Good morning, Pittsburgh. Here’s your day in sports for Monday, August 31, 2015.
What’s on tap for today:
The Pirates (79-50) have a well-deserved day off today after playing 20 games in the last 20 days. Not all of the Pirates will have the day off, however, as general manager Neal Huntington will be working the phones up until the 11:59 p.m. waiver trade deadline.
While the big deals usually take place in July, the waiver trade period is still a time when teams can acquire talented players for the pennant race and playoffs.
Also, first week of college football season is upon us, and as a result, new Pitt football head coach Pat Narduzzi will have his first weekly press conference today at noon.
National headlines:
The Little League team from Lewisberry, Pennsylvania (above), which is just south of Harrisburg in the central part of the state, came up just short in the World Series final, falling 18-11 to the team representing Japan (right).
The Pirates road out of the National League Central continues to look daunting, with the St. Louis Cardinals winning seven of their last eight games and Jake Arreita and the Chicago Cubs no-hitting the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers last night.
Pittsburgh headlines:
The Pirates bats fell silent and Charlie Morton suffered a rare home loss as the Bucs were shut out, 5-0, by the Colorado Rockies in the final game of their brief three-game homestead at PNC Park.
The day did’t bring all bad news for the Bucs, as starting pitcher A.J. Burnett (left) said he feels pain free after throwing a 70-pitch simulated game at PNC Park on Sunday morning.
Following today’s trade deadline, the Pirates will be able to expand their MLB roster from 25 players to 40. One player that won’t be joining the club is top pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow, who “is not on our radar” for a call up according to general manager Neal Huntington.
With the day off today, the Pirates took the opportunity to rearrange their starting rotation so that ace Gerrit Cole will face the Saint Louis Cardinals later in the week. They also re-scheduled their last make-up game with the Chicago Cubs to a day/night doubleheader on September 15.
Our Zachary Weiss featured Joe Klimchak. It may not be a name you’re familiar with, but if you’ve ever attended PNC Park, you’ll recognize him as the Pirates’ in-game host.
Everyone seemed to appreciated yesterday’s vintage scoreboard image of Bucco Bruce driving a baseball-fueled train. Here’s the full video:
[youtube width=”560″ height=”315″ link=”https://youtu.be/6TkkEKPVloA”]
The Wild Things (39-51) come back bid came up just short, as the Evansville Otters (48-42) would hold on to the lead after a four-run first inning and win 6-5. The Wild Things are off today.
On this date in 1968, Pirates reliever Elroy Face (right) tied Walter Johnson’s MLB record for appearances with 802. He pitched one out in relief of Steve Blass, who remained in the game in left field. After Face retired the first out of the eighth inning, Blass returned to the mound and it was announced that Face would be sold to the Detroit Tigers, ending his Pirates career.
Face pitched in two more games with the Tigers to set the record that year and finished his career with 848 appearances after one season in Montreal in 1969.
The record is currently held by Jesse Orosco, who pitched in 1252 games with the Mets, Dodgers, Indians, Brewers, Orioles, Cardinals, Padres, Yankees and Twins from 1979 to 2003. The active leader is LaTroy Hawkins of the Toronto Blue Jays, who has 1035.
He said it: “I don’t wanna say I could have pitched today, but maybe I could have pitched today,” — A.J. Burnett after his successful bullpen session.
