Starling Marte stepped to the plate Sunday as a .301 hitter in the cleanup spot of the lineup, he ended up touching home after a three-run home run off New York Mets reliever Erik Goeddel. This after Goeddel intentionally walked Andrew McCutchen. “Pick your poison, that’s the way I look at it," McCutchen said. The Pittsburgh Pirates earned their third sweep of the season and second at PNC Park after a 9-1 victory against the Mets in front of a sellout crowd of 37,784 at PNC Park Sunday ... Read More
Burnett goes seven in Pirates win
New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey came into Saturday afternoon's game with 16 consecutive scoreless innings. He left allowing a career high seven runs in the shortest outing of his career. The Pittsburgh Pirates offense capitalized off Harvey's [5-2] fastball en route to an 8-2 victory. “We had a plan," Francisco Cervelli said. "It was just a bad day for him and everybody’s going to have a bad day and today was his day. He’s still a great pitcher and still one of the best but the credit is ... Read More
McCutchen’s defense helps Pirates avoid sweep
Though A.J. Burnett struggled at times with his control, he was able to pitch seven shutout innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates avoided a sweep with its 3-0 victory against the Chicago Cubs. Andrew McCutchen is not known for his defense, however two plays he made significantly helped the Pirates in this game. In the bottom of the second inning with Miguel Montero on first base after a single, Burnett got Chris Coghlan to fly out to the Pirates center fielder. McCutchen got a late break on ... Read More
Pirates drop series to Reds
It took until the bottom of the sixth inning for the Pittsburgh Pirates to get ball out of the infield, as they lost 3-0 Wednesday night to the Cincinnati Reds. In the game, one Pirates player reached third base. This occurred in the aforementioned sixth inning. The Reds scored two runs in the fourth inning and their other in the fifth. Gerrit Cole [4-1] allowed a lead-off triple to Todd Frazier. Frazier was inches away from his second home run to center field. Andrew McCutchen had a bit ... Read More
Pirates winning streak ends at five
The Pittsburgh Pirates quest to move into second place in the National League Central will have to wait as they fell 4-0 to the Chicago Cubs Monday night. In this game, the Pirates offense managed four hits, one of which was from Neil Walker who extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Francisco Cervelli, Vance Worley and Chris Stewart got the other three hits. Worley [2-2] pitched six innings allowing nine hits, all four runs, one walk and three strikeouts. He threw 97 pitches, 61 of ... Read More
Determined Watson saves Pirates win
Tony Watson was asked to make his longest outing of the season as the Pittsburgh Pirates were trying to hold on to a 1-run lead against the Chicago Cubs. Watson ended up getting the job done earning his first save of the season and the Pirates won by a 4-3 score. “It turned into a plan B where he had to go get six outs and he went out and got them," manager Clint Hurdle said. "He’s shown grit, he’s shown ability, he’s shown skill. It was a very gritty performance to get six outs and keep ... Read More
Pirates pregame 4/19: Hurdle talks Cole’s progression, Shrek
The Pittsburgh Pirates have a chance to get its first three game series sweep of the season this afternoon against the Milwaukee Brewers. This season the Pirates are 4-1 against the Brewers. Today’s starters: In today's series finale, Gerrit Cole [1-0 3.27 ERA] will toe the rubber against Matt Garza [1-1 4.22 ERA]. Cole has a 1-2 career record against the Brewers posting a 3.27 ERA in five career starts. His last appearance against the Brewers was a 4-0 loss on Aug. 29 in which he pitches 7.1 ... Read More
Sofield, baserunning key in Pirates victory
Pittsburgh Pirates third base and baserunning coach Rick Sofield saw his catcher Francisco Cervelli running toward third and had to make a decision. It was the fourth inning of Friday's game, the Pirates were down 1-0 and Gregory Polanco had singled to right while Ryan Braun cleanly fielded the ball. Sofield thought for a second and both both hands up. Cervelli stayed at third. While anxious fans had been waiting 22 innings for a Pirate to cross home plate, Sofield did not think this was the ... Read More
Pirates aggressive on base paths in win
Earlier in the day, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle told the media that the team did not have many chances to be aggressive. That changed Friday. The Pirates took the extra base and the aggression helped propel them to a 6-3 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers in front of 25,664 fans. Vance Worley [1-1] got the win nearly a week after getting roughed up for six runs in a loss to these same Brewers. Worley pitched six innings allowing six hits, walking four [two of which were ... Read More
Burnett, Pirates on wrong side of pitchers’ duel
A.J. Burnett toed the rubber against Nick Castellanos and the Detroit Tigers. With runners on second and third base in the fourth inning this was Burnett's first test all game, and 31,755 Pittsburgh Pirates fans knowing this started to cheer the home pitcher in an effort to fire him up. The result was the first fist pump from Burnett this season and a strike out to end the inning. “Anytime you’ve got guys in scoring position, it’s big but it was a big pitch at a big time," Burnett said. ... Read More