For the second time this season, the Chicago Cubs took the opening two games of its series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs won Tuesday night's game by a 6-2 score. Jeff Locke [2-1] did not make it into the fourth inning. Locke pitched 3.2 innings allowing eight hits, six runs [five earned runs], three walks and five strikeouts. Locke threw 86 pitches and had 53 strikes. The Cubs scored three runs in the third inning off Locke. Addison Russell brought home the first with his third double ... Read More
Pirates pregame 4/23: Marte, McCutchen out of lineup
The Pittsburgh Pirates are attempting to earn a series split after a 4-3 victory against the Chicago Cubs last night. The Cubs won the first two games 5-2 and 9-8. In the victory, Tony Watson earned his first save of the season getting the last six outs of the game. Gregory Polanco hit his first home run of the season. Today’s starters: In this afternoon's game, Jeff Locke [2-0 1.93 ERA] will face Kyle Hendricks [0-0 6.10 ERA]. Locke was a 6-2 winner over the Milwaukee Brewers in his ... Read More
Pirates draw parallels with Bryant’s hype
Every major leaguer remembers his first call up. Kris Bryant is not different. “We were in New Orleans and we had a doubleheader and the second game got rained out," Bryant said. "Coach called me into the office, and we were just talking about the game. He [Marty Pevey] kind of just brought it up randomly in the middle of our conversation and told me I was going to the bigs. It was so random and so exciting, and a time I’ll never forget.” Bryant however is unlike many call-ups with the ... Read More
Pirates undone by seventh inning in loss
All Kris Bryant wanted to do was drive home the runners on base. What happened instead is too complicated to explain in print and sealed the Pittsburgh Pirates fate in a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs. Bryant got the runs home with a double off the bullpen wall in left-center field, scoring Jorge Soler and Anthony Rizzo. Bryant advanced to third base on the throw home which skipped off Francisco Cervelli's glove. Bryant got caught in between third base and home plate and Arquimedes Caminero ... Read More
Pirates pregame 4/20: Burnett, McCutchen’s goals discussed
The Pittsburgh Pirates will start its first four game series of the season when it takes on the Chicago Cubs. This is a match-up of the second and third place teams in the National League Central. Tonight’s starters: A.J. Burnett [0-1 2.35 ERA] will pitch for the Pirates against Jake Arrieta [1-1 1.98 ERA] in tonight's game. Burnett is 7-4 against the Cubs with a 3.25 ERA in 13 career starts which span 83 innings. As a member of the Phillies last season Burnett posted an 0-2 record with ... Read More
Pirates complete sweep of Brewers
The Pittsburgh Pirates earned a sweep against the Milwaukee Brewers winning 5-2 Sunday afternoon. The win pushes the Pirates to .500 for the first time this season. For a second consecutive game, it was a chaotic first inning for both sides. In the top half, the Brewers had the bases loaded with two outs and Gerrit Cole [2-0] got Gerardo Parra to fly out to left field ending the threat. In the bottom half of the frame, the Pirates got three consecutive singles with Andrew McCutchen's ... Read More
Sofield, baserunning key in Pirates victory
Pittsburgh Pirates third base and baserunning coach Rick Sofield saw his catcher Francisco Cervelli running toward third and had to make a decision. It was the fourth inning of Friday's game, the Pirates were down 1-0 and Gregory Polanco had singled to right while Ryan Braun cleanly fielded the ball. Sofield thought for a second and both both hands up. Cervelli stayed at third. While anxious fans had been waiting 22 innings for a Pirate to cross home plate, Sofield did not think this was the ... Read More
Pirates aggressive on base paths in win
Earlier in the day, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle told the media that the team did not have many chances to be aggressive. That changed Friday. The Pirates took the extra base and the aggression helped propel them to a 6-3 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers in front of 25,664 fans. Vance Worley [1-1] got the win nearly a week after getting roughed up for six runs in a loss to these same Brewers. Worley pitched six innings allowing six hits, walking four [two of which were ... Read More
Pirates bats silent in series-clinching loss
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Francisco Liriano threw six innings and surrendered one run. It was not enough. The Pirates offense was held to two hits in a 1-0 loss against the Detroit Tigers Wednesday and losing the three-game series, 2-1. “We’ve got some pitches to hit and get into offensive counts but we haven’t been able to get the at-bat that we need," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Right now, we’ve got work to do on the offensive end.” For the second consecutive game, former ... Read More
Pirates win home opener in front of largest ever regular season crowd
The 39,933 fans that sold out PNC Park already were excited to see their Pittsburgh Pirates return for the first time since a Wild Card loss, but a Josh Harrison first pitch home run in addition to Gerrit Cole's pitching provided the ingredients to a 5-4 home opener victory over the Detroit Tigers Monday. Harrison's home run came in the bottom of the first after Cole pitched a hitless 13-pitch first inning. Anibal Sanchez [1-1] gave up his first run of the season on the homer and it came on a ... Read More