Tag: pittsburgh pirates

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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.

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Pirates Morning Report: Sanchez Sets Down The Pirates

Final Score: Pirates 0 Phillies 6

Why The Pirates Lost: Cristopher Sanchez pitched a complete game shutout giving up 6 hits, walking none and striking out 13. Six of the 9 Pirates failed to get a hit. It really would not have made any difference what he did but Bubba Chandler had another poor outing Going only 3 innings, he gave up 5 runs on 3 hits and 4 walks. Nothing to feel bad about this game. The Pirates just got whooped.

Key Moment Of The Game: After the debacle on Friday night it was imperative that the Pirates get off to a good start. Trea Turner hit the first pitch of the game to right field for a base hit. In order to get his big bat in the lineup Jared Triolo was playing right field for the first time in his career. He almost made a diving catch. Kyle Schwarber walked on 8 pitches. Bryce Harper took a 3-1 fastball and hit it 457 feet. Before you could say Bubba needs to go to AAA, it was 3-0 Phillies. In the bottom of the first the Pirates never hit a ball past the pitcher and you knew this game was over.

Next game: This afternoon Phillies in Pittsburgh. I am not sure that even Paul Skenes can stop this series sweep. No matter what the outcome this will be the second consecutive disappointing home stand. The Pirates will be off on Monday. Ryan O’ Hearn left the game with a tight quad. Other than that possible injury move it will be interesting to see if the Pirates make any other moves. My guess is no.

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Pirates Morning Report: It’s Official, The Pirates Bullpen Stinks

Final Score: Pirates 9 Phillies 11

Why The Pirates Lost: For the second time this week the Pirate bullpen could not protect big leads. In 3 and 1/3 innings of “work” the bullpen gave up 7 runs on 7 hits, walking 2 and striking out 2. As a group they were allowed to throw 75 pitches despite their ineffectiveness. Braxton Ashcraft threw 100 pitches over 6 and 2/3 innings. He was charged with 4 runs on 7 hits striking out 5 and walking 0. Not a bad outing. When compared to the bullpen he looked like Bob Gibson. All of this wasted a 3 home run, 9 run night by the Pirate offense. You lead 6-0, add two more runs during the game, and still lose 11-9. It is time to face facts. This bullpen is terrible and as usual the Pirates will do nothing about it

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates led 8-5 going into the top of the 9th. Gregory Soto came on to get the save. Konner Griffin dropped a routine ground ball for an error to start the inning. Soto got a ground out. He walked Adolis Garcia on 6 pitches. None of the 4 balls were close to the strike zone. Trea Turner singled to right to load the bases. Up stepped Kyle Schwarber who had hit 2 homers during the game. The Pirates showed what gutless wonders they are by walking him on 4 straight pitches. This brought up Bryce Harper who was 3 for 4 with the bases still loaded. Soto never threw Harper a strike either, but he swung at a ball below the knees and missed by inches of getting a grand slam. This tied the game but Schwarber was thrown out at 3rd base. The top of the tenth was worse. Dennis Santana faced four batters got no one out and the Phillies surged ahead 11-8. The Pirate broadcast booth made the comment in the bottom of inning that Isaac Mattson has “obviously” been shut down. He then got up to warm up. His lack of use has been a mystery. If he is injured why is he not on the IL. This is a team that is in total disarray. Welcome to rookie manager world.

Next Game: This afternoon, Phillies in Pittsburgh. Will the Pirates be able to come back from such a debacle or will this catapult the Phillies into a series sweep. Bubba (What’s The Strike Zone) Chandler will be going for the Pirates. I am sure no heads will roll despite all of these bullpen disasters over the last few weeks. This is just the Pirate way. We will see if the Pirates have the fortitude to come back from this. It may determine the rest of the season.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Take Series, Avoid Embarrassment

Final Score: Pirates 7 Rockies 2

Why The Pirates Won: Openers Mason Montgomery and Evan Sisk mowed down the Rockies for the first 2 innings. Carmen Mlodzinski pitched an effective 5 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks. The back end of the bullpen Dennis Santana and Yohan Ramirez pitched hitless ball over the last 2 innings. The offense scored 3 runs in the 1st and 3 runs in the 3rd to grab a quick lead. Endy Rodriguez making his season debut got 2 hits and knocked in 2 runs. Ryan O Hearn got 3 hits including a solo home run and had 2 RBIs. Overall a good day for the Buccos avoiding losing a series to a bad team.

Key Moments Of The Game: The bottom of the first the Rockies misplayed a fly ball by Oneil Cruz into a lead off double. The Pirates would have scored only 2 runs instead of 3. Endy Rodriguez got the big hit in the 3rd making it 5-0. Oneil Cruz drove in the 6th run on a slow roller to short. Another misplayed fly ball led to a lead off double for Spencer Horwitz. He came around to score on Jared Triolo’s 2nd hit of the game for the 7th run of the day. Thanks to the Rockies, the Pirates had a 5 run cushion rather than 3.

Next Game: Tonight, Phillies in Pittsburgh 6:40. This is rivalry weekend and they should have some nice crowds at the stadium this weekend. The Pirates will throw Ashcraft, Chandler, and Skenes at the Phillies. The Phillies will counter with Nola, Sanchez and Wheeler. This Phillies team got off to a horrible start, fired their manager and are coming back with a record of 20-23. This series is going to tell a lot about both teams. Let’s hope it will be something positive for the Pirates. They need it bad.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pitching Gets Racked Again

Final Score: Pirates 4 Rockies 10

Why The Pirates Lost: The pitching performed badly again. What was supposed to be this teams strength may need to be reevaluated or restructured. For the 11th time this season the Pirates have given up 6 or more runs. That’s 25% of the games played. They have fallen all the way to 17th in baseball in runs allowed per game. This time the culprit was Mitch Keller. Of course the bullpen contributed too. Keller looked like he was going to repeat the Skenes performance until the roof caved in during the 5th inning. He had thrown 4 perfect innings. The Rockies lit Keller up and took no time to do it. After 12 pitches in the 5th the Rockies had 3 singles, a double, and another single and the game was tied 3-3. Things seem to settle down a bit as the Pirates threw a guy out at the plate and a soft liner to Konnor Griffin put 2 away. Keller grooved a 2-2 sweeper to Mickey Moniak and he did not miss it, hitting it over the Clemente wall for a 3 run home run to give the Rockies a 6-3 lead. The bullpen gave up 4 more runs with Justin Lawrence leading the way. His throwing error on a routine 1-6-3 double play ball allowed the Rockies to score 3 runs and wrap up the game.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates had a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the 3rd thanks to heads up base running by Brandon Lowe and a botched run down by the Rockies. Konnor Griffin led off the inning with a double. Bryan Reynolds singled him home to make it 3-0. Marcell Ozuna miraculously singled and the Pirates had 1st and 2nd with no one out. At this point the Pirate broadcast booth was absolutely giddy. Ryan O’ Hearn hit the ball hard but unfortunately right at the 1st basemen T J Rumfield and the Rockies turned a sweet 3-6-1 double play. The 6 run 5th happened and the Pirates went down the drain.

Next Game: This afternoon Rockies in Pittsburgh. There has been a lot written about how tough the Pirate schedule has been and when the Pirates play lesser teams how their record will improve. Well, if the Rockies win today the Pirates will have lost 2 series in a row to teams with a combined record of 35-51. So much for that theory. It says that Mason Montgomery is going to start. Does that mean Mlodzinski is going to be the bulk guy. This formula was so successful resulting in a 3 hit shutout that it took the Pirates only 25 games and over a month to repeat it. I really don’t know if they are or is this a true bullpen game. I can hardly wait.

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Pirates Morning Report: Skenes Throws Another Gem

Final Score: Pirates 3 Rockies 1

Why The Pirates Won: Paul Skenes spun another 8 inning gem taking a no hitter into the 7th. He gave up 2 hits, struck out 10 and gave up 0 walks for the 5th consecutive game. He started the game by striking out the first six batters he faced. Gregory Soto gave up back to back doubles in the top of the 9th to make it interesting but got the save to start the home stand off on the right foot. The Pirate offense was not great but went 4 for 12 with runners in scoring position and scored all 3 runs after 2 were out. Maybe they will go on a bit of a run.

Key Moments Of The Game: For Skenes it was the 3rd inning. He was able to retire the side on just four pitches. This enabled him to get through 8 innings throwing 98 pitches. In the bottom of the 5th the Pirates had 2 outs nobody on. Oneil Cruz, who went 3 for 4, took a grooved 0-2 pitch and lined it into left center field for a double. Brandon Lowe took a 1-0 pitch and lined it into right field just soft enough to allow Cruz, who was running like the wind, to barely beat the throw to give the Pirates a 2 run cushion. They added another run in the 7th which made one breath easier with this bullpen.

Next Game: Tonight Rockies in Pittsburgh 6:40. Mitch Keller is going for the Pirates tonight. So far he is having his best season as a pro. He has had only one bad outing in 8 starts. Even though everyone has been clamoring for this I think it is a bad break that Joey Bart had to go on the IL because of a foot infection of all things. He was swinging a very hot bat. I was mildly surprised that the Pirates brought up Endy Rodriguez rather than Rafael Flores. Hopefully Rodriguez will be the catcher tonight.

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Pirates Morning Report: Mismanaging a Bullpen

This report is coming from the west coast may be even early afternoon before I’m done with it, so you will just have to deal with it. The Pirates bullpen has been mishandled from the first day of the season. I debated on how to go about writing this blog. At first I thought I would go with a game by game description of when there were bullpen blunders. Then I changed my mind and decided to show how it affected each player who has been in the bullpen and how this has contributed to many lost games. The biggest challenge of this blog is to keep it at some reasonable length. Before I list the members of the bullpen. There were two glaring errors that I have to mention. First there was the opener game. Mason Montgomery opened the game and pitched one inning. Carmen Mlodzinski came in and pitched his best ball game of the year giving up 2 hits. This led to a 2-0 shutout win over the Nationals. They never did this again. Then there was the famous bullpen game when the Pirates thought of innings instead of pitches. If they had thought of pitches they might have only used 4 pitchers instead of 8. This led to the Pirates saying the bullpen was exhausted when in reality it was not. More on that later. Now to the bullpen members since the season started. The list includes Gregory Soto, Yohan Ramirez, Isaac Mattson, Dennis Santana, Justin Lawrence, Mason Montgomery, Evan Sisk, Hunter Barco, Wilber Dotel, Jose Urquidy, Cam Sanders, and last but certainly not least 35 yr. Old Chris Devinski. Let’s get Devinski and Sanders out of the way first. They are an example of mismanagement just by the fact that they are on this team at any point of the season. The Pirates have to have someone better than these two or you can kiss this season goodbye. Now to look at each pitcher

Soto: He seems to have been the least affected by the bullpen blunders. The same cannot be said of the team. The bullpen game was game 29. He did not pitch again till game 34. Game 31 and 32 were winnable but Soto did not appear. In game 34 the Pirates were ahead 17-7. He now needed work. Great time to put in your best reliever. This was one of many times this year that the Pirates put their A relievers in games that were not close.

Ramirez: In game 19 Ramirez had thrown 17 pitches. In game 21 that went into extra innings they made Ramirez go 3 innings and throw 44 pitches. You have to wonder how that has led to his ineffectiveness lately. There were plenty of other options that game. Montgomery had thrown 7 pitches in game 18. Even Santana could have come later in the inning.

Mattson: Over a period of 4 games, 28 through 31, Matttson had thrown 3 pitches. On his appearance in game 32 he got 2 outs and gave up 5 runs. Since then he has only been used twice in the last 8 games. They have used Devenski and Sanders more than that. They used Mattson 13 times in the first 22 games. He seems thrive on work so they decide to stop using him. He then became ineffective. Good job.

Santana: He has been mishandled from opening day. He has been put in more low leverage situations for a guy that was supposed to be one of your best relievers and basic closer.Not only that but twice he has had 5 days rest and once 4 days rest. Four times this year he has been brought in when the Pirates were behind or ahead by more than 3 runs. He lost the bullpen game fiasco when if the pitchers would have been used correctly, he would have not even been used. It was obvious he did not have it and Ramirez was available which may have kept the score2-2

Lawrence: Another pitcher who’s lack of work may have negatively affected him. After throwing only 9 pitches in the bullpen game where he was very good, he has only made 3 appearances in the last 12 games. He had 6 days rest coming off 2 outings where he gave up 0 runs. With 6 days rest he gave up 3 runs.

Mason Montgomery: Even though he has been very effective he by far has had the most missed opportunities. Twice he has not pitched for 6 days and once for 4 days. He has only pitched in two games in a row twice. In the bullpen game he threw only 7 pitches. Since then he has pitched in only 3 of the next 12 games. He was certainly needed more than that as the bullpen faltered badly.

Sisk: He came on the team in game 16 and has done well in mostly low leverage situations. Has not had any prolonged rest periods and pitched only once in consecutive games. Gee I guess one out of twelve is not bad. Will see how the Pirates try and screw him up.

Barco and Urquidy: I grouped them together because they started out the season with the team and were mismanaged the same way. Both were starting pitchers that the Pirates moved to the bullpen. I did not have a problem with that. If used in the right situation they would get some innings and give the bullpen a periodic rest. The Pirates used them like they were veteran relievers and put them in late inning high leverage situations for the first time in their careers. Of course they failed. Because of the phantom exhausted bullpen they let Barco take a beating in a game they still had a chance to win. They allowed Urquidy to pitch two games in a row where he threw 22 and 31 pitches. This for a guy who had not pitched for essentially 2 years because of Tommy John Surgery. We love you Urquidy, take one for the team. They are both back in AAA trying get themselves back together as starters. So far not all that successfully.

Dotel: In a nutshell. Made 3 appearances. All good or great. Sent back AAA not heard from since. Maybe he is just walking around in daze on the streets of Indianapolis while the Pirate bullpen continues give games away.

There you have it. How to lead a team to be one of the worst save percentage teams in baseball. In a nutshell use good pitchers in low leverage situations and bad pitchers in high leverage situations. Give lots of rest to pitchers that don’t need it and watch their performance deteriorate. To sum it up, when you need one of your better relievers he is not available because you used him when you were way ahead way or way behind. What an analytic department. That’s why I always write brain in quotes when I’m writing about the Pirates.