Pittsburgh Pirates

A rough month of May continues for Pirates’ starters as Joe Musgrove allowed 11 hits and 5 earned runs in 6 innings pitched vs the Milwaukee Brewers tonight. Pittsburgh’s ERA among starting pitchers this month has soared to 6.65 and Joe Musgrove’s downturn has come at the worst time for a rotation ravished by injuries and Chris Archer looking like he belongs in Triple-A. Musgrove’s rough outing gives him a 7.27 ERA over his last three starts where he’s allowed 15 runs over his last 17 1/3 innings.

Top pitching prospect Mitch Keller (5-0, 3.45 ERA) will make his MLB debut in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader vs the Cincinnati Reds, the Pirates officially announced this afternoon. It’s a route the Pirates brass has been hoping to avoid until at least late June but a starting rotation rocked with injuries finally forced the Pirates hand. It’s expected to only be a one game stint for Keller in the Majors but Keller could change that plan if he were to shine vs the Reds as it would be a PR mess for the organization to send Keller right back down if he’s anything short of a disaster. The rotation for the four game set vs the Reds will be Nick Kingham, Mitch Keller, Jordan Lyles and Steven Brault. The Pirates throwing Kingham (8.76 ERA) and Brault (7.11 ERA) back out there is as depressing as it can getRead More »

As injuries mount to the pitching staff, Neal Huntington on Sunday took the opportunity to pump the brakes on Mitch Keller seeing an MLB field anytime soon. Citing the organization is already out of their comfort zone with Cole Tucker and Bryan Reynolds, Huntington said Keller is in the middle of the process of adding slider/cutter to his arsenal that according to Huntington makes no sense to bring Keller to the Majors just yet. “With Reynolds and Tucker up here, we’re out of comfort zone enough with guys without a ton of Triple-A experience. The addition of a slider is going to cause us to be a bit more patient, to let him lock this in and utilize it as a weapon,” said Huntington. It would be like bringing a hitter up when he’s in the middle of a mechanical change.” Keller 3-0 with a 3.48 ERA this season, hasRead More »

LAD 7 – PIT 6 W: J. Urias (2-1) L: R. Rogriguez) S: K. Jansen (10) Despite a 5-1 lead after three innings, the floundering Pirates (12-14) would find a way to stumble over themselves in a 7-6 loss to the Dodgers on Sunday afternoon. As the losing streak now reaches 8 games, it’s a scary thought for Pirates’ fans on where things go from here for a team on a game-by-game basis that has such a small margin of error. –Melky Cabrera had a big game in the loss, going 4-5 with 2 home runs and 3 RBI. Cabrera has been a pleasant surprise, hitting .333 on the season. –SP Trevor Williams went 6 innings, allowing 8 hits and 5 earned runs. Williams struck out 6 and walked 1. In the fifth inning, things unraveled for the Williams. With 2 outs and runners at 2nd and 3rd, he hadRead More »

Major League Baseball has suspended SP Chris Archer five games for intentionally throwing at Derek Dietrich of the Cincinnati Reds. The suspension is subject to appeal. Reds OF Yasiel Puig who has a phenomenal photo he can always be remembered for in trying to take on the entire Pirates team, received a two game suspension.

Kevin Newman delivered a walk-off RBI double in the 10th inning to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates (4-3) to a 6-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds (1-7) on Saturday afternoon at PNC Park. Newman with his 1st career walk-off winner, drove home Francisco Cervelli with a drive to deep center as the Pirates improve to 4-3 on the season. The Reds with a slew of splashy acquisitions during the winter, are off to a 1-7 start. *Francisco Liriano (1-0) received the win in relief, allowing no runs and striking out two in the top of the 10th inning. *Josh Bell went 3-5 with a home run, 2 RBIs and 2 doubles, setting a career high for extra-base hits in a game. *Jason Martin acquired in Andrew McCutchen trade, made his MLB debut. Martin batted leadoff, going 1-2 with a walk, run scored, stolen base. *SP Trevor Williams (1-0, 2.25 ERA) allowedRead More »

Great pitching continues to put the Pirates (3-3) in every game and that continued in Friday night’s 2-0 shutout win over the Cincinnati Reds (1-6) on Friday night. Joe Musgrove (1-0, 0.00 ERA) gave the Pirates an excellent outing, allowing three hits and striking out eight in seven shutout innings. Musgrove and relievers Keone Kela (5.40 ERA) and Felipe Vasquez (2 SV, 0.00 ERA) combined for the three hit shutout. Pirate starters have allowed 5 earned runs in 36 innings this season. Joe Musgrove | 7IP-3H-0R-8K-1BB-88PC/63ST Keone Kela | 1IP-0H-0R-0BB-0K-12PC/9ST Felipe Vasquez | 1IP-0H-0R-2K-0BB-11PC/8ST

The Pirates being a mystery team for Manny Machado? Starling Marte to the Dodgers? Some wild Pirates rumors were surfacing Monday from reputable circles but as expected neither rumor has any legs. The Machado talk in particular got some chuckles from those inside the Pirates organization.

Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington in comments to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette touted the Pirates having the ninth-best record in baseball over the last six years. “We have the ninth-best record in baseball over the last six years,” Huntington told the Post-Gazette. “We are one a few teams that have made the postseason three times in the last seven years.” The Pirates are always an organization on defense from a PR standpoint and it doesn’t get better than this from Huntington: “We have an ownership group fully committed to bringing a title to Pittsburgh.”