PNC Park – Russell Martin hit an eighth inning RBI single to complete a Pirates comeback in which they were down two runs on two different occasions on Wednesday night. The Battlin’ Bucs trailed 2 – 1 after an inning, 3 – 1 after 2 ½ and 4 – 2 after 3 1/2, but they stayed resilient as they answered each Cardinal run with one of their own to make it 3 – 2 and 4 – 3. It was an off night for Jeff Locke as he faced 5+ batters in each of the four innings that he pitched. The Cardinals got on ... Read More
Pirate Bats Stay Hot In 10 – 3 Victory Over Brewers
PNC Park -- The Pirates continued to break out the bats and Gerrit Cole recovered from a shaky first inning as the Buccos continued to exercise their demons against the Brewers 10 – 3 on Friday night. It was Gerrit Cole’s fourth victory in as many tries to start his ML career. It ended an eventful day that saw the organization introduce Austin Meadows earlier that afternoon. The Brewers got to Cole fast in the first as Nori Aoki walked on four pitches to start the game off and Jean Segura and ... Read More
Pirate of the Week: Neil Walker
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been red hot lately, winning nine of their last twelve and nineteen games total in the month of May. For the past seven days, no one has been as hot for the Bucs as second baseman, Neil Walker. Over the past week, Walker has had multi-hit games in five of the Pirates seven games. He put one over the fence in three of those games and drove in a run in four of them. He also crossed the plate in five of the seven games. For the week he hit .440, with eleven hits, three ... Read More
The Pittsburgh Kid is Just Another Second Baseman
About 20 minutes before each game at PNC Park, the scoreboard rolls the player introductions. During the Saturday Night Live themed entrances, it's no surprise that Andrew McCutchen receives the biggest pop from the fans. It's only fitting that the first player since Barry Bonds, who was showered with "MVP, MVP" chants last year, would be the fan favorite. There is, however, one player that comes close in rivaling McCutchen for the title of most popular Pirate. No, it isn't A.J. Burnett, ... Read More
Pirates to implement leadership group; Who belongs on it?
In his Sunday column, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writer Dejan Kovacevic had a one-on-one interview with Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle. In the column, Kovacevic goes on to say how the team still has Hurdle's back despite the back-to-back late season collapses. In order to ensure that the players know that Hurdle has their back as well, he is doing something that very few - if any - other coaches/managers do it sports. "Near the end of this spring training, Hurdle will ask his players to vote on ... Read More
Neil Walker’s living every kid’s dream
Growing up as a kid from Pittsburgh who loved to play and watch baseball, it was always a dream of mine to put on that Pirate uniform and take the field for my hometown team. If you ask any kid around the country who plays baseball, I’m sure they’d agree that playing for their hometown team would be a dream come true. By playing for the team that was located in your city and the team that you grew up watching would be a life changing experience. Everyone wants to be that “hometown hero” and ... Read More
Pirates Ink Walker, McDonald
The Pirates have finally signed the remaining players on their roster that are arbitration-eligible. James McDonald, one of the Pirates best right-handers, went 12-8 last season. He had a 4.21 ERA for the season and has a 4.10 ERA for his career. He had a fantastic start to the 2012 season but had a rocky end to it, posting 7.52 ERA in his last 13 starts. Towards the end of the season, the Pirates moved him to the bullpen. In this off-season, he pitched in a dominican winter league where he ... Read More
Pirates Ink Jones and Sanchez
The Pittsburgh Pirates were able to reach deals with first basemen Garrett Jones and Gaby Sanchez on Friday. Jones has been with the Pirates since 2009 and has been a bright spot for their offense. If nothing else, Jones has been consistent. Last season he batted .274, hitting 27 homers and driving in 86 runs. Both were well above his average as the 27 homeruns were a career high and 86 RBI's tie a career major league high for Jones. On the field he was just as confident. He posted a fielding ... Read More
Opportunistic Pirates make Brewers pay in 4-0 win
In baseball, especially when you're struggling like the Pirates are, you have to strike when your opponent makes a mistake. Thankfully for the Pirates and their fans, that's exactly what they did. With matching scoreless frames going into the bottom of the fifth, it was an error to lead off the inning by center fielder Carlos Gomez to allow Neil Walker to reach. Now errors are costly for teams, but in no way did the Brewers, Pirates or any of the 37, 568 in attendance see it being this ... Read More