On the road for Game 2 of a best-of-three-game New York-Penn League Championship, the West Virginia Black Bears had the Staten Island Yankees on the brink of elimination. The Black Bears, coming of a walk-off win in their first ever New York-Penn League Championship game Monday night, looked to put the Baby Bombers away in Game 2. West Virginia was able to do just that via late inning heroics and the long ball in a 3-1 victory. The Black Bears went down early as a result of a Jhalen ... Read More
AM Joe: Playoff spot on line in Hounds home finale
Good morning, Pittsburgh. Here's your day in sports for Wednesday, September 16, 2015. What's on tap for today: The Pirates (87-57) will go up against Chicago Cubs (83-61) Jake Arreita in what could be a preview of the NL Wild Card game. A.J. Burnett takes the mound for the Bucs at 7:05 p.m. ROOT Sports Pittsburgh. The Riverhounds will host the first-place Rochester Rhinos in their final home match of 2015 tonight. The Hounds are one point out of playoff position with two games to ... Read More
Lester uses complete game effort to shutout Pirates
J.A. Happ battled for 5.2 innings but did not receive any run support as the Pittsburgh Pirates fell to the Chicago Cubs in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader by a 2-1 score. Happ's [5-2] biggest battle came in the fifth inning. David Ross led off with a double, one of his two hits in the game and Jon Lester hit a sacrifice fielder's choice. The throw to Ramirez at third was late as he did not get the tag down in time, something which was confirmed by video review. Dexter Fowler ... Read More
September call-ups make difference in Pirates Game 1 victory
20-plus media members and five camera lined up by Gerrit Cole's locker following the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs Tuesday afternoon as part of a doubleheader. Jordy Mercer observed the scene and was surprised by the growing amounts of media that pay visits to the clubhouse. "They're focused daily and that's one of the reasons why we've been so successful," manager Clint Hurdle said. "We can't control the externals. There's more people that are going to come, more ... Read More
Pirates pregame 9/15: Doubleheader begins highly anticipated series
Sunny skies and at least 18 innings await the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs in today's day/night doubleheader. Gerrit Cole and J.A. Happ will throw for the Pirates against Jason Hammel and Jon Lester. Cole is 6-1 against the Cubs with a 2.93 ERA in seven career starts. He last pitched Sept. 6 against the St. Louis Cardinals allowing two hits in seven scoreless innings. "I'm getting to see him for the first time this year," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "This guy is a really good ... Read More
Black Bears take home Game 1
Monongalia Ballpark played host to its first New York-Penn League Championship game Monday night and Game 1 of the championship series did not disappoint. The West Virginia Black Bears made the most of its stadium's championship debut as fans got free baseball, as well as a 4-3 Black Bears victory. West Virgina, playing their inaugural season in Morgantown, needed 11 innings to get past the Staten Island Yankees in Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series to take a 1-0 series ... Read More
Sources: Worley rejoins Pirates for doubleheader
Doubleheaders generally mean that extra arms are brought up and this held true Tuesday as multiple sources tell Pittsburgh Sporting News that the Pittsburgh Pirates brought up Vance Worley in advance for both games today. Worley was originally designated for assignment when the team acquired Joe Blanton from the Kansas City Royals. The team was in Cincinnati to play the Reds when this first happened and when he spoke with media, Worley did not appear pleased by the decision. He was the odd ... Read More
The rise and fall of the doubleheader
The Pittsburgh Pirates will play their first doubleheader of the year today against the Chicago Cubs, their third in as many years. Doubleheaders used to be as synonymous with baseball as hot dog cannons, bobbleheads and the seventh-inning stretch, but have long since faded from the game. The death of the doubleheader is nothing new to baseball, as they have mostly been used to make up a game that was postponed or suspended for generations. Many games get stacked on the same day as opposed to ... Read More
AM Joe: Let’s play two
Good morning, Pittsburgh. Here's your day in sports for Monday, September 14, 2015. What's on tap for today: The Pirates (86-56) will play their first two games of their four game series against the Chicago Cubs in the first doubleheader of the 2015 season for the Bucs. Gerrit Cole and J.A. Happ will take the mound for the Pirates. First pitch its at 1:35 p.m. The second game is expected to start around 7:05 p.m. ROOT Sports Pittsburgh. Steelers (0-1) head coach Mike Tomlin will have ... Read More
Cubs series could have huge implications for Bucs
After taking three-of-four from the Milwaukee Brewers this weekend, the Pittsburgh Pirates have won seven of their last 10 games – all against National League Central teams, no less – and find themselves only 2.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the lead in the division. Unfortunately, there is no time to look back, since the Chicago Cubs, who are four games behind the Pirates for the first NL Wild Card spot, come to PNC Park on Tuesday to start a four-game series. It could be the ... Read More