Results tagged ‘ marlins ’
Two long balls help Pirates defeat fish 5-1
The Pirates defeated the Fish 5-1 on Friday night. And with just two games remaining on the season, the Bucs aren’t finishing the season without a fight.
The Pirates finished the month of September 12-14 with a team batting average of .255. They scored a season-high 123 runs, as well as season-high doubles (53) and triples (7). The pitching staff’s ERA was the second lowest of the season (4.38) and picked up a season-high 12 wins striking out 180 batters.
Record aside; we are seeing a lot of good things coming from the team.
On Friday night, three of the five runs scored came from the long ball. Pedro Alvarez hit a line drive monster in the second inning tying the game at one and extending his hitting streak to 11-games.
“He hit that ball hard,” Russell said. “He really did.”
Alvarez now has 64 RBI since he was called up on June 16th –the most of any Major League Rookie.
Chris Snyder hit a two-run homer in the sixth, giving the Pirates a 3-1 lead –breaking his 0-for-18 streak.
Daniel McCutchen –who started in place of Paul Maholm–, pitched four innings allowing one run on five hits, walked one and struck out two.
“September wasn’t all that great, so to end on a positive note is good,” McCutchen said. “I know they’re a very aggressive ballclub and needed to stay out of the middle of the plate. For the most part, I did that. When I needed the big out, I got it.”
Chan Ho Park pitched three innings allowing neither runs nor hits and struck out six. He picked up the win –his 124th– passing Nomo for most wins by an Asian born pitcher.
The Pirates pick up their 17 win on the road this season. One more victory keeps them from tying the Mets for the worst record by a club playing 81 road games.
I missed the game due to yet another wedding. Thankfully i tivoed it and watched it when I got home. Here is a picture of me all dolled up.
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Pre-game Notes 10/1: Pirates vs Marlins
Notes:
· Jose Tabata extended his hitting streak on Thursday to a career high 13 games.
· Pedro Alvarez is continuing to have a hot month of September. He hit .311 in 27 games in September, is tied for second in the league with RBI (26) and shared the league with doubles (10). Alvarez also hit a team-high five home runs.
· The Pirates pitching staff has posted 998 strikeouts this season, which is the highest total of K’s since 2009 (1060). The Bucco pitching staff can strikeout over 1000 for just the tenth time in team history.
Pitching Matchup:
RHP Daniel McCutchen (2-5, 6.36 ERA)
Vs.
RHP Adalberto Mendez (1-2, 4.19 ERA)
McCutchen is making his ninth start of the season (28th appearance) for Paul Maholm who was scratched due to a sore left knee. His last start came on 8/25 where he pitched six shutout innings allowing just three hits against the Cardinals.
Mendez is making his fifth major league appearance. He picked up his first major league win on his big league debut against the Phillies. Mendez pitched six scoreless innings striking out six. He got the loss against the Brewers his last start allowing six runs on six hits through two innings.
Pirates Lineup:
A. McCutchen 8
Tabata 7
Walker 4
Alvarez 5
Bowker 3
Moss 9
Cedeno 6
Synder 2
D. McCutchen 1
Marlins Lineups:
Bonifacio 8
Martinez 6
Morrison 7
Uggla 4
Sanchez 3
Tracy 5
Stanton 9
Davis 2
Mendez 1
Maholm to miss final start
Paul Maholm will miss his final start this season on Friday due to left knee irritation. The club announced Daniel McCutchen will face the Marlins in his place.
Maholm was not available for comment after the decision was announced. Paul had surgery on his knee years ago and had problems with soreness during the ’09 season.
Maholm finishes the year 9-15 with a 5.10 ERA.
McCutchen will be making his ninth start this season and his first since August 25th. In his nine relief appearances since then he has thrown no more than 32 pitches so McCutchen will be limited on how deep he will be able to go.
Lincoln, Karstens make apperences from ‘pen
During Thursday night’s 11-9 loss to the Marlins, both Brad Lincoln and Jeff Karstens made appearances from the bullpen.
Brad Lincoln –who made his second appearance since being re-called (neck spasms)– pitched a perfect seventh inning. He struck out three needing 15 pitches.
Jeff Karstens –who made his first appearance (arm fatigue)– allowed two hits and a run in the eighth inning striking out one, needing 11 pitches.
Alvarez hits safely in 10 straight
Despite the loss to the Marlins on Thursday night, Pedro Alvarez is not letting it rain on his parade.
His three-run home run in the ninth inning finished his night with four hits and five RBI –a career best. Alvarez has now hit safely in 10 straight, batting .463 with seven runs, five doubles, four home runs and 20 RBI.
“I’m just trying to feel a little more comfortable every day and do whatever I can to help out,” Alvarez said. “I’ve been trying to make adjustments and learn as much as I can.”
Bucs rally not enough as Duke struggles in final start
I imagine Zach Duke’s final start of the 2010 season Thursday night against the Fish, sealed his fate with the Pirates organization. The Pirates lost 11-9 to the Marlins.
Duke allowed nine runs –four earned– on eight hits through four innings. He walked three and struck one needing 89 pitches.
He finishes the season 8-15 with a 5.72 ERA –career high ERA– with a .305 opponent batting average. A horrible walk-to-strikeout ratio of 51/96. Five years earlier, as a rookie, Duke was 8-2 with a 1.81 ERA in 14 starts.
“I don’t know what to say,” Duke said of his season. “It’s obviously been frustrating. I’ve obviously got work to do.”
“It was a tough year,” added manager John Russell.
“I’ve performed at a level that could merit firing,” Duke said when asked if it he thought about this potentially being his final start in black and gold. “If that happens, it’s out of my control. If it happens, it happens.”
Would Duke like to stay in Pittsburgh?
“Of course,” he said. “I enjoy these guys and I enjoy the city of Pittsburgh. But it’s not my choice to make.”
The Marlins scored four runs in the first inning on four hits. Duke allowed two walks and nine men came to the plate.
Ronny Cedeno made his fifth error –in his past six games– in the second inning allowing the fifth run to score.
Pedro Alvarez made an error in the fourth inning –the next pitch, Mike Stanton hit a three run home run. The Marlins ahead 9-2.
“I’ve got to make those plays at third,” said Alvarez, who has committed 16 errors in his first 93 Major League games. “If I make those plays, it might have been a different story, a different outcome.”
“It wasn’t good tonight,” Duke said. “Just erratic command, honestly. That’s all it was.”
In the seventh, Ronny Cedeno hit his seventh home run on the season bringing the game a little closer. 10-3.
The Pirates scored three more in the eighth inning. With the bases loaded, Alex Presley struck out, Jason Jaramillo flied to left and Delwyn Young flied out to center; ending the rally.
Pedro Alvarez hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning, but unfortunately it was not enough as the Pirates lose 11-9.
Thursday’s loss guarantees the Pirates to finish the season with fewer than 20 road wins.
Pirates hope to see improvements next season on the road
The Pirates are in Miami for the final four games of the season –a scary territory considering the Bucs are just 16-61 away from PNC Park this season.
How is it a team who finished 40-41 –nearly .500– could play so horrendous on the road?
“We’ve looked at youth,” manager John Russell said. “We’ve looked at travel. We’ve looked at change in lifestyle, change in food. It’s pretty much the same. We’ve played some really bad games on the road; I’m not going to lie. But we’ve also played some very good games on the road that we’ve either lost late or couldn’t quite finish off. I think that has something to do with a young team — learning how to win those games on the road. We’re very close a lot of times.”
To realize just how bad the Pirates have been on the road this season consider this: they have only five road wins since the All-Star break. They have also had a 14-game losing streak and a 17-game losing streak away from PNC Park this season. The Pirates have been outscored by their opponents by 204 runs.
The Pirates must win at least one of the four remaining games in order to avoid becoming the first team in major league history with fewer than 17 games in an 81-away game schedule.
“We play great ball at home and we can’t on the road. There’s no excuse for that,” Garrett Jones said. “It could be just coincidence. Or at home, maybe, when we have a crowd behind us, it gives us that little extra push. It’s tough to say.”
Thankfully, the Pirates will avoid the worst Pirates road record in franchise history –The Pittsburgh Allegheny’s in 1890 who went 9-88 on the road.
“We’ve got to find a way to play better baseball on the road and put ourselves in position to win more games,” General Manager Neal Huntington said.
The Pirates can only hope to see improvements next season from the Bucs and figure out what went wrong.
“I’m sure there will be 10,000 studies on it and everybody’s opinion will come out,” Russell said. “Until you turn it around, it really doesn’t matter what you say about it. Until we start winning more games on the road, it’s always going to be a question. Once we do start winning games on the road, they’ll say it was a great learning experience for us. It’s kind of a catch-22. The best way to change things is win.”
Pre-game Notes 9/30: Pirates vs Marlins
Notes:
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The Pirates play their final four games of the season against the Marlins starting Thursday night. They were 1-2 at Sun Life Stadium last year and have lost four of six in Miami.
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In 26 games this month, Andrew McCutchen is hitting .341 with eight doubles, four home runs, 15 RBI and 22 runs scored.
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In the last two games, the Pirates pitching staff has allowed three earned runs in 17 innings pitched. The team ERA is at 5.03 and has not been below 5.00 since 7/30.
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The Pirates have homered in two of their last three games and in nine of their last 14.
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Since the All-Star break Neil Walker is tied for third in the league with 53 RBI, trailing the Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki (61) and Carlos Gonzalez (57). Albert Pujols is tied with Walker at 53.
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The Pirates are 12-14 in September and if they take three-of-four from the Fish they can finish the final month of September with a winning record –the first .500 month all season.
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I have yet to see any of the Pirates rookie hazing photos surface. Here are some good ones though curtsey of Babes love Baseball:
Pitching Matchup:
LHP Zach Duke (8-14, 5.63 ERA)
Vs
RHP Chris Volstad (11-9, 4.63 ERA)
Duke is making his 29th and final start of the season –and possibly in a Pirates uniform. He got the W against the Astros his last start allowing three runs on seven hits through six plus innings. Duke has pitched into the seventh inning in his last two starts after not pitching past the fourth in his previous two. In one start this season against the Fish, Duke is 0-1 with a 7.94 ERA.
Volstad is making his 30th start of the season. He averages 5.2 innings per start and has produced quality starts in 14 of his 29 starts this year. Volstad beat the Brewers 4-0 –his second shutout in a row– and allowed six hits through 6.2 innings. His other shutout –which was a complete game– came on 9/20 against the Cardinals.
Pirates Lineup:
McCutchen 8
Tabata 7
Walker 4
Jones 3
Alvarez 5
Bowker 9
Cedeno 6
Snyder 2
Duke 1
Marlins Lineup:
Bonifacio 8
Martinez 6
Morrison 7
Uggla 4
Sanchez 3
Stanton 9
Helms 5
Davis 2
Volstad 1
PNC Park draws in best attendance since 2007
Despite the Pirates record not improving in the past two years, the attendance at PNC Park has. Could the young core of players such as Avarez, Walker, Tabata, McCutchen have something to do with it?
After winning the final home game at PNC Park this season, the attendance totaled 1,613,399 fans, more than 2008 (1,609,076), and 2009 (1,575,853).
The Pirates average of 19,919 fans ranks 27th of the major league ballparks, only behind Florida, Cleveland and Oakland.
“The fans have been terrific,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “The fans deserve a big thank you from us because they’re passionate. They still care about this team. That’s why we work every single day to return a winning team to Pittsburgh and reward them for their patience.”
Pirates claim Chris Leroux, DFA Brian Bass
The Pirates have claimed Chris Leroux from the Florida Marlins. To make room for Leroux on the 40-man Roster, the Pirates have Designated Brian Bass for Assignment. (Bass allowed 10 earned runs and walked 10 in 7.1 innings.)
In 17 games with the Marlins this season he was 0-0 with an 7.00 ERA. (14 earned runs allowed in 18 innings) In five games in 2009, he was 0-0 with a 10.80 ERA.
The 26-year-old Canadian is 14-20 with a 4.15 ERA through five seasons in the minors.
Some more stats on Leroux:
- He was drafted in the seventh-round by the Florida Marlins.
- During his senior year of College, Leroux had Tommy John surgery.
- His pitches are: Fastball, change-up and Slider.
- His fastball hits in the mid 90′s and has had control issues with his change up.
- Leroux was a catcher throughout his college years and was turned into a pitcher after being drafted.
- The right-hander is 6’6″, 226 pounds.
- Leroux is expected to join the Pirates on Tuesday at Citi field.
“He’s a big physical right-hander with arm strength,” general manager Neal Huntington said of Leroux, whose fastball sits in the low-to-mid 90s. “[He] could be a depth reliever for us, or if he clicks, [he] could be more. We thought it was a pretty reasonable chance to take on a young guy with a good arm and some upside.”
Kristy Robinson
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