Tag: pittsburgh pirates

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Pirates Morning Report: Bad Oviedo

Final Score: Pirates 6. Phillies 7

Why The Pirates Lost: After being staked to a 5 run lead Johan Oviedo couldn’t keep his act together turning into bad Oviedo after 3 innings. Oviedo was allowed to pitch 5 innings giving up 6 runs, 7 hits, walking 2, striking out 6 while throwing 91 pitches. After the game Oviedo said he needs to be more mean. Is that consistent in another language? It’s too bad he did not get taken out of the game sooner or the Pirates might have won the game. The bats came alive, well at least 6 of them did, putting up 6 runs on 11 hits and 4 walks. The lower third of the order went 0 for 11 with 1 walk. It was the Pirates 2nd one run loss to the Phillies and their 3rd loss in a row. It was a disappointing loss with the Pirates blowing a 5 run lead thanks to the inconsistent but overly nice Johan Oviedo. By the way Robbie, Mike Shit is one of my favorite players, too.

Key Moment Of The Game: This is an easy one. The very nice Johan Oviedo serving up a 95 MPH fastball right over the middle of the plate letter high to Garrett Stubbs allowing him to hit a 2 out 3 run home run to cut the Pirates’ lead to 5-4. It was his 1st homer of the season. He is now slugging .283. Oviedo felt sorry for him and thought what the hell let’s give him a chance. It got the Phillies back in the game and they went on to win 7-6.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Philadelphia. The road trip now stands at 4-4, which is still one game better than I thought they would do. It would be nice to see them have a 5-4 road trip. Last nights game was the one they should have probably won. They are going up against Zach Wheeler, but stranger things have happened, so they may get a win tonight but I’m not optimistic.

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Pirates Morning Report: This Time A Pitchers Duel.

Final Score: Pirates 2 Phillies 3 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: For the second consecutive game the Pirates bats were silent. Keller vs. Nola turned out to be the pitching duel that was expected. In Pittsburgh, the Pirates got to Nola pretty good touching him up for 6 runs in just under 5 innings. Last night he got his revenge. He went 6 and 2/3 innings giving up just 1 run on 4 hits, striking out 8 while walking no one. Ke’Bryan Hayes had a particularly bad night striking out all 4 times. Ji Hwan (I Don’t Know Why They Keep Leading Me Off) Bae went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Keller didn’t do too bad either not giving up a hit in the first 5 innings. He had a strange 6th inning where he appeared injured, but he said post game that he hit his elbow on his follow through. On the very next pitch after the apparent injury, he gave up a home run and gave up another run on 2 singles and a sacrifice fly. The Pirates tied the game on solo home runs by Bryan Reynolds and Henry Davis in the 7th and 8th innings. However, it turned out to be another extra inning failure by the Pirates.

Key Moment Of The Game: The inability of the Pirates to move runners along when they have a runner on 2nd and nobody out has hurt them all year and last night was no exception. The Phillies did the same thing but made up for it by getting the key hit, walking off with a 3-2 win, clinching the top wild card spot in the National League.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Philadelphia. Even though Greg Brown kept saying about how the Pirates did not want to see the Phillies clinch anything in front of them, it may work to their advantage. The Phillies may start to rest certain players getting ready for the playoffs. The Pirates have produced only 4 runs in the last 2 games on 12 hits, both losses. Let’s hope that changes soon, or it could be rough getting that 75th win.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Return The Favor

Final Score: Pirates 4 Cardinals 6

Why The Pirates Lost: In the first game of the series the Cardinals started a AAA pitcher who really was not doing all that well, so the Pirates thought they would return the favor. Luis Ortiz was called up from AAA despite the fact that he had not really pitched all that well since being sent down in July. The Cardinals rocked him pretty good, and he did not help himself by walking 5 batters in 3 and 1/3 innings. In that time, he gave up 5 runs on 7 hits and was fortunate that it was not worse. His fastball never came close to 100 MPH which it did many times last year. After falling behind 5-0 the Pirates tried to fight back, getting the score to 5-2 with the 2nd run coming on a Ke’Bryan Hayes home run. Although the Pirate offense did score 4 runs, they were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men stranded. No big two out hits yesterday.

Key Moments Of The Game: Trailing 5-2 going into the bottom of the 6th the Pirates were able to load the bases with one out. Jason Delay hit a weak ground ball that was able to score one run and move the runners to 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Up steps Ke’Bryan (I Pay Greg Brown 500 A Day To Say All Those Good Things About Me) Hayes to the plate. He gets ahead of the count 2-0 but can only hit a weak ground ball to second to end the inning. At least the pitch was a strike. In the top of the 9th the Cardinals were able to score a big insurance run without hitting a ball out of the infield. Jason Delays protective cup must weigh a ton. It is the only explanation I know of, that could explain on how slow he is to get out, and field a ball out in front of the plate. The Pirates were able to score a run in the bottom of the 9th, but that insurance run took a lot of pressure off the reliever.

Next Game: Tonight, the Cubs in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have lost all six games to the Cubs so far this season. It would be nice to see them turn that around. It will be interesting to see how a team that has a lot to play for performs against a team that is just playing out the string. Again, the Pirates do not know who the starting pitcher will be.

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Pirates Morning Report: The First 3 Innings, Wow!

Final Score: Pirates 1 Phillies 2

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirate offense was weak the whole game but those first 3 innings were pathetic. The first 9 batters that the Pirates sent to the plate made contact with ball only 8 times. Let that one sink in for a while. Three of those were put in play for outs with the highest exit velocity around 98 MPH. The other two outs were under 90 MPH. There were 5 foul balls. The other 6 batters struck out. Of those 6, three of them never touched the ball. The Pirates did manage to score in the bottom of the 4th on a single, walk, and a double. There was some question on whether the 3rd base coach should have sent McCutchen on the double, but I rarely 2nd guess 3rd base coaches unless it is really a blatant mistake. It’s not his fault that Henry Davis could only hit the ball 140 feet. Mitch Keller pitched ok going 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up a 2 run home run to Kyle Schwarber, 5 other hits, walking 3 and striking out 8 while throwing 108 pitches. It was not a great performance but a hell of a lot better than his previous two. Unfortunately, the Pirate offense fell asleep and the homestand gets started with a tough one run loss.

The Key Moment Of The Game: A thunderstorm got Zack Wheeler out of the game which gave the Pirates some hope. In the bottom of the 8th inning Josh Palacios and Connor Joe each got pinch hit singles, to put runners at 1st and 2nd with one out. Bryan Reynolds swung at strikes and took balls, which worked the count to 2-2. Unfortunately, he hit a ground ball fairly hard up the middle, 98.8 MPH, to the 2nd baseman, where he stepped on second and threw to first for an easy inning ending double play. The Pirates did get a walk with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th but could not score and the game was over.

Next game: Tonight, Phillies in Pittsburgh. Quinn Priester will make his third major league start tonight and hopefully will continue to show improvement. For whatever reason the Pirates continue to lead off with Jack Suwinski and he continues not to get on base. Of course, the way this lineup hits, it probably doesn’t make any difference what order they hit in. I don’t know if I have ever seen a beginning to a game where the batters made so little contact with the ball. Can the young guys get out of this funk? It does not look good.

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Pirates Morning Report: Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

Before I get to the synopsis of the game, I know I wrote that I was going to take a couple of days off because of traveling, but I could not pass up such a stirring come from behind victory. Besides, just like people who drink say “It’s 5 o clock somewhere” I can write that it’s morning somewhere. Now to the game.

Final Score: Pirates 9 Dodgers 7

Why The Pirates Won: The bullpen came through after Luis Ortiz had a horrible start. In 3 and 1/3 innings Ortiz gave up 6 runs on 9hits and 1 walk. In the last 5 and 2/3 innings the bullpen game up 1 run and 2 hits while walking 2. The Pirates bats came alive and scored 9 runs including 3 in the 9th to turn a 7-6 deficit into a 9-7 lead. For the game the Pirates had 12 hits to go along with 7 walks. This was a game of missed opportunities for both teams. The Pirates left 10 men on base and the Dodgers 8, going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. The Pirates were able to survive giving up 4 home runs to the Dodgers. At the end the Pirates were able to come through and get a win on this road trip that I thought they might not be able to do.

Key Moment Of The Game: The 9th inning saw the Dodger closer, Evan Phillips walked 2 Pirates in a row after striking out Carlos Santana. Jared( I’m The Real Third Basemen Of The Future) Triolo singled to left to drive in the tying run and getting to second on a poor throw by the Dodger centerfielder. Josh(I Know You Just Wish That I Would Go Away) Palacios doubled, down the left field line to drive in runs 8 and 9. He made a base running blunder on the next play just to remind us why we want him to go away. But when you knock in the go ahead runs in the top of the 9th for a victory over the Dodgers all is forgiven.

Next Game: Tonight, Dodgers in Los Angeles. In order to win the last 2 out of 5 games the Pirates have had to score 3 runs in the 9th inning. You can look at this two ways. It’s great that they have been able to do comeback wins and both times against better than average teams. However, if this is what it takes every time just to win a game, then their luck is going to run out. I still don’t see them winning more than 2 games on this road trip but I will gladly be wrong. The starting pitching is going to have to step up, if that is going to happen.

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Pirates Morning Report: Jet Lag Loss

Final Score: Pirates 2 Dodgers 5

Why The Pirates Lost: It was a team just going through the motions. Mitch Keller pitched like a non All Star getting ripped for 5 runs on 3 doubles and a home run, giving up 8 hits and a walk overall, in just 5 innings on 101 pitches. One of the runs was unearned on a Carlos Santana error but overall a pretty pathetic performance by the starting pitcher. The top 3 batters in the Pirate order were 0 for 11 with 1 walk and Jack Suwinski got hit by a pitch twice. It’s hard to move out of the way of the ball when your body is telling you it’s after 11PM.

Key Moment Of The Game: Trailing 5-1 going into the top of the 6th the Pirates got something going with 2 hits and a walk sandwiched around one out. They allowed Austin Hedges to bat and yes he did get a sacrifice fly to drive in a run, but at that point in the game the Pirates needed so much more. Obviously Derick(The Dunce) Shelton didn’t think so and did not make a move to try and win the game for the 2nd day in a row. I guess you could blame this on jet lag but 9 losses in a row is still the most likely outcome of this road trip.

Next Game: Tonight, Dodgers in Los Angeles. The morning report will be taking a one or two day hiatus because I will be flying in from the west coast today and have early golf commitments for Wednesday. Since the Pirates are really not busting their ass, neither am I.

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Pirates Morning Report: Gift Wrapped Win For The Brewers

Final Score: Pirates 3 Brewers 6

Why The Pirates Lost: The Pirates did everything they could to make sure the Brewers won the game. The Brewers scored 3 runs in the third on one hit. Rich Hlll after getting the first 4 batters out then decided to hit a batter. He walked the next batter on 5 pitches. He served up an 89 MPH chest high fastball to William Contreras that he crushed for a 3 run 435 ft. homer. The scored stayed 3-2 Brewers until the top of the 8th. In the top of the 8th the first 2 Brewers batters made outs. Carmen Mlodzinski walks the next batter after getting ahead 1 ball and 2 strikes. He then gives up a single to put runners on 1st and 3rd. Derick(The Shadow) Shelton then decides to put the worse Pirate reliever in the most crucial part of the game instead of putting in the best reliever, David Bednar, who had not pitched since Thursday. Ryan Borucki did not disappoint. On a little chopper to the left of the mound he threw the ball away and the Brewers scored 2 runs to stretch their lead to 5-2. The Pirates scored a run in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 5-3, but Shelton leaves Borucki in the game to make sure that the Brewers score another run and Brewers win 6-3. Borucki left the game with a sparkling ERA of 9.82. Definitely the pitcher you want in the game when you are trying to win a series against your division rival.

Key Moment Of The Game: When the Brewers tried to give us some help we did not take advantage. In the bottom of the 5th Jared Triolo reached on a throwing error to start the inning. Then the Pirates had the pitcher, I mean Austin Hedges bunt him over to second. Jack Suwinski walked with Reynolds and McCutchen coming to bat. Two weak ground balls and the inning was over and the Pirates were on their way to their 2nd loss in a row. Shelton made sure of it.

Next Game: Tonight Dodgers in Los Angeles. This starts a 7 game road trip against the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks. I expect the Pirates to win only one game on this trip. I will be mildly surprised if they win 2 and shocked if they win 3 or more. Yesterday’s game was a horrible performance by all involved. I wrote yesterday that this game was so important on many fronts and the Pirates fell flat on their face. It was an awful managerial performance. There was no sense of urgency to win this game. When you leave your best reliever sitting in the bullpen when the game is on the line, all you can expect is a loss. This is the 2nd time he has done this in the last 10 days. It would be nice to see this team hold on until the All Star break but I do not see that, with managerial decisions that are so bad .

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Pirates Morning Report: Eight Runs Not Enough This Time

Final Score: Pirates 8 Brewers 11

Why The Pirates Lost: This was a complete pitching failure. Johan Oviedo and Roansy Contreras combined for 7 and 1/3 innings giving up 11 runs, 12 hits, and walking 4. Both pitchers just can’t seem to get any consistency going. At one point the Brewers led 10-0. The Pirates made it interesting scoring 2 in the 6th and 6 in the 8th to make it 11-8 but went quietly in the 9th to fall 4 games below .500.

Key Moment Of The Game: In the bottom of the 8th, the Pirates had a runner on 2nd base with 2 outs and had only scored 1 run to make the score 11-3. The Pirates went on a tear. Jack Suwinski hit a home run to quickly make it 11-5. Conner Joe walked, Henry Davis singled, moving Joe to third. Davis went to 2nd on a wild pitch. Tucupita Marcano tripled to make the score 11-7. Jared Triola doubled off the Clemente wall to get the Pirates within 3. Rodolfo Castro who has not looked good at the plate for the last 3 weeks struck out on a 3-2 pitch about 4 inches outside the zone and the inning was over. The Pirates made the Brewers sweat for a moment but it was not enough and the winning streak was over at 4.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Pittsburgh. I really look at this as a must win for the Pirates. They need this to win a division series. They need it for their psyche. A 5-1 home stand is a must after the hole they put themselves in. This has been the weekend of the veteran and you can’t get more veteran than Rich Hill. Hopefully he will have his at them ball working and the Pirates can pull out the win.

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Pirates Morning Report: Santana Walks It Off

Final Score: Pirates 8 Brewers 7

Why The Pirates Won: For the second straight game the Pirates fought back from a 4 run deficit and in this game they did it twice. The offense came alive for 8 runs and 11 hits. The Pirates were 5 for 15 with runners in scoring position. It was a big day for the veterans. Thirty six year old Andrew McCutchen and thirty seven year old Carlos Santana went 6 for 10 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI’s, on a day when the youthful Pirates were having a hard time. The game turned out to be an impromptu bullpen game for the Pirates, as Osvaldo Bido could only go 3 and 1/3 innings giving up 4 runs on 4 hits and a walk, while throwing 73 pitches. The bullpen gave up 3 more runs over the last 5 and 2/3 innings. It was Carmen Mlodzinski who shut down the Brewers the last 2 innings that enabled the Pirates to get back in the game.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Brewers had to go with the B squad for the bullpen and the Pirates finally made them pay. Leading 7-5 going into the bottom of the 9th, the Brewers had to rest closer Devin Williams and brought in Matt Bush to pitch. Ji Hwan Bae opened with a single. One out later McCutchen doubled him home to make it 7-6. Henry Davis grounded out. On the next pitch Carlos Santana blasted a home run into the Allegheny River and the Pirates had the walk off win to go to 39-42.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Pittsburgh. The big comeback win for the Pirates keeps the momentum going. They have now won 4 in a row and the last 2 have been come from behind victories from 4 runs down. The sweep of the Brewers is still in play and they need it. They need it to help erase the memory of the previous 13 games and give them confidence going into the tough 7 game road trip coming up.

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Pirates Morning Report: Getting A Helping Hand

Final Score: Pirates 5 Padres 4

Why The Pirates Won: Good fortune and a helping hand from the Padres enabled the Pirates to come away with a 5-4 victory and sweep the series. The Pirates trailed 4-0 going into the bottom of the 4th. The comeback started here with a run, they added another one in the bottom of the 6th and topped it off with 3 in the 7th to complete the comeback. Henry Davis was the star with 3 hits, driving in 2 runs, including the go ahead run, and scoring a run. Luis Ortiz did not have his best best stuff yesterday giving up 4 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks in just 4 and 2/3 innings. For the 2nd straight day the bullpen shutdown the Padres not allowing them to score a run. The record improved to 38-42

Key Moments Of The Game: Another game where the Padres could not come through with 2 outs and the Pirates did with a little help from the Padres. In the top of the 5th after one out Juan Soto walked. Manny Machado flied out. Xander Bogaerts singled and Jake Cronenworth walked to load the bases. The Pirates brought in Ryan Borucki and his 40 ERA. He got Brandon Dixon on one pitch to fly out to center and then pitched a scoreless 7th inning. Pretty miraculous. Going into the bottom of the 7th the Pirates trailed 4-2. Castro walked and Jared Triola singled to put runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out. Jason Delay hit a hard shot up the middle that took pitcher Tim Hill’s glove off. He had time to get the runner out at second but elected to throw to first and did get the out. Suwinski hit a soft chopper down the first base line that Hill fielded but no one was really on first base and Hill threw the ball into right field allowing the Pirates to tie the game 4-4, with Suwinski winding up on 2nd base. Luis Garcia came in and got McCutchen to ground out. Henry Davis got the big 2 out hit, a blooper down the right field line and the Pirates had the lead 5-4 that the bullpen preserved for their 3rd win in a row.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. The Pirates must keep the momentum going and do some payback to the Brewers. Sweeping the Padres was huge and they took advantage of the breaks that they got. They need to at least take 2 out of 3 which will get them right back in the race.