The Pittsburgh Pirates will once gain be in the national spotlight at PNC Park as Major League baseball has scheduled the Pirates to play in primetime.
Four games in Pittsburgh have been changed to allow for FOX, FOX Sports 1 and ESPN to broadcast.
Fox will now televise the Pirates Saturday, July 11th game against the Cardinals at 7:15 p.m.
One day later, the Pirates and Cardinals will renew their rivalry on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball at 8:05 p.m.
Fox Sports 1 will also televise two games from PNC Park in on Saturday, August 15th against the Dodgers and Saturday, August 22nd against the Giants.
These time changes have adjusted the schedule for the Zambelli Fireworks shows. The two shows will now be after the 7:05 games on Wednesday, June 24th and Saturday, October 3rd.
The postgame Fan Jam concert on Saturday, October 3rd has been moved to Saturday, August 8th.
The Pirates season finale against the Reds has also been changed to 3:05 p.m. as part of a Major League Baseball-wide initiative.
Tucker recovering from thumb surgery
Cole Tucker — last year’s first-round pick by the Pirates — underwent successful thumb surgery to repair a torn UCL in his left thumb. The surgery occurred on October 1st after Tucker re-aggravated the injury during the first week of the fall instructional leagues.
It was an injury that Tucker played through after sustaining it while making a play at shortstop in July during a Pirates rookie league game.
The 18-year-old prospect has already gone through the recovery time and rehab work and will be at minor league spring training when it opens up on March 1st.
Tucker told Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects that he could land in Bristol or Morgantown for his second year of professional ball.
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(Photo Credit: Kristen Hudak/ESPN)