Tag: pittsburgh pirates

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Pirates Morning Report: Turning The Infield Hit Into An Art Form

Final Score: Pirates 3 Giants 1

Why The Pirates Won: Outstanding pitching was back. Falter went 5 innings giving up 1 run on 2 hits. He did walk 4 but managed to throw only 70 pitches. Braxton Ashcraft pitched 3 perfect innings. Dennis Santana pitched a clean 9th to get the save. Liovar Peguero hit a solo homer. The Pirates infield hit their way to 2 runs in the top of the eighth. The Pirates had 12 hits but couldn’t do much with it leaving 10 men on base. As I always say all is forgiven when you win. Not so much when you lose. The Giants looked bad last night. They were doubled off second base on an infield fly rule in the first inning. Looks like Rafael Devers did the Red Sox a big favor by refusing to play 1st base.

Key Moments Of The Game: It was a tale of two contrasting innings. In the bottom of the 4th the Giants hit 3 balls over 100 MPH and 2 over 90 MPH coming away with 1 run. That was a lead off home run by Willie Adames. Falter had the at em ball going that inning. In the top of the 8th the Pirates did not hit on ball over 100 MPH. They hit 5 consecutive ground balls. Two did not go over 70 MPH. One went 87. Two went 97. They all resulted in hits or runs. The ground ball by Ke’Bryan Hayes was misplayed thanks to Deavers not knowing what to do at first base. This loaded the bases. Joey Bart singled on a ground ball between short and 3rd to knock in the 2nd run. Peguero hit a little 69 MPH topper down third that Matt Chapman could only throw Peguero out at first bringing in the 3rd run. Three balls over 100 MPH, one run. No balls over 100 MPH 2 runs. Things are going the Pirates way as they have won 7 of 8.

Next Game: This afternoon, Giants in San Francisco. Mike Burrows goes for the Pirates today as they try and get a road sweep. Tomorrow is the infamous trade deadline. May have two blogs tomorrow if the Pirates do anything significant. That is not very likely. The bad news is, even if they trade him, this recent resurgence of Tommy Pham may have save Ben Cherington’s job. What danger lurks in the mind of Ben Cherington? Who knows? Only The Shadow Shelton knows. I couldn’t help myself. I had to get that in one last time. I also want to squelch this rumor. That was not Derek Shelton serving fries at McDonald’s. It was Burger King.

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Pirates Morning Report: Another Dominate Series

The Pirates extended their win streak to 6 games by sweeping the Cardinals. The offense did ok scoring 13 runs for the series. They only scored one run in game 2 but it was enough. In a spectacular pitching performance the Pirates did not allow a run for the entire series. In the 1st game of the series Andrew Heaney was dominate taking a no hitter into the 6th inning. For the game the Cardinals had 4 hits and a walk. Games 2 and 3 were studies in frustration for the Cardinals offense. In game 2 they had 7 hits and 4 walks. They were 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. This was the 1-0 game where the Pirates only had 4 hits. Don Kelly looked brilliant when he pinch hit for the suddenly hot Tommy Pham. Pinch hitter Adam Frazier doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Henry Davis’s sacrifice fly drove in the only run of the game. The Cardinals offensive failures continued in game 3. They had 6 hits, including 3 doubles, and 3 walks. They left 10 men on base again by going 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. This all added up to 3 straight shutouts for the Pirates and a 6 game winning streak. The Pirates head on the road to face the Mariners,Royals and Twins. These teams are decent but not power houses. If they can somehow someway do something extraordinary and continue this winning streak for a few more games they may salvage this season yet.

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Pirates Morning Report: Blowing Out The Mets Over The Weekend

Since I have been gone the Pirates are 3-2. They lost 2 to the Brewers. The last game of the series saw Paul Skenes lose to Jacob Misiorowski. Skenes had a “bad” bottom of the 2nd giving up 4 runs. Even though all the runs were earned, it was an inning where only 2 runs should have scored. It was not to be. The Pirates scored 1 in the 7th and 1 in the 8th to make it interesting. With a little luck and better defense it could have been a tie game at this point. But oh what a weekend. The Pirates destroyed the New York Mets. They out scored them 30 to 4 in the 3 games. I can’t even remember when the Pirates dominated a team like this. Holding the Mets to 4 runs over the 3 games was impressive enough. Scoring 30 runs in those game was miraculous. Cruz woke up Sunday hitting two 2 run homers. Henry Davis had a 4 hit game. Tommy Pham continued his hot bat hitting his 2nd home run of the season. Bryan Reynolds went 5 for 14 for the weekend hitting 2 home runs. Ke’Bryan Hayes went 7 for 13 for the weekend. It was a total team demolition of the New York Mets. The Cardinals come to town next. Can the Pirates keep this up? This should have given this team a confidence boost. Can they win 6 in a row.

On a sad note Dave Parker passed away on Saturday June 28th. At least he knew he was going to the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer. I believe the one thing that kept Dave Parker from getting into the Hall was his lack of the home run ball He was big and strong but hit just 339 home runs. He hit 30 or over just twice in 19 years. His 162 game average was 22. He could do it all. His extra base average was 40 per year. He had a great arm and won 3 Gold Gloves. His career WAR was 40.1. I fine that to be low. His post season hitting although not bad did not meet up to his regular standards. Maybe it was his brashness that kept him out. The newspaper writers loved him for his one liners and cockiness. But then they used that as an excuse for not voting him in. Parker would have been the greatest right fielder in Pirates history if not for the Great One Roberto Clemente. Parker was one of a kind. The Hall needed him to get in. I’m just happy that he knew he was going.

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Pirates Morning Report: Offense Still Stinks.

Final Score: Pirates 2 Cubs 1 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Won: This was the battle of the passive bats. The Pirates eked out the win. The Pirates took 25 pitches for strikes. The Cubs outdid them by taking 28 pitches for strikes. Each team only scored 1 run in the first 9 innings. The Pirates scored a run in the top of the 10th with the ghost runner on second. The Cubs could not even do that, giving the Pirates a 2-1 victory. Paul Skenes was undone by the foul balls. There were 24 foul balls. It took him 95 pitches to get through 5 innings. He gave up 4 hits and walked 2. It was far from his best stuff. It was a gritty performance in rainy conditions. The Pirate offense continues to amaze. They only had 6 hits in 10 innings. They were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. They did walk 3 times and kept their strikeouts at 7. It was a nice and fortunate win for the Pirates. The road trip is at 1-1. Can they get at least 2 wins in the next 5 games? Will they ever start swinging the bats? I mean that literally.

Key Moments Of The Game: After breezing through the first 2 innings, Paul Skenes had a rough 3rd inning. He did not give up a run but threw 35 pitches to get through the inning. He faced 5 batters. On the last 4 batters, he reached 3 and 2 counts. He gave up a single and a walk. In the bottom of the 4th, he gave up a 2-out double. In the 5th, it took a great relay to throw the runner out at the plate. The Cubs had a runner on 1st with 2 outs. Kyle Tucker laced a line drive into left-center field. Oneil Cruz quickly got to the ball and fired a low and fast throw to Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He made a great short hop pickup. He fired to home with a perfect one-hopper to Henry Davis. Davis applied the tag. The runner was out by 3 feet. It ended the inning. Paul Skenes was done for the day. Each team scratched out a run in the 8th inning. Both runs scored on balls that were not hit out of the infield. The Pirates had the bases loaded with nobody out in the top of the 10th. They scored only 1 run. It did not come back to haunt them. Bednar shut the Cubs down in the bottom of the 10th to get the save.

Next Game: This afternoon, Cubs in Chicago. Matthew Boyd goes for the Cubs. Another tough pitcher with an ERA of 2.89. He is a lefty. It will be interesting to see who the Pirates send out there. Mike Burrows is going for the Pirates. He has looked better in his last 2 outings. He better have his A game today. Even that may not be good enough with these batting weaklings.

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Pirates Morning Report: Skenes Close To 2024 And Some Interesting Decisions Coming Up

Paul Skenes is right back in Cy Young contention. His 2025 numbers are right around last year with the exception of strike outs per 9 innings where he is a full 2 less than last year. He seems to have his command back with walks per 9 the same as last year. In recent starts he has relied more on his fastball and has touched 100 MPH at times. In the National League he is second for qualifying pitchers with an ERA+ of 195. Only Yamamoto of the Dodgers is ahead at 198. As long as he remains healthy I think he will get even better as the year rolls on and win the Cy Young just like everyone thought he would.

Some Pirates are getting healthy and others are performing very well in AAA. The latter does not seem to make much difference to the Pirates when giving promotions. You have to wonder if the Pirates will try to keep the injured that way to avoid making some tough decisions. These decisions looked a lot easier just 10 days ago. Ten days ago it looked like a no brainer that Henry Davis should be sent down. Now, he is starting to hit and looks better behind the plate. Even before he got hurt I thought Joey Bart and Davis should at least split the time behind the plate. Bart is in the throes of a prolonged batting slump. Bart is now in concussion protocol and Endy Rodriguez is back on the team. If Davis is still hitting what will they do with Bart when he is deemed ready for play. What makes this more interesting is that Rodriguez and Nick Gonzales have not exactly been lighting it up in AAA. Gonzales is 3 for 22 and Rodriguez is 4 for 26. Matt Gorsky has a slash line of 278/.318/.519 at AAA. Malcom Nunez currently on the 7 day IL slashes at .278/.346/484. He is just 24 years old. Gonzales looks to be the next call up. Jared Triolo should be the one sent down when that happens. I have a feeling it will be the little used Nick Solak. He was red hot down in AAA but the Pirates chose to let him languish on the bench while Triolo hits .152. That was after he got 2 hits on Wednesday. Somebody explain this to me please.

The pitching situation is even more crowded. At AAA you have Bubba Chandler, Dauri Moreta, Kyle Nicolas, Carmen Mlodzinski, and Isaac Mattson. The Pirates sent down Mattson instead of Tanner Rainey with his 7.11 ERA. Another explanation is needed. With the exception of Nicolas they are all pitching well. Johan Oviedo will probably start pitching toward the end of June. I have stopped trying to speculate what the Pirates will do. Will they wait until the end of June to bring up Chandler just so they will have one more year of control. The most interesting part of all of this is how long will they put off making any decision unless their hand is forced by injury. This team is starting to show some life. Will this organization finally do something to help them win. I highly doubt it.

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Pirates Morning Report: What The Hell Is Going On? Even Triolo Got Two Hits

Final Score: Pirates 10 Diamondbacks 1

Why The Pirates Won: The offense came alive in a big way. They scored 10 runs on 11 hits and 3 walks. Every member of the starting lineup either got a hit, drove in a run or scored a run. Even Jared Triolo had two hits to raise his average above the Triolo line to .152. The Pirates had 4 extra base hits including Oneil Cruz’s 12th home run that put icing on the cake in the top of the 8th. All of this was more than enough to give Paul Skenes an easy win. He was his usual brilliant self going 6 and 2/3 innings. He gave up no runs, 4 hits, no walks, while striking out 7. This lowered his ERA to 2.15. More on Paul Skenes tomorrow. Two rare days in a row. A big comeback win on Tuesday, followed by a blowout win yesterday. There may be hope for this team after all.

Key Moments Of The Game: After 4 innings the Pirates led 1-0. This looked like it was going to be another close low scoring game for Paul Skenes. In the top of the 5th the Pirates loaded the bases with no outs and Cruz was coming to the plate. Cruz grounded to second. The Diamondbacks completely botched the play allowing the Pirates to score 2 runs. The Pirates had 2nd and 3rd with no outs leading 3-0. The Pirates went back into their old ways and could not score any more runs. Any good feeling the Diamondbacks may have had was squelched by Skenes. He retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning. The Pirates buried them in the 6th by scoring 5 runs. Isiah Kiner-Falefa got the big hit, doubling in 2 runs. The Pirates head to San Diego on a high note. They have a good chance to have a .500 road trip or even better.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Padres in San Diego. For once the Pirates take some momentum into a series. Tomorrow’s blog will discuss Paul Skenes and some interesting decisions the Pirates will eventually have to make. One was delayed because Joey Bart got hit in the head. Stay tuned.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pirates Rally From 6 Run Deficit, Not Fake News

Final Score: Pirates 9 Diamondbacks 6

Why The Pirates Won: The offense shockingly woke up in the top of the 8th scoring 7 runs. The bullpen shut down the vaunted Diamondbacks offense by retiring the last 17 batters in a row. Bryan Reynolds came out of his slump big time. He went 4 for 4 with a walk. He had a home run, a double, driving in 3 runs and scoring 2. Isiah Kiner-Falefa only had one hit. It was a big one. His bases loaded double in the top of 8th scored 3 runs to tie the game. Reynolds followed that up 1 batter later with a 3 run homer to give the Pirates a 9-6 lead. Henry Davis who replaced the head injured Joey Bart hit a 2 run homer in the top of the 6th to get the ball rolling. At the time it made the score 6-2. To say that this was an unexpected win is a huge understatement. The one hundred club is down to one member, Jared Triolo. However, Spencer Horwitz is looking to join. Davis and Tommy Pham inched above .200 with each getting 2 hits.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the top of the 4th Mike Burrows was cruising along having given up 1 run on a Corbin Carroll home run to lead off the game. He got the first out of the inning. He gave up a triple and a single to make the score 2-0. Then Burrows became his own worse enemy. He walked the next batter. He muffed an easy ground ball by Carroll that loaded the bases. In came Joey Wentz and his luck got even worse. He gave up 3 singles in a row none of which were hit very hard. Before you could say this game is over the score was quickly 6-0. But it wasn’t over. Wentz got the next 2 batters. The Diamondbacks did not get a hit the rest of the game. Without Joey Bart getting hit in the head with a bat Henry Davis would have never been in the game. The Pirates finally got some big hits and pulled out an amazing win.

Next game: This afternoon Diamondbacks in Phoenix. Today is the unexpected rubber match with Paul Skenes going for the Pirates. Obviously it’s not been a given just because Skenes is pitching that the Pirates will win. There is always hope that a big comeback win will give the Pirates some momentum. Certainly if that is true then they must win today. The lineup should be pretty straight forward with McCutchen back as DH and Davis behind the plate. I hope Triolo is not given a start. We don’t have that much momentum.

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Pirates Morning Report: Shut Out For The Ninth Time

Final Score: Pirates 0 Diamondbacks 5

Why The Pirates Lost: Another offensive debacle. No runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. They were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. It really wouldn’t have made any difference but Andrew Heaney had a bad outing. In 5 innings he gave up 5 runs, 8 hits and walked 3. The one bright spot Braxton Ashcroft came in and pitched a nice 3 innings giving up no runs. But enough of this already. This is just too good to pass up. Going into the off season both the Pirates and Diamondbacks had obvious needs at first base. The Diamondbacks traded for Josh Naylor. They gave up one pitcher for him. His current stats; slash line .287/.348/.444 for an OPS+ 122. The Pirates traded for Spencer Horwitz or as Greg Brown calls him Hor-A-Witz. They gave up 3 players including Luis Ortiz. Horwitz was damaged goods and had to have wrist surgery. Small sample size, but his slash line is .200/.263/.348 for an OPS+ 68. We all know what the big difference is between these players. Horwitz makes around $800,000 and won’t be a free agent until 2031. Naylor is 10.9 million and will be a free agent next year. The Pirates spent close to that much on Pham, Frazier and Heaney. Even if you want to give Frazier and Heaney a little love did they really need them with the young players they have. Absolutely not. This little scenario explains why these teams are where they are. One fighting like hell for a playoff spot. The other trying to avoid another 100 loss season.

The Key Moment Of The Game: Before I get into that the blog will be coming from San Diego this week so it will be mid to late morning. I watched the Padres last night. Again it was such a pleasure to listen to true professional baseball announcers. They make the game so much better of an experience. When you boil it right down there were no truly key moments. The Pirates were never in this one. Yeah I know they had the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the 8th. Really did anyone think they were going to score. Be honest.

Next Game: Tonight Diamondbacks in Phoenix. Corbin Burnes is going for the Diamondbacks. The Pirates have had some success against him but it would be shocking if they have any tonight. Mike Burrows is going for the Pirates. This looks like such a mismatch. Many times you will get surprised. That sure would be nice.

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Pirates Morning Report: Pitching Reigns Supreme

Final Score: Pirates 1 Nationals 0

Why The Pirates Won: Oneil Cruz took the second pitch of the game and smashed it 442 feet for a home run. It was the only run of the game. Trevor Williams and two other relievers gave up only 4 more hits while walking 4. Andrew Heaney gave up 5 hits and walked 2 but did not allow the Nationals to score over 7 and 1/3 innings of work. He struck out 4 batters. The bullpen of Ryan Borucki and Dennis Santana covered the final 1 and 2/3 innings without giving up a hit or walk. The pitching staff won this one for the Pirates.

Key Moments Of The Game: Both teams missed some golden opportunities to score. Since the Nationals lost the game, theirs were more significant. The Nationals open the 2nd inning with 2 singles putting runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Luis Garcia Jr. hit a ball right back to Heaney. He had trouble getting the ball out of his glove which cost him the double play. This put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Jacob Young hit a liner but right at IKF for the 2nd out. Never hurts to be a little lucky. Riley Adams grounded out and the threat was over. In the top of the 6th the Nationals tried to get a little two out lightening going. Amed Rosario singled and Nathaniel Lowe doubled after two were out. Dylan Crews flew out to right to end that threat. The final threat came in the top of the 8th. Nasim Nunez walked on 7 pitches to start the inning. He was sacrificed to 2nd for some reason and the Pirates were glad to get the out. Borucki came on in relief. He got James Wood to ground out to shortstop with Nunez advancing to third. Rosario hit a ball down the 3rd base line that Ke’Bryan Hayes made a great play on to easily throw out Rosario. The Nationals went quietly in the 9th. The Pirates had their second series win of the season.

Next Game: Tonight, the Guardians in Pittsburgh. Luis Ortiz will face his old teammates tonight. He has not been lighting it up with an ERA over 6. The same could be said about Carmen Mlodzinski, who carries an ERA over 6. If these team weren’t so bad offensively I would expect to see a lot of scoring. Most likely we will see very few runs scored. Despite winning the last two games the offensive woes continue. Cruz’s long balls and great pitching were the difference. I don’t see this offense picking up. I hope I’m wrong.

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Pirates Morning Report: Falter, Cruz Lead The Way

Final Score: Pirates 6 Nationals 1

Why The Pirates Won: Barry Falter had a solid start for the Pirates. It was not his best start as a Pirate as Greg Brown kept repeating. Last year Falter took a no hitter into the 7th or 8th inning. I would say that would rank better. It is amazing how little a broadcaster knows about his team. He must not get any help from the truck. Falter had some other starts last year that were just as good. Thanks to two double plays and a caught stealing he did face just 21 batters over 7 innings. This seemed to mesmerize Brown. The offense was mesmerized for most of the game also. Through 6 innings they could only muster 1 run on 4 hits and a walk. The first four batters started the game by striking out. Then came the bottom of the 7th.

Key Moments Of The Game: Jorge Lopez came in to pitch the bottom of the 7th. In just 4 pitches he gave up 2 singles to IKF and Enmanuel Valdez putting runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. Henry Davis, whose homer gave the Pirates their run, hit a broken bat ground ball to third driving in run no. 2 and putting a runner on 2nd. Hayes grounded out to short for the 2nd out. Then the fun began. Bryan Reynolds got nailed by the very first pitch. On the 3rd pitch to McCutchen, Lopez came dangerously close to McCutchen’s head. Apparently he did not like the home runs they hit off him in September when he was with Cubs. The benches cleared but no fisticuffs ensued. He was rightfully tossed from the game. McCutchen eventually walked to load the bases. Oneil Cruz wasted no time taking Eduardo Salazar’s first pitch and parking it into the right field seats for his first career grand slam. This broke the game open 6-0, allowing the Pirates to cruise to victory.

Next game: This afternoon, the Nationals in Pittsburgh. Andrew Heaney goes for the Pirates today. The Pirates have some interesting decisions to make concerning the bullpen. Since both Bednar and Holderman have left for various reasons the bullpen has been holding its own. Right now the Pirate bullpen is ranked 13th in the league. This is up 11 places from last year. Bednar has been tearing it up in AAA and Holderman is almost fully recovered from a knee injury. You know the Pirates are eventually going to add them back to the roster. What the Pirates should do is only use them in low leverage situations and not when the game is on the line. You know that is not going to happen. They will be plugged into their normal roles. Bednar may not close but he will be a setup man right away in tight games. Pirates always mess up a good situation. Right now the bullpen is performing well. Bednar and Holderman are going to get the opportunity to change that.