Tag: pittsburgh pirates

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Pirates Morning Report: What A Difference A Week Makes

Final Score: Pirates 9 Reds 5

Why The Pirates Won: A week ago today Mitch Keller and Hunter Greene had one of the best pitcher’s duel of the year, each giving up just 2 hits. Last night they would have been happy if they had just given up 2 runs a piece. Greene seemed to be under the weather but the Reds didn’t seem to care. Keller took 104 pitches to struggle through 5 and 2/3 innings. Granted there should have been some outfield plays that could have been made, especially by Michael Taylor, but Keller walked 3, hit a batter, and had only one inning where he retired the side in order. The Pirate offense took advantage of Greene’s stomach problems belting him around for 6 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks. I was surprised he came out for the 2nd inning. The Reds are dumber than the Pirates. It was a much needed win for the Pirates.

Key Moments Of The Game: After Andrew McCutchen walked to start the game, Greene got Bryan Reynolds to foul off the first pitch. He turned around and vomited on the mound. After much discussion he stayed in the game. Reynolds worked the count to 3-2 and then hit a slider out of the park to give the Pirates a quick 2-0 lead. The Pirates added another run thanks to a Rawhide Rowdy stolen base and Nick Gonzales single. The Reds allowed Greene to throw 3 more innings. It only took him 93 pitches to do it. He gave up 3 more runs in the 3rd. In the bottom of the 3rd after 1 out, the Reds loaded the bases thanks to a Cruz error and Keller hitting a batter, then walking another one. Keller struck out the next 2 batters to keep the Reds from getting back in the game. The Pirates added 3 more runs and the Reds made it somewhat interesting, but the Pirates handily evened the series.

Next Game: This afternoon, Reds in Cincinnati. Somebody please tell Derek Shelton that there is a day off tomorrow and nobody needs a rest. McCutchen seemed to hurt himself on his last at bat, but that should be the only player who might not play. The Pirates need this win heading to Atlanta.

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Pirates Morning Report: Waiver Built Bullpen Gets Blasted

Final Score: Pirates 5 Reds 11

Why The Pirates Lost: After getting back into the game 5-3 The Shadow Shelton decided to try the waiver bullpen Justin (I Can’t Get Anybody Out) Bruihl, Dennis (The Yankees Gave Up On Me) Santana, and last but certainly not least, Daulton (Batting Practice Pitcher) Jefferies. In 3 innings of “work” they gave up 6 runs on 7 hits. They ended the night with ERA’S of 9.53, 7.34, and 14.93 respectively. Probably the only one surprised by their performances was Derek Shelton. This game just like the game before was handed to the opposing team on a silver platter.

Key Moment Of The Game: The Pirates in the top of the 5th battled back from a 4 run deficit to cut the lead to 5-3 on a RBI single by Yasmani Grandal and a force out by Oneil Cruz. Despite the game being close, Shelton decided to go with the waiver bullpen when there were plenty of options available. Not only that but he puts in another left hander, when the Reds whole lineup is geared up to hit left handed pitching. The result is Bruihl gets one out and the Reds bounce right back to get their 4 run lead again.

Next Game: Tonight, the Reds in Cincinnati. Mitch Keller and Hunter Greene will repeat their match up of last week where neither pitcher gave up a run. We know that Mitch Keller will have to repeat that performance if he expects to get win number 9.

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Pirates Morning Report: Offensive Offense

Final Score: Pirates 1 Rays 3

Why The Pirates Lost: Another poor lineup card where the Pirates did not play Gonzales and McCutchen in a supposed big rubber game of a series. Even tough McCutchen is 37 he is just batting and not playing the field and only the Shadow Stupid Bone Headed Shelton would know why you would not play Gonzales. This is an offense that has not gotten more than 5 hits in a game for the last 5 games. The Tampa Bay pitching staff is ranked 27th in baseball according to ERA+. All of this, wasted another strong performance by Paul Skenes. He went 7 innings giving up 1 run on 7 hits, walking 1, while striking out 8. In a nutshell, it is hard to win when you don’t play your best players, especially when they are playing well.

Key Moment Of The Game: It was the top of the 8th when Colin Holderman got touched up for the 2 runs to give the Rays the insurmountable lead of 3-1. The hardest hit ball was the sacrifice fly out. The other big moment was when Shelton turned in that pathetic lineup card. The Pirates continue to keep and play players that should either be in AAA or DFA. With the trade deadline coming and the owner Mr. Nuthead saying the Pirates are going to make some moves, it is really scary to think what those might be.

The Next Game: Tonight, the Reds in Cincinnati. This is the start of a six game road trip against the Reds and Braves and guess what, they have an off day on Thursday. This will be their 6th off day since May 20th. Do you think they play softball that day and that’s why these players need days off besides the scheduled day off? Who knows? Only the Shadow Shelton knows.

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Pirates Morning Report: Edging The Rays

Final Score: Pirates 4 Rays 3

Why The Pirates Won: After getting off to a shaky start Jared Jones pitched a solid 7 innings giving up 2 runs on just 3 hits, waking 3, striking out 8, while throwing 94 pitches. Holderman and Chapman got shakily through the 8th and 9th. Chapman had to pitch the 9th because David Bednar had left sided tightness. The game ended with the tying run on 2nd base as Chapman got the last batter to ground out to end the game. The offense had just enough to give the Pirates the win. The last 17 batters went down in order.

Key Moments Of Game: Jones’ ability to come back from giving up a run on hit batsman, a walk, a wild pitch, and ground out was a big key. Especially after he almost killed Amed Rosario on the 3rd pitch of the at bat by hitting him in the eyeball with a 100 MPH fastball, with one run already in. He was able to get the next guy out, and from that point on it was like a new pitcher had taken the mound. He struck out the 8 batters over the last 6 innings. Oneil Cruz got the Pirates immediately even with a 445 ft. home run that went into the river on a fly. In the bottom of the 3rd, the Pirates had taken the lead 3-1, with runners on 1st and 3rd and one out. Nick Gonzales hit a rather weak ground ball to third that the Rays tried to unsuccessfully turn into a double play. Cruz scored the 4th and deciding run of the game. It was nice of the Rays not to try and throw Cruz out at home. Considering the Pirates did not get a man on base the rest of the game, if they don’t score there, they probably lose.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rays in Pittsburgh. The Rays go from the frying pan into the fire facing Paul Skenes this afternoon. Can this kid pitch great every time. Who knows? Just like in the case of Bednar’s left side tightness, only the Shadow Shelton knows for sure.

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Pirates Morning Report: A Contrast In Managers

Final Score: Pirates 3 Rays 10

Why The Pirates Lost: Make no question about it things went the Rays way last night. They got 17 hits and did hit 3 home runs but many of their hits snuck through the infield or were bloopers. The Pirates offense remained inept getting only 5 hits. The Pirates were still in the game going into the 6th inning and that is where we saw the contrast in managers.

Key Moments Of The Game: The score was 4-0 Rays going into the bottom of the 4th. Ryan Pepiot had been pretty much in control of the game. He walked the first two batters to start the inning. Ke’Bryan Hayes singled in the first Pirate run, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Pepiot did get Connor Joe to pop out. Suwinski doubled to make the score 4-2 and after a walk to Grandal to load the bases out came Kevin Cash to get his pitcher. Reliever Colin Poche got out of the jam in one pitch getting McCutchen to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. Contrast that with the top of the 6th and the score still 4-2 Rays. Luis Ortiz had pitched 3 and 1/3 innings giving up 3 runs on 5 hits including a home run to Josh Lowe. The inning started with 2 singles followed by a force out at 2nd putting runners on 1st and 3rd. Ortiz struck out the next batter and up stepped the aforementioned LEFT HAND BATTING Josh Lowe. Josh Fleming was warming up in the bullpen. Against lefties Lowe is hitting .167. Ortiz had thrown 76 pitches, the most all year. Shelton never moved. First pitch Lowe homered for the second time, both off Ortiz, making the score 7-2 and the game is over. He still doesn’t take him out until another double is given up. What makes this even worse, according to Joe Block, the Rays bullpen was used a lot the day before and the Pirates with the day off had a well rested bullpen. Thanks to Derek (How Many Pitches Had He Thrown) Shelton, they are still well rested.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rays in Pittsburgh. Another momentum killing loss for the Pirates last night. Jared Jones is getting the start today and let’s hope he turns it around. His last 7 starts, which is half of his starts, his ERA is 4.97. He needs to get back on track especially with this offense. This team could be named the Treadmill Pirates. The legs are moving fast, with the exception of Rawhide Rowdy, but they are going nowhere.

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Pirates Morning Report: Getting The Split

Final Scores: Game 1 Pirates 0 Tigers 8

Game 2 Pirates 10 Tigers 2

Why The Pirates Split: The Pirates could not do anything in game 1. Jared Jones looked lethargic and admitted as much post-game. By far his worst outing of the season. He did not have much help as the Pirates made two errors behind him in the first 5 innings. Both errors contributed heavily to the Tigers scoring. The Pirates bats could only manage 3 hits and a walk in the disastrous 1st game. Going into game 2 you felt the Pirates had to win this game with Paul Skenes pitching and for whatever reason the Tigers deciding to go with a AAA pitcher. The Pirates fell behind early 1-0 when the Tigers scratched out a run in the bottom of the 2nd. Even though no error was charged Oneil Cruz essentially misplayed a ball that led to the run. The Pirates looked like they weren’t going to be able to hit AAA pitching as they went 6 up and 6 down in the first two inning. Andrew McCutchen unloaded a 3 run bomb in the top of the 3rd and Pirates never looked back scoring 7 more runs over the final 6 innings. Nick Gonzales had a big game, going 3 for 5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. The Pirates avoided disaster yesterday by gaining a much needed split in Detroit.

Key Moments Of The Day: In game 1 Jared Jones after the shaky 1st inning was able to get through the next 3 inning unscathed. He got the first out in the bottom of the 5th. Then he walked a batter and then Nick Gonzales messed up a tag play on a ground ball for an error and the Tigers had 1st and 2nd with one out. Matt Vierling took a hanging slider right down the middle and put it into the left field seats to blow the game open 6-0. The game was over. In game 2 in the third inning the Pirates caught a big break when a 1-2 change up that was well inside the strike zone was called a ball with Ji Hwan Bae batting. He promptly singled on the next pitch putting runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out. Andrew McCutchen’s 3 run homer would have been a 2 run homer if the ump knew what he was doing. It was a big extra run at the time for the struggling Pirates. Skenes pitched a solid 6 innings giving up 2 runs on only 3 hits walking 1, while striking out 9. The Pirates scored 6 runs in the last 4 innings making the bullpen’s job easy to gain the split.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, Blue Jays in Toronto. The Pirates have not officially named any starting pitchers for the series. Regardless, the Blue Jays have recently played the White Sox 6 times winning 5 to pull themselves up 3 games below .500. The Pirates desperately need to take 2 out of 3.

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Pirates Morning Report: Mind Boggling Last 6 Innings

Final Score: Pirates 5 Giants 9 in 10 innings

Why The Pirates Lost: Bryan Reynolds hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the 4th to give the Pirates a 5-0 lead. From that moment on, the Pirates got one more hit, 2 walks, struck out 10 times and made 15 consecutive outs at one point. They did not get a hit from the 5th to the end of the game. Jared Jones pitched what I consider his standard outing now, 6 innings, 3 runs, with at least one home run. A good outing but certainly not phenom like. The bullpen thought they would get into the act by giving up 6 runs, 6 hits, but “only” 5 walks in 4 innings of work. In that 6 inning span the Pirates went from a team looking like they were going to win 3 in a row to a team that looks in total disarray. I don’t know what is worse, seeing them fill the bases and never scoring, or never getting on base period for a protracted period of time.

Key Moment Of The Game: Despite the horrible batting over 4 and 2/3 innings, the Pirates were clinging to a 5-4 lead going into the top of the 9th. Colin Holderman had limited the damage in the 8th when Aroldis Chapman walked the bases loaded to start the inning. Holderman allowed only one run to score which made the score 5-4. He got the first 2 outs in the top of the 9th. The count went to 2-2 to Luis Matos. He threw two sweepers in a row and Matos hit the 2nd one to left field for a base hit. Holderman opened the at bat by throwing a 99 MPH sinker. Reynolds booted the ball and Matos was able to make it to second. Holderman threw 3 straight sweepers to LaMonte Wade Jr. He ripped the third one to right field for a base hit to tie the game. Holderman threw a lot of sweepers in the 8th too, but when you have a 98+ MPH sinker why are you throwing the sweeper that much. Regardless, once the game was tied you knew it was over. The 10th was a disaster and the Pirates fell to 23-27. What a team!

The Next Game: This afternoon, the Giants in Pittsburgh. Paul Skenes goes today for the Pirates and hopefully they can secure a series win. The big bad Atlanta Brave are coming to town. They haven’t been that big or bad lately winning only 8 of their last 17 games. I don’t know if that is good or bad. Are they due to come out of this mild funk? Let’s hope not. That’s what makes last night lost sting even more.

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Pirates Morning Report: The Total Priester Package

Final Score: Pirates 3 Brewers 4

Why The Pirates Lost: Quinn Priester pitched 5 strong innings giving up 0 runs, 3 hits, walking 2 and striking out 5. Unfortunately he pitched 6 innings. In the bottom of the 2nd he gave up 4 runs, 6 hits, including a home run and a double. You could say we saw the complete inconsistent Priester all wrapped up in one outing. Same thing could be said about the Pirates’ bats. Six of the nine players did not get a hit or a walk. They scored 3 runs on a double, home run and a home run. That was all the hits they got. They struck out 13 times. It was a tough loss that this team could not afford.

Key Moment Of The Game: The bottom of the 2nd when Priester could not shut it down. He got out of a 1st and 3rd nobody out jam in the bottom of the first and you thought there might be hope. After one out in the bottom of 2nd these hopes were dashed. BOOM, double, home run, single, single, single, and before you could say Rawhide Rowdy Tellez, it was 3-0 Brewers. A pop out and a single later it was 4-0. It only took 16 pitches to do this. At least Priester was efficient while getting blasted.

Next Game: This afternoon, Brewers in Milwaukee. Michael Perez goes for the Pirates today and he as not been that great his last couple of outings. The good news is the Brewers are going with a lefty so Tellez might as well stay in the hotel room. That way Shelton won’t be tempted to use him as a pinch hitter. Can the Pirates win this series, miracles do happen.

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Pirates Morning Report: Surviving A Disastrous 8th inning For Big Win

Final Score: Pirates 8 Brewers 6

Why The Pirates Won: For the second time in the last three games the Pirates bats came alive. Led by Bryan Reynolds’ 5 for 5 night, the Pirates put 8 runs on the board. The long ball accounted for 5 of the 8 runs. Suwinski a 2 run homer, Grandal a 2 run homer and Reynolds hit the big solo shot in the top of the 9th to give the Pirates that 2 run cushion. Keller had an uneven but solid 6 innings of work, shutting out the Brewers, but danced through the raindrops giving up 8 hits, walking no one, while striking out 7. The bullpen, which is becoming a real liability for this team, gave up 6 runs in 2 innings. Bednar who pitched his best 9th inning in a long time and Holderman are the only two that seem to be able to get anybody out. The bad news is that guys that either were up this year or did well last year are struggling at the AAA level. Jose Hernandez ERA 9.00, Ryder Ryan ERA 3.86, which is not too bad, and Carmen Mlodzinski, who pitched well for the Pirates last year out of the bullpen, is having trouble with an ERA of 6.43. Will management do anything in this area to help shore things up? The short answer is no. Let’s enjoy last night’s big win which sent the Pirates to 19-23 and 5.5 games out of first place.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Pirates ability to keep adding on is what won this game. They scored in 5 of the nine innings, including 5 in the last 3 innings. The one big play came in the bottom of the 7th with two out. Josh Fleming, who did not look good for 40 pitches, gave up a 2 out double to Willie Adamas that scored the first two runs of the game for the Brewers. For some strange reason Adamas tried to go to third and Oneil (The One Hop Relay Man) Cruz nailed him at third base and the inning was over. The bonehead play may have cost the Brewers the game.

Next Game: Tonight, Brewers in Milwaukee. Quinn (Who Is Going To Show Up Tonight) Priester is going to start tonight for the Pirates. The best way to sum up Priester’s major league career is to say this year he has become inconsistent, which is quite an improvement. Are we going to see the quality start Priester or will we see the run an inning Priester? This should determine the outcome of tonight’s game.

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Pirates Morning Report: It’s Time For Replacements.

Final Score: Pirates 2 Rockies 3

Why The Pirates Lost: You’re kidding right. The Pirates made the no brainer move, pun intended, sending down Henry Davis and recalling Yasmani Grandal. It is time for this management team to get some testicles and shake up this team. The replacements are ready and are hitting. Check out these slash lines and this is not a misprint. Ji Hwan Bae .414/.516/.577, Nick Gonzales .358/.420/.575 and Jake Lamb .394/.483/.606. Now I know this is AAA but all of these players are slugging well over .500 and Bae is getting on base more than he is making outs. Who would these guys replace. Try ANYBODY. For now, I will take Jack Suwinski, Jared Triolo, and Rowdy (Rawhide) Tellez. Last nights game had some mind boggling stats. Six innings the Pirates went 3 up 3 down. Six innings they failed to get a hit. Their hitting coach said it is all about the process. WELL, THEIR PROCESS STINKS DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Their problems can be summed up by one pitch in the bottom of the ninth to Ke’Bryan Hayes. The first pitch was right down the middle. It couldn’t have been more down the middle and Hayes just looked at it for a called strike. That is one great process. The Pirates are now 14-19 losing their last 5 games. Here is the real scary thing. In the last three series, the Pirates have faced teams with worst records than theirs, when each series started. Their record is 1-6. Can’t wait to play the Dodgers and the Braves.

Key Moments Of The Game: Anytime a Pirate came to the plate. When the Rockies scored their first run on a home run you knew the game was over. Cruz did hit a home run in the bottom of 9th to make it close, but you knew they were going to lose.

Next Game: This afternoon, Rockies in Pittsburgh. Jared Jones will start for the Pirates. Jones is debating whether or not to fake an illness. He was seen in the locker room staring at 2-day old Sushi. He might have been thinking why are Suwinski and Tellez playing. What is the thinking here. I do not think there are going to be any miracles. There are 3 solid options in AAA. This team needs help. How about giving them some management.