The Los Angeles Dodgers have defended Dodgers Stadium well all season and did so once again on Friday night, winning 6-2 over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The loss snapped a six-game winning streak that the Pirates had over L.A. and dropped them to 21-6 against National League West opponents this season. Early inning woes again reared their head again as the Dodgers scored single runs in both the first and second inning of the contest. Pirates catchers have had trouble getting runners out ... Read More
Pirates allow six runs in fifth; lose to Cubs
Scoring four or more runs is normally a winning recipe for the Pittsburgh Pirates as the team entered play 69-13 when accomplishing this, however the Chicago Cubs were able to overcome this for a 9-6 victory Sunday afternoon. “If you come on the short end you want other teams to beat you," manager Clint Hurdle said. "We continued to get in our way. We didn’t play a very good game and we’ve been outplayed these past three games.” The game's result also was coupled with a left knee injury ... Read More
Bucs come back to beat Brewers in extras
Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle had a speaking engagement for 6:30 and dinner with his family two hours later. Both were in jeopardy. With Sunday afternoon's game in the 11th inning and runners on the corners with one out, the defense shifted into double play depth. “You’re gambling," Hurdle said. "You’ve got the game on the line.” The result was an inning-ending double play and Jared Hughes, pumped his fist from the mound after the play unfolded. “When the ball goes off the ... Read More
Stewart uses head to help Pirates win
Chris Stewart offered a point to the head on three different occasions for the Pittsburgh Pirates and twice, runs were scored. “That’s just for everybody, I want to let them know that it’s a smart hit," Stewart said. "The more smart hitting we do, the more runs we had. I did it a little bit last year but people are getting into this year. It’s a lot of fun but at the same time it gets a lot of runs across.” Because of this and a reluctance to give in to Milwaukee Brewers starter Jimmy ... Read More
Pirates miscues give Reds win
The Pittsburgh Pirates defense betrayed Jeff Locke, as the team fell by a 3-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds Monday afternoon. Locke [7-10] only allowed four hits in his five-plus innings of work, however the Pirates defense did him no favors committing four errors in this game. Two of those errors were committed by Sean Rodriguez who made his first start this season at shortstop. Though Rodriguez takes ground balls at the position every day there is on-field batting practice, he committed ... Read More
Cole’s pitching helps Pirates cause in series win
It was 13 years ago when Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole sat in the stands of Angel Stadium rooting for John Lackey to win game seven of the 2002 World Series for the then Anaheim Angels. Fast forward to Sunday night and Cole was pitching against Lackey. The Pirates defeated the Cardinals 7-1 to earn a series sweep. In fact, Cole [16-8] hit a single off Lackey [11-9] in the top of the seventh inning which placed the Pirates in front by two runs. It was Cole's first RBI in 2015 and ... Read More
Is the pace of play initiative losing steam?
Perhaps the biggest change going into the 2015 MLB season was the pace of play initiative. The big push was that there would be a timed clock for inning breaks and new pitchers. Many have deemed the pace of play as a welcome addition and Pittsburgh Pirates union representative Neil Walker has stated that he has not heard any backlash. “Halfway through the season, guys were very happy with where it was and how we were doing," Walker said. "They told us to keep it up. I haven’t been told ... Read More
Pirates again use long ball to beat Giants
The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the San Francisco Giants by a 5-2 score Sunday night to take three games out of the four-game series. “There were a lot of different things that happened out there tonight that complicated things at times but we were able to stay in front of it, get outs when we needed them and add on runs when we needed them," manager Clint Hurdle said. It was an up and down day for Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez was responsible for two errors and was an official scorer decision ... Read More
Pirates pregame 8/23: Mercer rejoins Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates hope to continue its momentum from yesterday's 3-2 bottom of the ninth victory against the San Francisco Giants. Yesterday's win marked the second time that the Pirates won a game by scoring at least three runs, each on a solo home run. The other one came in 1949. Tonight, Francisco Liriano [8-6 3.35 ERA] will face Ryan Vogelsong [9-8 3.93 ERA]. Liriano is 3-1 with a 3.75 ERA in four career starts against the Giants. He won a 5-2 decision earlier this season ... Read More
Byrd, Giants rough up Locke; even series
Pittsburgh Pirates fans remember Marlon Byrd for his time with the team in 2013 and more recently, for being one of the instigators in a benches clearing incident with the Cincinnati Reds earlier this season. Though fans booed him loudly, he had a single, double and home run five innings, helping he new team, the San Francisco Giants, beat his old team 6-4 on Friday night. Giants starter Madison Bumgarner [15-6] went 6.1 innings and threw 102 pitches while allowing three runs. It was first time ... Read More