Pirates Buzz: Tabata injured in 4-2 loss; Huntington media session notes

Errors costly in Pirates attempt to sweep Red Sox

— The Pittsburgh Pirates were unable to break out the brooms Sunday afternoon, falling to the Boston Red Sox 4-2 at PNC Park.

Pittsburgh in the two first games of the series, made the Red Sox pay for costly miscues but this afternoon it was the Pirates who were sloppy in the field.

The Pirates who made inopportune mistakes, committed four errors in the loss. Andrew McCutchen, James McDonald, Chase d’Arnaud and Daniel Moskos all committed errors.

Offensively, the Pirates struggled, managing just 5 hits in 6 innings against Red Sox starter Andrew Miller (1-0) who earned his first win of the season.

Pirates starter James McDonald received a no decision. He allowed 5 hits in 6 innings of work (2R, 0ER).

Tim Wood (0-2) took the loss.

Andrew McCutchen (39), Ronny Cedeno (21) each had RBI’s.

The Pirates fell to 39-38 on the season and 19-20 at home.

Tabata injured in loss

Jose Tabata was taking off the field on a stretcher with a left quadricep injury but the injury looked worse than it appears to be.

Tabata was limping around the clubhouse and will be re-evaluated tomorrow. It appears possible he will not go on the DL.

As soon as Tabata was injured, the Pirates immediately took Alex Presley off the field for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians.

The outfielder will be getting the call for the Pirates interleague series in Toronto. Presley is hitting .336 with 8 home runs and 36 RBI’s this season.

d’Arnaud’s athleticism on display.

What has caught the eye of many observers during the Pirates weekend series with Boston is the athleticism of infielder Chase d’Arnaud. His athleticism has been on display in the field at third base and on the base pads. d’Arnaud’s ability on the basepads is considered an under-rated part of his game. He had 17 stolen bases with Triple-A Indy.

d’Arnaud hit .250 in the series, going 3-for-12 with 1 run scored.

GM Neal Huntington had high praise for him today during his weekly media session: “Chase has continued to make great progress offensively, ” Huntington said. “He has continued to make great progress defensively and you see third base is his most comfortable position.”

“As we move forward, he certainly is putting himself in the position to be an option for us at shortstop.”

Cedeno has solid weekend at the plate

Ronny Cedeno always seems to pickup his game at the plate when the Pirates bring in competition at short, at least for a handful of games. Cedeno went on a roll in May when the Pirates brought Brandon Wood in and Cedeno had a strong weekend series at the plate against the Red Sox, following the callup of Chase d’Arnaud on Friday.

Cedeno who is batting .240 on the season, went 4-for-9 in the series with an RBI, run scored, a double and 2 walks.

Winning baseball and the Boston Red Sox brought in the largest crowd for a three game series at PNC Park.

The Pirates record for the three game series was 113,144.

On Pedro Alvarez who has now strained his neck: “If you remember in spring training, he woke up with little soreness and slept on it wrong. It took him two to three days to get back and we’re expecting the same.”

The Pirates still expect Alvarez to begin playing in games {rehab} this week, as Clint Hurdle indicated this morning.

Huntington on Alvarez for when he returns: “He needs to show that he’s healthy and he’s ready to come back up here and help this team. We made a comment the other day that may have bit a little bit harsh but right now we are focused on these {current} 25 guys. The nine guys that are hurt, they need to get healthy and we’ll figure out where they fit in the big picture overall.”

On why team is being conservative with top prospect Jameson Taillon: “We’re trying to control his inning count and we were able to push him to the backside of the rotation coming out of the All-Star Break {Taillon hasn’t thrown since June 14th}. He had a little bit of tightness in his right pectoral. It’s an opportunity to take the conservative route that we need to take.”

On Joe Beimel: Huntington said that Beimel will arrive in Bradenton on Monday and that he could appear in rehab games by end of the week.

On Evan Meek; Huntington said Meek continues on his rehabilitation plan but will not throw on the mound until his strength is back.

Huntington on whether Ohlendorf will be looked at as a reliever: “We’ll see where he is. Our five starters have done everything we could have asked of them. Brad Lincoln’s throwing the ball down there well. Garrett Olson’s throwing the ball well in Triple-A. So we got some options and we will continue to progress him back as a starting pitcher and see where we are as time goes on.”

Ohlendorf is several weeks away from being ready.

Huntington On Jeff Karstens:

“What Jeff has done this year is real. He’s pitched and it’s been fun to watch. He adds and subtracts on every single one of his pitches. He locates them all and he can use any pitch in any count. His intelligence, his feel, he recognizes swings and makes adjustments on the fly.

A difference in Karstens this year according to Huntington is how he’s pitching deeper into games.

“His ability to get deeper in the games this year has become more consistent, ” Huntington said. “It wasn’t that his stuff ever dropped off but base runners just seemed to appear and he’s figured out a way to stop that for the most part. He’s just done a remarkable job.”

On how Karstens will withstand innings over the long haul: “It was more the bigger picture, 200 innings, and how he was going to stand 200 innings and it’s still a question we’re going to have to answer. He’s worked hard to get himself stronger and in better shape then he’s ever been in. It takes a lot to take down a 200 inning work load and Jeff’s working toward that. Time will tell if he’s able to take that.”

On Catching Situation: “We’ll always look for ways to improve the club. The nice part about acquiring Michael McKenry and being able to bring Eric Fryer to the big leagues, to see where it goes. We believe we’re in a better situation then we were three weeks ago. It makes the compelling need to go outside a little bit less. We’ll see where these guys are.

“Jason Jaramillo’s not too far away. Ryan Doumit’s not too far away. We don’t have to overpay for a backup catcher and that’s a good situation to be in.”