Tag: pittsburgh pirates

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Have Winning Season Big Whoop

The Pirates beat the Tigers 4-2 to finish the season 82-80. It was nice to see Konnor Griffin lead off the game with a home run. It was also nice to see Mason Montgomery bounce back from his blown save on Saturday. He did not throw a curve ball yesterday. Another nostalgic moment as a second Pirate played his last game in the Major Leagues, Billy Cook. He went out with a bang getting a double that drove in a run and he later scored the final run of the season. This winter he is one of the three nominees for the Wasted Roster Spot award. No matter how you spin this season it wound up being a big disappointment. This team had the talent to make the playoffs but was mismanaged into mediocrity.

I will be traveling a lot during the next week which will cut into my ability to watch the wild card round of the playoffs. Here are my fearless predictions. Red Sox over the Yankees. White Sox over the Astros. Padres over the Cubs. Braves over Phillies. I would love to see a Rays-Brewers World Series especially with the labor dispute looming over the horizon. Playoff baseball is my favorite time of the year.

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Pirates Morning Report: Tigers Walk It Off

Final Score: Pirates 3 Tigers 4

Why The Pirates Lost: Everything was going well for the Pirates going into the bottom of the 9th. The score was 3-1 Pirates and the bullpen had held the Tigers to 1 run on 7 hits to go along with 3 walks. The way Mason Montgomery has been pitching the game looked in the bag. It started out fine with Javier Baez striking out. Max Clark singled and Hao-Yu Lee doubled. Both balls were hit 100 MPH. Kevin McGonigle hit a weak ground ball to second for the 2nd out of the inning. A run scored to make the score 3-2. Eduardo Valencia came to the plate. He pulled a curve ball barely foul down the third base line. Montgomery threw 3 straight fast balls. One was a ball and 2 were fouled off. That’s when the decision was made to throw the curve ball. Valencia hit it out for the walk off win.

Key Moments Of The Game: Again the Pirates failed miserably at situational hitting. Henry Davis got thrown out at third for the last out of the 5th inning. Even when he gets a rare hit Davis finds ways to make outs. We only have one more game to go. Thank God

Next Game: This afternoon Tigers in Detroit. This is the last chance for the Pirates to have a winning season. If they win today they will have 82 wins, 10 short of what I thought they would have. Jared Jones is going for the Pirates today. I am not too sure why he is pitching today. All year long the Pirates have talked about limiting innings and now they are going to pitch Jones in a meaningless game. Let’s hope he survives it. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Seven Runs Not Enough

Final Score: Pirates 7 Tigers 8

Why The Pirates Lost: For the 9th time this year the Pirates scored 7 or more runs but lost the game. Last night the pitchers reverted back to their old selves. They gave up 10 hits and walked 7 for the game. It was a comedy of errors in the field as the Pirates could not catch pop ups, line drives, had ground balls go between their legs, and best of all, struck out a batter with 2 outs and the bases loaded that scored 2 runs when the ball got away from Flores. This was in the bottom of the 3rd when the Tigers scored 4 runs on 2 hits after there was 2 outs and nobody on base. No other way to say it, this game was a debacle.

Key Moment Of The Game: Bubba Chandler as usual could not find the strike zone. In 2 and 2/3 innings he walked 4 and was charged with 6 earned runs. Nice way to end a very disappointing season. This game could have been a lot worse if it were not for the Tigers going 2 for 17 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 men on base. The Pirates made a game of it by scoring 5 runs in the 8th highlighted by Rafael Flores Jr. 3 run homer. The Pirates went out quietly in the 9th to put the fans out of their misery.

Next Game: This afternoon, Tigers in Detroit. This game is significant because Justin Verlander is making the final start of his Hall of Fame career. The Pirates will be trying to get their 82nd win so they can have a winning season. They did not look like they were that interested in doing that, the way they played last night. Maybe it was that exhausting trip to Detroit that did them in. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Skenes Finishes Strong

Final Score: Pirates 2 Cardinals 1

Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes pitched a strong 6 and 1/3 innings giving up 1 run on 3 hits, walking 2, while striking out 8 to reach 200 for the season. The bullpen went the last 2 and 1/3 innings with Mason Montgomery striking out the side in the top of the ninth to get his 17th save. The Cardinals bullpen game was almost just as effective but the Pirates were able to score a run in the bottom of the 8th without getting a hit. The Pirates will at least have their first non losing season since 2018. The San Diego Padres clinched a playoff berth last night beating the Dodgers 4-2. They still have a chance to be the top Wild Card team and host all 3 games in the first round.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the bottom of the 8th Ronnie Simon drew a 7 pitch walk with one out. The 3rd pitch to Spencer Horwitz was in the dirt and bounced away from the catcher. Simon took off for 2nd and the throw went into center field allowing Simon to go to 3rd base. Horwitz lifted a 98 MPH fastball just above the knees some 337 feet to center field to easily score Simon. Montgomery was dominant in the 9th to preserve the 2-1 win.

Next Game: Tonight the Tigers in Detroit. The Pirates do have a chance at a winning season. Bubba Chandler will go for the Pirates. On another note the position evaluations for the Pirates will have to be delayed until at least September 30th. It is too hard to maneuver around Baseball Reference on my I pad. I will mix those in during the playoffs. The season is winding down. Hopefully the Pirates will get to 82 wins. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Just Can’t Win 6 In A Row

Final Score: Pirates 1 Cardinals 5

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates offense was pretty much out to lunch. They could only muster 6 hits as 5 players in the lineup went hitless. The bullpen game was not good early with Brandon Eisert and Khristian Curtis giving up 5 runs on 7 hits during the 3rd and 4th innings. The Pirates were never in this one as they just cannot win more than 5 games in a row. The Pirates won’t do this but everyone that attended this stinker should be given their money back.

Key Moment Of The Game: There really weren’t any except the way the Pirates limped home in this one. Their last hit was in the 6th inning. In the bottom of the 5th Ryan O’ Hearn opened the inning with a double. As usual the Pirates could not move him around to score. This team has no concept of what baseball is all about. That is why they will be watching the playoffs.

Next game: This afternoon, Cardinals in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes will be making his final start of the season. It has been one strange season for last years Cy Young award winner. A mystery season to say the least. Maybe he can finish it with one last great start. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Jones Mows Them Down Again

Final Score: Pirates 2 Cardinals 0

Why The Pirates Won: Braxton Ashcraft may be the best overall pitcher this year for the Pirates, but Jared Jones has had the most dominant outings. For the third time this year he carried a no hitter or perfect game into the 6th inning. With one out in the top of the 6th the first and only hit of the game for the Cardinals came on a little 54 MPH blooper down the third base line traveling 136 feet. The Pirates needed such a performance as they could only manage 5 hits and needed some help from the Cardinals to score both runs. One of the runs scored on a wild pitch. Ryan O’ Hearn drove in the first run with a big two out hit in the 6th, driving in Oneil Cruz who had walked and got to second on a groundout. Luke Weaver had an interesting 8th inning. He threw 21 pitches, struck out the side and walked one. There was not a ball in play for the inning. In fact the Cardinals had 7 straight batters that did not put the ball in play.

Key Moment Of The Game: Gregory Soto of course, made things real interesting in the top of the 9th. His first 6 pitches did not find the strike zone. His 7th pitch barely caught the top of the zone. He went 3-2 before getting a called third strike. He went 3-1 on the next batter before getting him to foul a ball and swing at a pitch above the zone. Alec Burleson thankfully swung at the first pitch right down the middle and lofted a lazy 320 ft. fly ball to Bryan Reynolds to end the game. The Pirates have now won 5 in a row.

Next Game: Tonight the Cardinals in Pittsburgh. The blog is coming from San Diego this week where the Padres are trying to clinch the Wild Card spot. The Cubs Phillies and Padres are all tied with a record of 87-70. The Diamondbacks are 4 back with 5 to play. They play the Padres the final 3 games in San Diego. It is unlikely that these games will be meaningful but you never know. I will be watching the Padres this week so I may report on their games rather than the exhibition games the Pirates are playing. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Gritty Win But Still 5 Games Back

Final Score: Pirates 4 White Sox 2

Why The Pirates Won: On a night where both offenses had some bad luck at times the Pirates were able to prevail and come away with a 4-2 victory. Another bullpen game for the Pirates was a big success. Eight Pirate pitchers held the White Sox to 2 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks while striking out 14 batters. I must say I was very critical of the Pirates when they brought up Brandon Eisert on September 1. However, he must have found something down in AAA. In his 3 appearances he has gone 4 innings giving up only one hit, striking out 6 with no walks. Last night he went 2 and 1/3 innings retiring all 7 batters he faced striking out 5 of them. The bullpen this year has had their bad moments, but they sure have made me eat a lot of crow. Unfortunately, the Pirates picked up no ground in the wild card race. They are still 5 games behind the Padres. The Padres leap frogged the Diamondbacks who lost last night. There are no teams between the Pirates and the two teams fighting for the final wild card spot. The Marlins and Cardinals have folded up their tent and are almost eliminated. There are only 16 games left. The Pirates must win tonight.

Key Moments In The Game: The Pirate offense had some bad luck early in the game. In the first inning they opened with 2 walks. Reynolds hit a line drive out and Nick Gonzales ground into a quick 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. Oneil Cruz opened the second inning with a single. On a 3-2 pitch to Esmerlyn Valdez, Cruz ran on the pitch. Valdez hit a 103 line drive that the White Sox 2nd basemen made a spectacular catch on and easily doubled up Cruz. Valdez hit a homer in the 5th to for the first Pirate run. Konnor Griffin got a big one out single to drive in runs 3 and 4 giving the Pirates a 4-0 lead in the top of the 7th. The Pirates almost paid the price for pinch running for Valdez in the 7th inning with Billy Cook, when the White Sox made a late inning rally. Camilio Doval came in to pitch the 7th. He loaded the bases with one out on a walk, a single, and a walk. Then he committed the cardinal sin of not even thinking about covering first base on a ball that Spencer Horwitz made a great play on. Who knows what he was thinking but the score was now 4-1 with the bases still loaded. This brought in Yohan (My Other Crow Eating Nemesis) Ramirez into the game. On the 4th pitch he got a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. In the bottom of the 8th Luke (Poison Ivy) Weaver came into the game and got lit up. The inning opened with a towering home run by true outcome king Munetaka Murakami to make the score 4-2. Weaver loaded the bases on a single, a strikeout, a double and hit a batter. Chase Meidroth took a thigh high middle in change up and lined it 100 MPH down the 3rd base line. Jared Triolo leaped and stretch that 6’3″ frame as far as it would go and made a spectacular grab, stepped on third to end the inning. On a night full of bad breaks for the offenses the Pirates benefitted the most in the 8th inning. Mason Montgomery shut the door again and Pirates came away with a hard earned 4-2 win.

Next Game: Tonight. White Sox in Chicago. Both the Diamondbacks and Padres are idle tonight. If the Pirates lose tonight, they will fall 6 games back in the lost column with just 15 games to go. The 1964 Cardinals came back from a 6 game deficit with 12 games to go when the Phillies collapsed down the stretch. If the Pirates lose, they will need for 2 teams to that. Not that good of odds. There is no margin for error. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Bad End To A Disappointing Home Stand

Final Score: Pirates 0 Diamondbacks 3

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates could not score a run. They could only manage 5 hits and 2 walks, with no hits for extra bases. They only had 2 at bats with runners in scoring position only leaving 5 men on base. Jared Jones pitched a decent 6 innings giving up 3 runs on 4 hits walking 2 and striking out 5 while throwing just 77 pitches. As usual he was plagued by the long ball giving up a two run homer in the 4th. Even though this was just in the 4th you had the feeling that the Pirates were not going to score much on lefty Eduardo Rodriguez. They wound up scoring zero.

Key Moments Of The Game: Nick Gonzales opened the game with a line drive single to center. He was immediately erased when Brandon Lowe hit into a double play. The next 8 batters were retired. With one out in the bottom of the 4th, Lowe and Bryan Reynolds hit back to back singles. Esmerlyn Valdez grounded into a double play to end the inning. Jared Triolo in the 5th with 2 out singled and stole 2nd. The Password hit a sharp ground ball but right to the shortstop to end the inning. The Pirates got 1 hit the rest of the game.

Next game: Tonight Reds in Cincinnati. The Pirates embark on an 8 game road trip beginning tonight with four games in Cincinnati. Then they will play 4 in Chicago against the Cubs. The Pirates have lost 5 of their last 7 games. They have been shut out in 3 of those losses. Brandon Lowe tried to downplay the importance of yesterday’s game. Technically he is right. This season has 2 months and 53 games to go. A lot can happen. The Pirates could get hot and storm into the playoffs. But after this miserable 2-4 home stand does that seem likely to happen. Only time will tell.

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Pirates Morning Report: One Tough Loss

Final Score: Pirates 7 Diamondbacks 8 in 12 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: The Diamondbacks got off to a great start against Bubba Chandler. It was also a very fortunate start. With the exception of a triple in the first inning, they blooped and broke their bats for 8 hits scoring 5 runs in 4 innings. They scored a 6th run in the sixth inning when the Pirates decided to play their infield back. The Pirates made a spectacular comeback scoring 3 runs in the eighth and 3 in the ninth to send the game into extra innings. A major failure in situational hitting in the 11th and 12th cost them the game. The Pirates had a lot of bad luck in this game but in the end they failed miserably in basic baseball and strategy.

Key Moments Of The Game: There were many big moments in this game. The two out hitting in the eighth and the big home runs by Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds that enabled the Pirates to tie the game and send it into extra innings. The game boiled down to the eleventh and twelfth innings. The Pirates were able to hold the Diamondbacks scoreless thanks to an intentional walk and double play. The Diamondbacks pulled the same strategy and got the same double play. The Diamondbacks scored in the 12th inning with a bunt and a base hit. Nick Gonzales opened the bottom of the 12th by swinging at the first pitch and grounding it to third without advancing the runner. Endy Rodriguez struck out. This brought up Tyler Callihan who for some strange reason pinch ran for Marcell Ozuna in the 8th inning. He was 0 for his last 13 with 8 strikeouts. He made it 0 for 14 with 9 strikeouts to end the game.

Next Game: This afternoon Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. This is a significant game because if the the Pirates win they will have the tie breaker against the Diamondbacks. Lose and they will have a 2-4 home stand going into a stretch where they play the next 11 of 14 games on the road. This is the 15 game stretch that will make or break the season. In the middle of all this is the trade deadline. Will there be meaningful games in September. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Didn’t Give This One Away

Final Score: Pirates 3 Diamondbacks 2 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Won: The bullpen did the job. They held the Diamondbacks scoreless over the last 4 and 2/3 innings of the game. They held them to 2 hits while only walking one. Mitch Keller had his second good start going 5 and 1/3 giving up 2 runs on 6 hits while walking one. The whole staff came up big when they needed to, allowing only 2 hits in 14 at bats with runners in scoring position. The Diamondbacks left 10 runners on base. Brandon Lowe had a big game going 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs, including the game winner. Bryan Reynolds drove in the tying run in the bottom of the 8th. The Pirates did not give this one away. Maybe this will start a trend.

Key Moments Of The Game: Keller was doing well going into the top of the 6th. Things began to unravel as the inning opened with 2 singles. Keller struck out the next batter. An infield hit loaded the bases. Max Kepler took a low changeup and ripped it down the right field line for a double to drive in 2 runs. I was a little surprised it did not clear the bases. In came Yohan (Doing Better Than I Thought He Would) Ramirez. He got Tyler Locklear to ground out to Jared Triolo who threw the runner out at the plate. He battled Adrian Del Castillo for 8 pitches getting him to ground out to first to end the inning. In the top of the 10th Mason Montgomery over came a Nick Gonzales throwing error to hold the Diamondbacks scoreless. This put runners on second and third with one out. In a battle royal Montgomery struck out Gabriel Moore on an eleven pitch at bat. He fouled off 7 pitches. On the first pitch of the at bat, Max Kepler hit a solid line drive but right to Jake Magnum in center to end the inning. Brandon Lowe got the game winner and the Pirates had a big win. Two more to go.

Next game: Tonight, Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. Bubba Chandler goes for the Pirates. Chandler has pitched better the last 6 weeks culminating with his best performance of the year against the Yankees limiting them to just 2 hits in 6 and 1/3 innings. He walked just one. After the debacle with the Cubs the Pirates really need a sweep. No sense speculating on the Esmerlyn Valdez wrist injury. We can just hope it is nothing serious. Can the Pirates keep this going?