Tag: pittsburgh pirates

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Pirates Morning Report: Eight Runs Just Enough To Avoid Sweep

Final Score: Pirates 8 Cubs 7

Why The Pirates Won: The bats came out of their slumber to score 8 runs on 11 hits to go along with 3 walks. Recent call up Shawn Ross, who has a career minor league batting average of .188 hit a big 2 run home run in the bottom of the 2nd to get the Pirates rolling. Earlier in the inning Esmerlyn Valdez hit a solo homer to tie the game 1-1. Ryan O’ Hearn hit the big blast in the bottom of the 3rd, a grand slam to give the Pirates a 7-1 advantage. In the bottom of the 5th Valdez drove in the 8th run which proved to be the deciding run. The trio of Braxton Ashcraft, Carmen Mlodzinski and Mason Montgomery came close to blowing the lead. Combined they gave up 7 runs on 12 hits while walking 2. However the Pirates held on to avoid a disastrous sweep and keep the wild card a distinct possibility.

Key Moments Of The Game: You cannot over emphasize how big the 2 run homer by Ross was. There were 2 outs when he took a 3-2 cutter and drilled 438 feet into the left field seats. After giving up 3 runs in the top of the 4th Ashcraft really settled down to retire the side in order the next two innings. In the top of the 8th Mlodzinski started the inning giving up 3 straight hits. This made the score 8-5 with the Cubs having runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out. Mlodzinski was able to retire the next 3 batters with no further damage. Montgomery, after giving up a lead off single was able to strike out Pete Crow-Armstrong for the first out in the top of the 9th. He then threw a 1-1 curveball right down the middle to Seiya Suzuki and he hit it into the seats to suddenly make the score 8-7. Michael Busch battled for 8 pitches but finally grounded out to first. This brought up Pirate killer Ian Happ. Montgomery mowed him down on 5 pitches and the Pirates had a much needed win.

Next Game: Tonight Diamondbacks in Pittsburgh. It’s Keller vs. Kelly in the first game of the series. The Diamondbacks are the team directly in front of the Pirates for the final Wild Card spot. A sweep here would take some of the bad taste that the Cubs series left. It was good to see the bats wake up. They need to continue to do so if the Pirates are going to pull off the sweep.

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Pirates Morning Report: This Is Why You Do Not Give Games Away

Final Score: Pirates 0 Cubs 11

Why The Pirates Lost: The offense continues to slump. One run in the last 27 innings of regular baseball. Paul Skenes pitched a great 4 innings but then fell apart for the next 1 and 1/3 innings. The bullpen stunk giving up 6 runs in 3 and 2/3 innings. The only pitcher not to give up a run was Tyler Callihan. Of course, he is not a pitcher. Ron Marinaccio showed how great waiver deals are. He pitched 1 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and did not have a ball hit under 90 MPH. The new Pirate pitching theory, pitch to hard contact. Look, blowout games are going to happen. That is why giving away games like the Pirates have all season will come back to haunt you.

Key Moments Of The Game: Skenes had struck out the side in the top of the 4th. The top of the fifth started off harmlessly with a pop out to Henry Davis. Then 4 straight hits and before you could say this game is over it was 3-0 Cubs. Two of the hits were weak liners under 80 MPH but were placed perfectly. After that our waiver built bullpen did their thing and the rout was on.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Pittsburgh. The offense is going to have to come out of their funk or the Pirates will be swept today. Jameson Taillon is pitching for the Cubs. The Pirates have hit him pretty well at times. The Pirates lose today and you can feel the season slipping away.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Give Another One Away But This Was A Total Team Effort

Final Score: Pirates 2 Cubs 3 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: Everyone contributed to this loss. The offense could not get runners in from 3rd with less than 2 outs. The manager made his usual horrible decisions. The bullpen gave away the deciding run. Only the starting pitching namely Jared Jones could hold its head up high. He went six innings giving up one run on 2 hits, walking 1 and striking out 5. He threw 83 pitches. Unfortunately one of the hits was a solo homer by Pete Crow-Armstrong. The Pirates had their chances but could only plate 1 run despite getting 8 hits and 3 walks in regulation.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the bottom of the 5th the Pirates opened the inning with 2 walks, a bunt single, and an infield single to plate 1 run. They had the bases loaded with nobody out and the top of the order up. Jake Magnum and Nick Gonzales both hit very short fly balls to the outfield that could not advance any runners. Bryan Reynolds struck out. Crow-Armstrong hit his homer the very next inning to quickly tie the game. In the bottom of the 7th the Pirates had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Gonzales hit a 266 foot fly ball to left. Ian Happ made a great throw to nail Henry Davis at the plate. Yohan Ramirez pitched the top of the 10th. He got 2 outs sandwiched between an infield single putting runners on 1st and 2nd. That’s when Ramirez started to lose control. Don Kelly paid no attention. He fell behind Dansby Swanson 2-0. He threw a fastball right down the middle and Swanson drilled it 105 MPH into center field to score the go ahead run on a bang-bang play at the plate that was not overturned. Ramirez then threw 2 straight balls to Crow-Armstrong that weren’t even close, eventually leading to an intentional walk. This is where Ramirez should have been taken out. Kelly sat on his hands. After all the game was only on the line. Ramirez walked Seiya Suzuki on 4 straight pitches with only one being remotely close to the strike zone, walking in the deciding run of the game.He had thrown 8 out of 9 pitches for balls. He should have never been allowed to that, hence, a 3-2 loss.

Next Game: Tonight Cubs in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes goes for the Pirates tonight. He has won his last 3 starts and they all have been good but not dominant. The Pirates need to bounce back from that gift wrapped win they gave the Cubs last night. The offense has been held pretty much in check the last 2 games. This can happen to any offense. Hopefully they will snap out of it soon.

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Pirates Morning Report: Their Newest Acquisition

The Pirates acquired relief pitcher Ron Marinaccio from the San Diego Padres on, what else a waiver deal. The best thing you might say about the deal is it got them to DFA Dennis Santana. At first glance Marinaccio doesn’t seem much better. He has appeared in 33 games for the Padres and has an ERA of 4.79. However, he had two bad outings where he worked a total of 2 innings and gave up 9 runs. Take out those two outings and that brings his ERA down to 3.20, which is more in line with his lifetime ERA of 3.50. No matter what, this is not a deal you can get all that excited about. Hopefully the Pirates can do better than this. I am sure Marinaccio will be put to the test this weekend. The last time he pitched was the 18th so he is well rested. You never know though. I am sure Don Kelly is just itching to put future DFA candidate Brandon Eisert back into a high leverage situation with the game on the line. The wild card home stand starts tonight..

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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?