The Pirates offense continued to dominate Cardinals pitching as they put up 7 runs in a 7 - 1 victory on Saturday night. They put two up in the second inning with two out when A.J. Burnett helped himself with an RBI single scoring Russell Martin. They would get a second run one batter later when Jose Tabata scored Burnett after a wild pitch. They would add five more in the third when Marlon Byrd continued his hot start as a Pirate with an RBI single to score Pedro Alvarez. Russell Martin ... Read More
Pirates Trade Presley, PTBNL, Cash To Twins For Justin Morneau
Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Pirates have traded OF Alex Presley to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for 1B Justin Morneau. Source: #Pirates acquire Morneau from #Twins for OF Alex Presley. — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 31, 2013 Morneau batted .259 in 159 games with the Twins while hitting 32 doubles, 17 home runs and knocking in 74. The Pirates got the best of this deal as they only gave up Alex Presley, who appeared in only 29 games for the Pirates this season ... Read More
Pirates Back On Top In NL Central With 5 – 0 Victory
Garrett Jones made the most of his first start at first base in a while with a 3-for-4 night with a homer and 4 RBI's and Francisco Liriano continued his dominance of the Cardinals as the Pirates pull back into a tie with St. Louis for first place in the NL Central with a 5 - 0 victory on Friday night. For Jones, it was a breath of fresh air after a few days off. Jones was batting .119 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI before tonight and was given time off to mentally recharge the batteries. That ... Read More
McGuire/Meadows Promoted to Jamestown
Reese McGuire, the Pirates first round pick this year, has been promoted from the GCL Pirates to the Jamestown Jammers of the New York - Penn League and is expected to join the team for the end of the regular season and possible playoff push. In 46 games with the GCL Pirates, McGuire had a .331 batting average with 15 walks, 11 doubles, 21 RBI and 5 stolen bases in 6 chances. It had been a day where McGuire had played in his final GCL game of the season and was preparing to head home, but ... Read More
Pirates Game Day: Hurdle Talks Cutch, Cardinals Series
The Pirates (77 -56) look to get back into a tie for first place in the NL Central as they take on the Cardinals (78 - 55) to start a 3-game series tonight. Francisco Liriano (14 - 6, 2.74 ERA) will face Shelby Miller (12 - 8, 2.90 ERA). Leading Off Rob Biertempfel of the Trib is reporting that Casey Sadler, promoted to Class AAA Indy today, will start in Kris Johnson's place tonight. This means Johnson could be the spot-starter on Sunday in the series finale against the Cardinals. Hurdle's ... Read More
Offense Stalls In 4 – 0 Blanking
Gerrit Cole experienced a slow start and the offense stalled in a Brewers 4 - 0 blanking of the Pirates on Thursday night. The Brewers scored single runs in the first, second, fourth and eighth innings off of starter, Gerrit Cole, who went 7 1/3 innings. Jean Segura started things off in the first after reaching by way of a single, taking third on a Gerrit Cole throwing error and scoring on a Jonathan Lucroy single. Carlos Gomez scored in the second after singling, stealing second and ... Read More
The Re-Emergence of Marlon Byrd
At this time last year, Marlon Byrd was a free agent sitting at home serving a 50-game suspension for a positive drug test and wondering if any team would pick him up. Before the suspension, Byrd was hitting .210 with one homer and seven RBI which didn't help his chances for 2013. One team would take the chance on him as the New York Mets picked him up on February 1 of this year and he wouldn't let them down as he turned back into the player that helped pace the Texas Rangers to three second ... Read More
Russell Martin is the Pirates’ MVP
In recent time, the title "Most Valuable Player" has been associated with perhaps the most talented and most dominant player in any given league. From LeBron James to Adrian Peterson, the title league MVP is associated with a player that puts up astonishing statistical numbers and dominates their opponents while doing it. But there is a difference when thinking about a league MVP compared to and individual team's MVP. The 2013 edition of the Pittsburgh Pirates are a prime example of ... Read More
Pirates Game Day: Hurdle Discusses Cole, Marte Update
The Pirates (77 - 55) look to get back into a tie for first as they face the Brewers (58 - 74) in the rubber match of the three game set. Gerrit Cole (6 - 6, 3.81 ERA) will oppose Yovani Gallardo (9 - 9, 4.61 ERA). Leading off John Buck will make his Pirates debut tonight as he will catch Cole and bat seventh. Hurdle's Quotes On the amount of players that will be brought up post-Sept. 1st -- "I think we're going to have a progression in place that we're going to have some guys added on ... Read More
The Pirates upgrade in more than one way
The Pirates made a huge move Tuesday, upgrading both heir starting lineup and their bench, all while managing to walk the fine line between giving up enough to make a deal and giving up too much. They also found out some great news about a key contributor to the rotation, and optioned the biggest surprise pitcher in MLB in the first half to Double A Altoona The Bucs acquired outfielder Marlon Byrd and catcher John Buck for minor league prospect Dilson Herrera and a player to be named later ... Read More