Many saw the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation and thought that the team would be swept by the New York Mets. Instead it was the other way around, as the Pirates won 8-1 Sunday afternoon, securing their major league-leading 13th sweep of the season. The Mets came into the series losing just twice since acquiring Yoenis Cespedes. The starting pitcher trio of J.A. Happ, Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke allowed four earned runs in 17 innings while striking out 21 batters. Arquimedes Caminero [4-1] won ... Read More
Pirates lose as Locke falters in fifth
The Pittsburgh Pirates fell six games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central following a 4-3 loss Tuesday night. This loss pushed the Pirates to 6-17 on the road this season against NL Central opponents. Jeff Locke [6-7] allowed the leadoff hitter to reach base four innings out of five however, it was the fifth inning that was his undoing. Locke walked the first two batters he faced and then after a mound visit Jason Heyward hit a single to put the Cardinals ... Read More
Pirates pregame 7/9: Morton hopes to chop Wood, Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball
The Pittsburgh Pirates won their 19th series of the season winning the first two games of a three game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the two games thus far, the Pirates were 5-4 [10 innings] and 6-5 winners. Tonight, Charlie Morton [7-4 4.19 ERA] takes on Alex Wood [7-7 3.65 ERA]. Morton is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in one career start against the Dodgers which came on April 30, 2010. Morton won his last start against the Cincinnati Reds in which he pitched seven scoreless ... Read More
Herbie wins: Pirates bullpen catcher still has passion for the game
Jared Hughes and Rob Scahill spent a few minutes on a Sunday morning discussing their bullpen catcher Heberto "Herbie" Andrade and what he meant to the team. Immediately, the two together said the same two words, "Herbie wins." Andrade's competitiveness has allowed him to persevere and make a difference at the major league level for the past 12 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. Andrade played a game as a young child in Venezuela where he substituted bottle caps for balls ... Read More
Neal Huntington presser 7/26: Harrison, Lambo, Sadler among injury updates; Hanson continues progression
Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington met with reporters prior to Sunday afternoon's game against the Washington Nationals and tackled topics ranging from injury updates, trade deadline conversation and some of the players on the major league roster. On Gorkys Hernandez: “Gorkys has gone out and played a couple of games with [Triple-A] Indianapolis and looks healthy. Our anticipation is if he continues this way we’ll activate him and have to make a decision.” Regarding Rob ... Read More
Pirates pregame 7/26: Ramirez discusses love for basketball; Scahill roots on teammates
Following a 9-3 loss by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Washington Nationals, the home team hopes to take three of four against a team that is leading the National League East. Gerrit Cole [13-4 2.31 ERA] will face Joe Ross [2-2 2.70 ERA] in this afternoon's contest. Cole is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in two career starts against the Nationals. Cole lost his last start against the Kansas City Royals allowing three runs [two earned] on five hits over the course of 7.1 innings of work. Ross is ... Read More
Pirates pregame 7/24: Bucs vs. Scherzer; Caminero pitching through rough patch
When the Pittsburgh Pirates landed from Kansas City at 2:30 a.m Thursday morning, they were coming off a 1-5 road trip. The Pirates returned home and defeated the Washington Nationals by a 7-3 score. Francisco Liriano picked up the win and manager Clint Hurdle would remark after the game of his starting pitcher's early game dominance that he had never seen four innings where it was only the pitcher, catcher and first baseman that had to make plays. The Pirates hope to make it two in a row ... Read More
Pirates pregame 7/11: Marte back in the lineup
The Pittsburgh Pirates evened its series against the St. Louis Cardinals winning a 5-2 game Friday night. Now the ball gets handed to A.J. Burnett who enters tonight's start with the lowest home ERA [1.28] among all National League pitchers. Burnett has been a problem to opposing teams as evidenced by his four runs allowed in the past five starts. His next strikeout allows him to pass Mark Langston and take sole possession of 34th place on the all-time list. In his last start, Burnett had ... Read More
Pirates GM discusses roster moves; team health
Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington always meets with the media on Sunday home games to delve into a series of topics. Not surprisingly, the two roster moves fresh in the mind were the central topics of today's session. Huntington broke each move down to better explain the reasoning, starting with the Steve Lombardozzi call-up, which resulted in pitcher Chris Volstad being designated for assignment. “The first move was to re-balance the 12 pitchers and 13 position players," ... Read More
Pirates pregame 6/26: Deolis Guerra next up in thin bullpen; Grilli makes Pittsburgh return
The Pittsburgh Pirates wrap up a six-game homestand with a three-game set starting tonight against the Atlanta Braves. Something will give as the Pirates have lost their past two games but are 9-0 against NL East opponents at PNC Park this season. Last night, the Pirates played for nearly five hours in a 5-4, 13-inning loss. "We just had a lot of bad luck last night and it seems like a lot of the balls we hit might usually leave the ballpark for home runs and instead landed on the ... Read More