The Pittsburgh Pirates saw its Grapefruit League losing streak run to three games with an 8-3 defeat Friday at the hands of the Minnesota Twins. With the loss, the Pirates fell to 4-5-2 on the spring. Casey Sadler was scored on for the first time this spring, in his third start. Sadler [1-1] threw 2.1 innings and allowed five hits, four runs and a walk. The Twins scored three runs in the first inning, the first of which came on one of the Pirates three errors, as Jordan Schafer reached ... Read More
Pirates fall to Yankees; Harrison injury ‘minor setback’
The Pittsburgh Pirates fell to 1-2 in Spring Training after a 2-1 loss Thursday to the New York Yankees (1-1-1) in front of a sellout crowd of 7,879. Fred Lewis (1-0) picked up the win for the Yankees and Deolis Guerra (0-1) suffered the loss for the Pirates. Taylor Garrison threw the ninth inning to earn the save. The Pirates lone run came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Jaff Decker singled in Willy Garcia who had a 2-for-2 day at the plate. Decker has a .600 batting average thus ... Read More
Pirates lose Spring Training home opener
The Pittsburgh Pirates held its Spring Training home opener Wednesday losing 4-1 at McKechnie Field to the Toronto Blue Jays in front of an crowd of 6,127. Gerrit Cole started the game for the Pirates, and in his two innings threw 18 pitches, 13 of which were strikes. Cole consistently got ahead of batters, however hit Munenori Kawasaki, allowed a double to Dalton Pompey and then surrendered a run on a Dioner Navarro ground out. The Pirates scored their lone run when Blue Jays pitcher Rob ... Read More
2014 Pittsburgh Sporting News Athlete of the Year: Josh Harrison
What a year it’s been for Pittsburgh sports. For the first time since 1992, the Pirates, Penguins and Steelers were all in the playoffs during the same calendar year. The three teams could make cases for having the best overall player in their respective sports, and the future looks bright for all of them. At the college ranks, Pitt had another underwhelming season and underwent another coaching change, but James Conner and Tyler Boyd continued to become household names. Penn State had its ... Read More
Harrison on the verge of an unexpected batting title
If you told me in March that Josh Harrison would be leading the National League batting race on September 20th, I'd most likely laugh at you. Looks like the last laugh is on me as Harrison stands one point ahead of Justin Morneau for the batting lead going into Saturday's games. Although, I wasn't the only one that was skeptical that he would be in this position at the start of the season. "Considering what my role was at the beginning of the season, obviously not, but as I got the opportunity ... Read More
Pirates turn triple play, score late in 7-3 win over Cubs
The Pirates scored six times in the fifth inning and completed their first ever triple play at PNC Park as they defeated the Cubs on Sunday afternoon to keep their 1 1/2 game lead in the National League Wild Card race. The Pirates (79-70) did nothing against Cubs starter Jacob Turner through the first trip of the lineup, but the defensive gem helped ignite their quiet bats. With runners on first and second against Pirates starter Edinson Volquez and the Cubs leading 3-0, Matt Szczur hit a ... Read More
Harrison named NL Player-of-the-Month for August
Major League Baseball has announced that Josh Harrison has won the National League Player-of-the-Month for the month of August. Harrison posted a slash line of .347/.602/.976 with 12 doubles, three triples, four home runs and nine RBI in 123 plate appearances. He led the NL in slugging (.602), extra-base hits (19), total bases (71) and was fifth in batting average (.347). His 1.6 WAR for the month was fourth-best in the Majors behind Alex Gordon (1.8), Jhonny Peralta (1.7) and Josh ... Read More
Pirates Gameday 8/30: Hurdle excited to see Harrison succeed
Good afternoon from PNC Park where the Pirates (70-64) look to take yet another series as they face the Reds (65-70). Vance Worley (5-4, 3.14 ERA) will face Alfredo Simon (13-8, 3.26 ERA). Injury Update -- Charlie Morton talked to Rob Biertempfel of the Trib about his sports hernia. Morton is still uncertain on if surgery will be needed, but he still hopes to help the team out during the stretch run. #Pirates Morton says no decision yet re: possible hernia surgery. "I'm keeping all options ... Read More
Harrison’s all-around play lifts Pirates past Reds
Josh Harrison continued his breakout season going 3-for-4 with a double, triple, RBI and a run scored while making three pivotal late-inning defensive plays to help the Pirates comeback and defeat the Reds 2-1 on Friday night in front of a sellout crowd at PNC. Harrison picked up Pirates starter Edinson Volquez numerous times throughout the game allowing Volquez to keep a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Harrison also kept the shutout alive in the sixth after Billy Hamilton walked with ... Read More
The art of the rundown with Josh Harrison
The ball is hit towards the hole between second and third. You take off from second base with the thoughts of scoring, but something has happened. Without noticing, the shortstop re-positioned himself to where the ball was hit and has now thrown the ball to third where the tag is awaiting for you. The only thing you can do now is get into a rundown and hope a mistake is made where you can somehow avoid getting tagged out. Instances similar to this has happened to Josh Harrison twice this season ... Read More