitches. After that he completely collapsed. He gave up 3 singles in a row to make the score 4-0. He walked Mookie Betts to load the bases. He wild pitched in the 5th run of the game. In the bottom of the 5th the Pirates scored 4 runs on home runs by Rafael Flores and Brandon Lowe and a single by Spencer Horwitz. They had the bases loaded with two outs. Jake(Please Pinch Hit For Me When The Bases Are Loaded) Mangum was called out on strikes. To make matters worse he lost the Pirates last challenge plus he swung at a ball lower than that earlier. The bullpen could not keep the game close giving up 3 runs over the last 4 innings.

Next game: Tonight, the Marlins in Pittsburgh. Even though the Pirates get back into their weight class tonight when the Miami Marlins come to town, they are riding a 5 game win streak. They have climbed within one game of .500. You could call this an early season showdown between two teams fighting for a playoff spot. Will the Pirates finally respond when the pressure is amped up a bit? It should be an interesting weekend.

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Pirates Morning Report: Unlikely Hero For An Even More Unlikely Comeback

Final Score: Pirates 9 Dodgers 8

Why The Pirates Won: Tyler Callihan hit the first two home runs of his major league career, including a big 3 run homer in the bottom of the 8th to put the Pirates up 7-6. Three batters later Spencer Horwitz hit a 2 run homer that proved to be the margin of difference. The Pirates trailed 6-1 going into the bottom of the 7th inning. They scored 3 in the 7th and 5 in the 8th to take a 9-6 lead. Shohei Ohtani hit a 2 run homer in the 9th to make it very interesting. Jared Jones went 4 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits throwing 75 pitches. The Pirates snapped their 4 game losing streak and were finally able to beat one of the elite teams in the National League. If they can somehow pull out a win tonight they will go 2-4 against the Braves and the Dodgers, not the disaster it was shaping up to be.

Key Moments Of The Game: Walks turned out to be the key to this game, along with Bryan Reynolds making the best catch of his career. In the top of the 3rd with 2 out Jared Jones issued his only walk. Shohei Ohtani lifted a deep fly ball to left field. Bryan Reynolds went back to the wall and leaped up to rob Ohtani of a home run. In the top of the 6th Carmen Mlodzinski loaded the bases on a single and two walks. Ryan Ward took a first pitch sweeper right down the middle and drilled it into the right field seats for a grand slam home run. In the bottom of the 7th inning the Pirates put the first two men on base via the walk and a single. Jared Triolo and Horwitz were both called out on strikes. They would redeem themselves the very next inning. Ohtani fell behind Brandon Lowe 3 and 0. On one of the guttiest swings of the year, Lowe lined the next pitch down the right field line for a double to score 2 runs. When Max Muncy whiffed on a ground ball by Brian Reynolds, Lowe scored. The Pirates had cut the lead to 6-4. The Dodgers walked the first two batters to start the bottom of the 8th. Callihan made them pay by taking a first pitch change up into the seats. Triolo doubled and Horwitz homered. The Pirates walked away with their most improbable win of the season.

Next Game: Tonight, Dodgers, in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have a chance to take the series tonight. Mitch Keller will go for the Pirates. He is due for a good start and the Pirates desperately need one. They have given up 20 runs in the first two games. Amazingly they won one of those games. It would be so wonderful if 4 or 5 runs would be enough to win tonight’s game. Do you believe in miracles?

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Pirates Morning Report: Not Ready For The Big Boys

Final Score: Pirates 3 Dodgers 12

Why The Pirates Lost: A disastrous 7th inning saw the Dodgers score 10 runs on 7 hits, 4 walks, with the Pirates making two throwing errors. It took the Pirates 51 pitches and 10 batters to record the 1st out of the inning. The pitchers threw 68 pitches for the inning. The Pirate pitchers walked 9 batters for the game. They gave up 15 hits. Even though it did not make much difference, for the 4th straight game the Pirate offense scored 3 runs. During this 4 game losing streak against the best in the National League, the Pirates have been out scored 27 to 12. They have been dominated in every phase of the game. In this game the Pirates hit 2 solo home runs and had 3 runners on base through the first 8 innings. Two walks and a fly ball lost in the sun. They struck out 12 times.

Key Moment Of The Game: This was a good game for six innings until the horrible 7th inning. There really isn’t a lot to say here. Maybe something like this will wake this team up. We will see what happens.

Next Game: Tonight, Dodgers, in Pittsburgh. Shohei Ohtani will make his pitching debut in Pittsburgh tonight. He will bring his 0.74 ERA to the mound. Jared Jones will be going for the Pirates. A game that looks like the Pirates have zero chance of winning. On the other hand if they would somehow win this game it could be a season changing event. Wishful thinking but you never know. That’s the reason they play the games.

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Pirates Morning Report: Evolving Bullpen Philosophy

Before I start with today’s subject, I am out in San Diego for the week so the blogs will be a little later than usual. Baseballs bullpens over the years have gone from the part of the team that just came in to mop up games that were out of control to now being the essential part of the team, if you expect to win a World Series. They have grown in importance due the decline of the complete game and managers being much more aware of the importance of match ups, at least most managers.

In the 1960’s the complete game leaders threw around 20 to 28 complete games a year with Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson leading the way. Even in the 70’s and 80’s the numbers were pretty good with the leaders throwing between 18 and 30 complete games. Catfish Hunter threw 30 complete games in 1975. However beginning in the late 70’s and early 80’s guys out of the bullpen were starting to assert themselves. Kent Tekulve, Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter became key factors in their teams winning the World Series. These guys would come out of the bullpen late in a game and pitch anywhere from 1 to 3 innings. It was not uncommon to see these relief pitchers throw 100 innings a year. In 1988 the big change happened. The bottom fell out of the complete game. In 1990 the leader had 12 and last year there were 3 tied with 2. Tony La Russa then manager of the Oakland A’s, essentially invented the one inning closer and the 7th and 8th inning specialist. He developed the one batter left handed specialist which is now prohibited by the new rules of baseball. He did this with great success over the next 23 years. It resurrected Dennis Eckersley career and helped put him in the Hall of Fame. Naturally everybody started copying the La Russa method. There was just one problem. Nobody did it as well as La Russa. Just look at the Pirates. As we headed into the 2010’s analytics had taken over the game. This is what started the final evolution of relief pitching.

This philosophy is quite simple. When the game is on the line you bring in your best reliever. This can happen anytime from the 5th inning on. It could also mean you bring in your best reliever when the heart of the order is coming up for the other team. This philosophy is not quite simple enough for the Pirates because they rarely do it. There are teams that are embracing it. The Dodgers, Rays and Nationals are at the top of the list. They have had at least 8 pitchers record saves this year. Twenty four of thirty teams have had multiple pitchers record saves. The Tigers have used this philosophy calling it bullpen chaos. What is the best benefit of doing this. You do not waste your best relievers. If you follow this philosophy you should never have to bring in one of your best relievers in a game that is not close because he needs work. The Pirates have had to do this way too many times this year. Follow this simple method of using your bullpen and you will find success. Don’t use this method and you enter the world of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Pirates Morning Report: Braves Bullpen Shuts Out Pirates Again

Final Score: Pirates 3 Braves 6

Why The Pirates Lost: The best way to sum up the first two games of this series is that the Braves scored 12 runs and the Pirates got 12 hits. For the second game in a row, the Pirate starter got knocked around. This time it was Braxton Ashcraft. In 5 innings, he gave up 6 runs on 9 hits, walking none while striking out 5. The only thing you could say about Ashcraft is that he gave out no free passes. He made them earn their 6 runs. For the second game in a row, the Braves bullpen shut out the Pirates. The Pirates did get a couple of more hits. In 8 innings of relief, the Braves have given up 0 runs, 4 hits, and 3 walks. The Pirates did have a couple of more opportunities to cut into the lead but failed miserably. Just like before, the Pirates could not get themselves back into the game after falling behind 6-3 after 5 innings. The Pirate bullpen again proved they can pitch quite well when trailing by 3 runs, as they did not give up any runs over the last 3 innings. I am not too sure you want that on your resume. I am really good when I come into a game trailing by 3 runs. Just to add insult to injury, no pun intended, Brandon Lowe fouled a ball right off his knee. He could not finish the at bat which cannot be a good sign. As of this moment I cannot find any updates on the injury.

Key Moments of the Game: The Braves jumped on Ashcraft right away, scoring 2 runs on 4 hits and a sacrifice fly in the first inning. You can tell this Braves lineup knows how to go after a pitcher. In the bottom of the 3rd, the Pirates gifted a run to the Braves when Endy Rodriguez threw to second base with runners on 1st and 3rd. It was an ill-advised throw. He threw the ball high, and it wound up in center field. It could have been perfect, but the runner would have still scored from third as he got a great jump once the ball left Rodriguez’s hand. A final similarity between the first two games was when the Braves scored in the bottom of the inning that the Pirates had tied the game. The backbreaker was the 2-run home run by Dominic Smith. It was fair, just inside the left field foul pole. It was hit at 93 MPH and traveled 351 ft. This was not a stat cast darling by any stretch of the imagination; however, it was very effective and gave the Braves their 3-run lead. Unlike the 1st game of the series, the Pirates had some chances to tighten things up. In the top of the 7th, Tyler Callihan walked to lead off the inning. He stole 2nd base. Jared Triolo hit a deep fly ball to left center, moving Callihan to 3rd with one out. The Braves were conceding the run. Spencer Horwitz did not want it, striking out. Brandon Lowe struck out to end the inning. In the top of the 8th, the Pirates got 2 singles, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. Oneil Cruz struck out, and Rodriguez flied out to end the inning.

Next game: This afternoon, the Braves, in Atlanta. It will be up to Bubba (I hope the Braves swing at everything) Chandler to help the Pirates salvage one game of the series. I was hoping the Pirates would raise the level of their game facing the Braves, who have the best record in baseball. What happened was the Pirates found out how difficult it is to play meaningful games against a top opponent. Hopefully, they will learn something about how to play when the pressure is ramped up. With Chandler pitching today, unless the game is a slugfest, the Pirates have very little chance.

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Pirates Morning Report: Rinse and Repeat

Final Score: Pirates 0 Phillies 6

Why the Pirates Lost: For the 2nd consecutive game the Phillies pitching shutdown the Pirate offense. This time it was Zack Wheeler who went 7 innings giving up 4 hits, walking 1, and striking out 8. It doesn’t help when you start Henry Davis and Jared Triolo both games. They went a cool 0 for 12 with 5 strikeouts. Davis is crushing it with a slash line of .141/.248/.239. This is one of the worst slash lines in all of baseball. The Pirates have not scored a run in 21 regular innings. They did score a run in the 10th in Fridays game with the help of a ghost runner. Paul Skenes seemed to be just a little off for the his 5+ innings of work. He finally walked a batter and had several 3 ball counts. It really did not matter since you can’t win when you don’t score.

Key Moments of the Game: The Phillies had nicked up Skenes for a couple of runs in the top of the 5th. Konnor Griffin made a great play at shortstop or the inning could have been worse. In the top of 6th the roof caved in. Bryce Harper led off the inning with a 400 foot home run. Alec Bohm singled and Brandon Marsh doubled. All 3 balls were hit over 100 MPH and Skenes was done for the day. Isaac Mattson came in, hit a batter and gave up a double to make the score 5- 0. Miraculously he got out of the inning with no more runs scoring, but you knew this game was over.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Cardinals in St. Louis. The Pirates start a 6 game road trip going to St Louis and Toronto. This also starts a stretch where they play 12 consecutive days. This will throw the management team into another frenzy. I am not going to make any comment on what happened and why to the Pirates this weekend. It is pretty obvious what moves needs to be made. It is highly unlikely that the Pirates will make any of these moves but only time will tell. Tomorrow a golf blog.