McCutchen's two home runs vaults the Pirates over the Nationals (Flickr.com/RJ Schmidt) Scoring the most runs in a game since July 5th, the Pittsburgh Pirates staved off a late Nationals' rally to defeat Washington  6-5. Unfortunately, the victory is not the top story. Closer Jason Grilli left in the 9th with what Clint Hurdle described as "right forearm discomfort". He did not provide any additional details. Andrew McCutchen got the Pirates on the board in loud fashion with a two run ... Read More

Mark Melancon preserves the win over the Reds (Flickr.com/RJ Schmidt) On the heels of a strong start from Jeff Locke and late-inning timely hitting, the Pittsburgh Pirates avoided a sweep at Great American Ball Park to defeat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2. The Pirates got on the board early off a Garrett Jones' solo shot in the second versus Reds' starter Homer Bailey. It was his second bomb in as many days and tenth of the season. Locke held the Reds scoreless until the fifth. He issued ... Read More

For the second day in a row, the Pirates found themselves in an early hole against the Reds. And for the second day in a row, their comeback effort fell just short, as Cincinnati hung on for a 5-4 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday at Great American Ball Park. Trailing, 5-3, heading into the top of the eighth, the Pirates cut the lead to one on a Travis Snider pinch-hit RBI double off of Alfredo Simon, who walked a batter and hit another to load the bases with two outs. Jose Tabata then came to ... Read More

With the All Star break this past week, the week was a short one for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They played games last Saturday, Sunday and Friday, winning just one of those games. Nonetheless, Andrew McCutchen was a bright spot for the Pirates, who landed five guys on the National League Squad. Here's how McCutchen's week shaped up. Last Saturday, the team's only win of the week, McCutchen went 2-4 with a home run and two RBI's. McCutchen's two RBI's were the difference in the 4-2 victory. On ... Read More

Altoona Curve's Alex Dickerson (Flickr.com/Gamma Man) Before the Pittsburgh Pirates begin the second half of the season tomorrow in Cincinnati, it’s time to comb through and evaluate each of the Buccos’ minor league affiliates. Indianapolis Indians (AAA) 61-38: As the record indicates, the Indians are leading the West Division of the International League by a wide margin, 13 games up on the second place Louisville Bats. Ivan DeJesus, who we’ve covered before, continues to hit at a high ... Read More

Stop me if you’ve heard this before; the Pittsburgh Pirates are above .500 at the All Star Break. Oh what’s that? You were stopping me, because you have heard this before. The past two seasons, the Pirates have shown signs of breaking the long steak of losing seasons being above .500 at the All Star Break. The team even was in first place in the NL Central in late July. However, the Pirates could not sustain the success and would extend the streak each year, finishing 72-90 and 79-83 ... Read More

For the past week, the talk around the city was that Pedro Alvarez was snubbed for not being named to the home run derby. After Carlos Gonzalez pulled out of the competition with an injury, Captain David Wright named Alvarez as the replacement. Before the competition, Alvarez was second only to Chris Davis as a 12-2 favorite to win the competition. In his hometown New York, you could see some nerves from the slugging third baseman for the Pirates. Unfortunately, Alvarez was unable to advance ... Read More