Tag: pittsburgh pirates

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Pirates Morning Report, Well, It Was a Good 6 Innings.

How The 2023 Pirates Did: There were 8 of the 2023 Pirates in the starting lineup and they lost for the 2nd straight game. They could not really get runs across the plate, but it was the 28 and 29 year old rejects that contributed heavily to this loss. More on that later. Oneil Cruz got 2 hits and drove in the only run. Reynolds, Mitchell, Delay, and Castro got 1 hit each. Suwinski and Chavis had tough games going 0 for 8, striking out 6 times. Roansy Contreras pitched another solid if not spectacular game giving up 1 run on 4hits, walking 2, and striking out 5 over 6 innings, throwing 92 pitches. It dropped the 2023 Pirates record to 2-2 and they are going to have to find ways to put more runs on the board even w hen Van Meter is the DH. Can you believe that? Why don’t the Pirates just let pitchers’ bat, but I guess that would be too obvious.

Key Moment of The Game: After the Oneil Cruz triple with one out that drove in the run, Kevin (What’s the strike zone) Newman came to bat. He swung at the first pitch that was a border line strike, but a strike none the less. The next 2 pitches were not close to the strike zone, and he swung at both of them to help cool off the crowd, but it did nothing to help score Cruz. In the top of the 7th DUJ came in to lose the game. He took a while but succeeded by giving up a single, 2 walks and then a double to clear the bases and send the Blue Jays to a 4 to 1 victory. DUJ, management loves you. Hopefully not enough to be on the team next year.

Next Game: Today at Noon, Blue Jays in Pittsburg. The game is going to be on Peacock, as the network is trying to get rid of subscribers by showing the Pirates. Could we have 3 games in a row with 7 or more of the 2023 Pirates in the starting lineup. I would be shocked if that happens. They have lost 2 in a row, so they are contributing to getting the No. 1 pick.

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Pirates Morning Report, Always Nice to Beat The Reds

Final Score: Pirates 5 Reds 4

How The 2023 Pirates Did: Six of them got to play last night and it was Michael Chavis who got the walk off hit. Jason Delay was the only member not to get a hit. Madris had 2 hits, Cruz, Castro, and Reynolds had one each. I will admit that it was the 29-30 year old rejects that had the big game. Newman had 2 hits, 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Ben Gamel had 3hits and 1 RBI and did not mess up too bad in the field. He did have one bonehead baserunning move, but all is forgiven in a win. Bryce Wilson a non-member, in my mind, of next year’s starting rotation, none the less pitched a solid 7 innings, giving up 3 runs on long balls, but only allowing 3 other hits, all singles and not walking a batter. Both he and Zach Thompson have had their moments this year. It would be nice to see them become next year’s Will Crowe. They have about another 6 weeks to show their stuff. It is always nice to beat the moronic Reds, who without a doubt have the worse manager in baseball. He makes Shelton look like Einstein.

Key Moment of The Game: In the bottom of the 9th the Reds bring in the lefty, intentionally walk Bryan Reynolds, to face the left hand hitting Gamel. Gamel works the count to 3 and 2, them gets hit by a pitch to load the bases. Two pitches later Chavis put the Reds out of their putrid misery.

Next Game: Tonight, Reds in Pittsburgh. It would be nice to see a lineup with 7 to 8 members of the 2023 Pirates. Newman and Gamel have been hot lately, so they made need a rest. Could Padlock start tomorrow. He could be the key to victory. I just can’t help myself, but I think it was pretty clever. Or how about starting Parking Meter, that may be the ticket to a victory. Ok, I’m done now. It’s been a long season.

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Pirates Morning Report, Walking to Victory

Final Score: Pirates 5 Brewers 3

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates could only manage 4 hits and 5 walks but got 3 of them in the 6th and all 3 came around to score, 2 on the home run by Oneil Cruz and the other on a single by Tyler Heineman. Then Heineman came around to third on a throwing error and scored on a pass ball. The Brewers were in a charitable mood last night to help the Pirates end their 7 game losing streak. All the scoring took place in the 6th as the Brewers went yard 3 times to score their runs and at the time it looked like the Pirates were going down for the 8th time in a row. The Brewers said no way, here is a victory just for you.

Key Moment of The Game: The Cruz homer was the big hit of the game and it’s been awhile since the Pirates made someone pay when they made a mistake. This time the Pirates produced a 5 run inning that was good enough to win the game, as the bullpen came through and held the lead.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Pittsburgh. It was amazing that the ace of the Brewers, Corbin Burnes walked 5 in 5.1 innings to allow the Pirates to score 5 runs and win the game. There is still no end in sight to the offensive slump. Another game with double digit strikeouts. There is a starting lineup that could probably hit better, but the Pirates will never play them this year, and some of them are not even on the team.

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Pirates Morning Report, Batting Practice on a Sunday

Final Score: Pirates 2 Phillies 8

Why The Pirates Lost: The pitching staff gave up 18 hits, allowing the Phillies to score 8 runs in just 6 innings. J.T. Brubaker gave up 7 hits and 2 runs through the first 4 innings but in the 5th all hell broke loose. While the Pirates Swiss cheese bats could only muster 2 runs, they did manage to get 9 hits and “only” struck out 9 times. In the end, it was just another blowout loss for the last place Pittsburgh Pirates. Management is finally getting its wish, and the draft is looking good for next year.

Key Moment of The Game: The Pirates were only trailing 2-1 going into the 5th inning. Brubaker was dancing through the raindrops, much like Mitch Keller the game before, but in the 5th his luck ran out. A home run, an out, and then 4 straight singles quickly made the score 5-1 and the game was essentially over.

Next game: Tuesday Brewers in Pittsburgh. Now the Pirates can help the Brewers extend their lead in the NL Central. Could the losing streak stretch to 10. Only The Shadow knows for sure, but one thing is certain, he will find some way to make the lineup as incompetent as possible. Van Meter and Tsutsugo forever.

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Pirates Morning Report, Two Is The Magic Number

Final Score: Pirates 2 Phillies 4, in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: This was the 45th time this season that the Pirates scored 2 runs or less. This is almost half. You are not going to win many games with that little of an offensive punch. Quintana pitched well enough to keep teams interested in him. When he left the game the score was 1-0. He got 2 outs in the 6th but then fell apart by giving up a walk, a single, and another walk. Then Shelton made the move to the bullpen and De Los Santos got out of the inning.

Key Moment of The Game: Of course, Shelton could not leave well enough alone. He decided to play musical chairs with the bullpen in the top of the 7th and it failed miserably. Why take De Los Santos out in the first place only The Shadow knows. The strategy allowed the Phillies to get the 2 runs to tie the game. Then DUJ gave up the big blast in the top of the 10th and the Pirates strolled to another defeat.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Pittsburgh. The bats continue to slumber, proving Thursday’s night rally was nothing more than a fluke. Whew! It makes you wonder if they don’t have defective I-Pads. The Phillies getting a sweep is looking more and more likely,but we will see what tonight brings. Swing for the fences Tsutsugo.

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Pirate Morning Report, You Knew They Weren’t Going To Do It

Final Score: Pirates 7 Phillies 8

Why The Pirates Lost: Poor pitching was the culprit last night. Zach Thompson just had a bad start. He seemed to have righted the ship after giving up 3 runs in the 1st and then 1 in the 2nd. He got through the next 3 innings unscathed, dodging a lead off double in the 5th. Then we came to the key moment of the game. More on that later. Of course the Pirates did rally from the 8-0 deficit. Cal Mitchel hit a 2 run homer in the bottom the 7th, to cut it to 8-2. Then came the ninth inning rally. The Phillies big mistake was leaving Familia in the game after he gave up the hit to Greg Allen. If that guy gets a hit off you, you know your stuff is just not on tonight. They still left him in when he walked Van Meter, another cardinal sin, for a pitcher to make. In the end the rally fell short, and the Pirates lost a’gain.

The Key Moment of The Game: Thompson got those first two outs in the top of the 6th and it looked like this was going to come under the heading of a gritty outing, if not all that great of one. Then in a heartbeat there was a single, a single and then Kyle Schwarber hit the 3 run blast that seemed to put the game away, giving the Phillies a 7-0 lead.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Pittsburgh. Even though the rally fell short the Pirates did score 7 runs. They did strike out 10 times again but maybe the bats are about to wake up. Cal Mitchel had one of his better games going 3 for 4 along with home run.

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Pirates Morning Report, Quintana Buckles Down.

Final Score: Pirates 1 Marlins 0

Why The Pirates Won: Jose Quintana pitched a very strong 7 innings allowing 4 hits no walks and striking out 4. He threw 81 pitches and I felt he should have come out for the 8th, but the Shadow wanted to give the Marlins a fighting chance and brought Will Crowe in to pitch. He tried to help the Marlins out by hitting a batter and getting behind most hitters. The Marlins did get another single with 2 outs but failed to score. The Pirates gave up on trying to lose the game and sent Bednar in to pitch the 9th. The Marlins were no match for him and went quietly in the 9th, only getting a walk. It was another ho-hum win the Pirates.

Key Play of The Game: Anytime Yoshi Tsutsugo gets a 2 out single that drives in a run, it has to be the key play of the game. You just knew it was his night. He put the ball in play every at bat and even hit the ball hard once. Unfortunately, it was right at the first baseman and resulted in a double play. It was a good thing that the run Yoshi drove in held up, because the Pirates had many opportunities to score getting 9 hits and 4 walks but could only muster one run. Incompetence won out last night.

Next Game: This afternoon Marlins in Pittsburgh. The Marlins throw out their ace, Sandy Alcantara, so expect another low scoring affair. If the Pirates are going to win it will probably be 1-0 again or 2-1. The slumber company should have no problem snoozing through this game. Let’s hope the fans at least get to hear a loud foul.

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The Pirates at The All-Star Break

Since we last analyzed the Pirates, they have gone 14-17. This is their best stretch of games barely, by a half of game. When you look at this team statistically it is really hard to believe that they had this good of a stretch. Their total record at the break is 39-54, which is still a surprise considering the fact they are in in the bottom 6 of every important statistic of hitting, pitching, and fielding. The only thing that is league average is their home run total which puts them 15th in baseball. In terms of analytics the Pirates have been just plain lucky to have such an unaspiring 15 games below .500 record. As usual, let’s take a look at each aspect that determines how a team is performing.

Hitting: The Pirates did pick up in hitting the long ball. At one time, they were as high as 12th in all of baseball, but they have cooled off some to fall back to 15th. Despite all the home runs, their offense overall has been pretty pathetic. In On Base Percentage, Runs per Game, and OPS+, they rank 28th, 28th, and 27th, respectively. As I wrote in the 62 game report, thank God for the Tigers and the A’s. The Pirates strike out a lot. In a nutshell the Pirates take a lot of strikes and swing at a lot of balls. The perfect formula for being a poor hitting team. Two players, that the Pirate press box say are hitting, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Michael Chavis are really not. Both have OPS+’s of 95 or under which means they are below average major league hitters. The loss of Bryan Reynolds is will not help the offense and there is no telling how long he will be out. You hope that Oneil Cruz will start to pick up with the bat but that is not a guarantee. There is not a reason to believe that the hitting is going to improve much, and it is cause for future concern.

Pitching: Again, the stats are skewed a little bit because of some very bad games. In Runs Allowed per Game, Fielding Independent Pitching, and ERA+, they are 25th, 26th, and 26th, respectively. A little better than the offense but not much. The Pirates are still over .500 in one run games at 14-12. The bullpen has done well in these close games. The bullpen has protected leads for multiple innings. The Pirates have lost 16 games this year by 5 runs or more. They have had 3 games this month, where they have given up a total of 48 runs. There is no question, that when this staff goes bad, it really goes bad. The good news is that the rotation has at least 3 arms for the future. Mitch Keller, J. T. Brubaker, and Roansy Contreras have all established themselves as solid mid rotation starters. J. T. Brubaker to me, has been the biggest surprise. Last year this man gave up 28 home runs and had an ERA+ of 80. He has given up 9 home runs so far this year and his ERA+ is 105. Keller’s ERA+ is at 93 which is still below league average but is a lot better than last year’s 69. In the last 13 innings he has given up 1 earned run. There is no question that Contreras has a chance to be a no. 1 starter. Zack Thompson has shown some solid potential over this stretch of games. The bullpen has been holding its own with some new arms. I have been most impressed with Tyler Beede. In his last 20 innings he has given up 5 earned runs and struck out 22 batters. It will be interesting to see if this staff can really build some momentum down the stretch.

Fielding: With my favorite fielding stat, Defensive Efficiency, the Pirates are tied for last with the Colorado Rockies. This is really scary considering the Pirates have one of the best if not the best defensive 3rd basemen in the entire league. It just shows how bad the rest of the players are in the field. The Pirates have committed the most errors 66 in all of baseball. In Defensive Runs Saved they are 23rd in the league. The bottom line is the Pirates have trouble making the routine plays. They also insist on playing infielders in the outfield for no good reason. This part of their game, at least for the moment seems pretty much hopeless, with no improvement in sight.

Management: Well, management is pretty much management, still not trying to win games this year and trying not to make losing games on purpose, too obvious. I will say this, I named 8 players in my view that should have been DFA’d and felt that none of them would be. They did get rid of 4 of them, but there is still a lot of dead wood, that would not be in the Major Leagues, if it were not for the Pirates. Depending on how long Reynolds is out, I think this would be a great time to see if Travis Swaggerty is ready to play Major League baseball. Why not stick him out in centerfield for next 4 to 6 weeks and see what he can do. Jake Marisnick needs to get on a Greyhound Bus. Moves like that make all the sense in the world. I know this team no matter what is done, would not contend for a playoff spot this year. However, giving the right players the opportunity, this team could win around 75 to 80 games. Obviously, this would not help the draft in 2023. This is what the Pirates and other teams in baseball have come down to. It is really sad.

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Pirates Morning Report, Slumber Company Wakes Up

Final Score: Pirates 8 Rockies 3

Why The Pirates Won: The Pirates scored 8 runs on 16 hits, 3 walks and 1 Rockies error. All 10 batters got at least 1 hit. The Pirates had 13 singles and 3doubles, no long ball yesterday. They scored 6 of the 8 runs after 2 were out. The Turtle hit the longest single in time, in the history of Major League Baseball. It was a nice way to go into the All Star Break.

Key Moment of The Game: Removing Bryce Wilson in 3rd inning and getting out of the inning with only 1 run scoring. That inning could have been a total disaster. The pitching staff gave up 9 hits and 3 walks, but the Rockies could only manage 3 runs.

Next Game: Friday, Marlins in Pittsburgh. A welcome break with the All Star Game. Will take a look at these 39-54 Pirates sometime this week.

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Pirates Morning Report, Thin Bats, Not Air

Final Score: Pirates 0 Rockies 2

Why The Pirates Lost: They did not leave the hotel room with the exception of Mitch Keller. Keller pitched another nice game, giving up no earn runs, but got the loss anyway. The offense got 6 hits, with only one extra base hit. This game was just painful to watch. The All Star break can’t come soon enough.

Key Play of The Game: The rocket throw by Oneil Cruz, which led to the only run the Rockies would need. The Pirates may have tied the game in the top of the 6th, if anybody in the world would have been on 1st base but The Turtle. Yoshi Tsutsugo is 6 for 33, with 0 home runs and 0 RBI’s, since returning from the IL. He’s doing much better, now that he is completely healthy. The Shadow said for the 28th time this year that he is seeing signs that Tsutsugo is ready to break out, and start hitting home runs. As we all know, only the Shelton knows.

Next Game: Today, Rockies, in Denver. Mercifully we all get a break after this game. The Pirates took theirs, 3 days early.