Results tagged ‘ pittsburgh ’
Correia’s no-no turns bad as the Pirates lose 6-0 to Brewers
Right-hand pitcher Kevin Correia was cruising. After pitching five innings without allowing a hit and just two walks, things turned ugly in the 6th and 7th inning as the Pirates were shutout by the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-0 on Wednesday night at PNC Park.
Jonathan Lucroy doubled to the North Side Notch in the top of the 6th, to break up Correia’s no-no. And from there, the Brewers scored four runs in the inning, including a three-run homer by Prince Fielder.
The Brewers tacked on two more runs in the 7th. Mark Kotsay reached base on an error by Third baseman Pedro Alvarez. Former Bucco Nyjer Morgan pinch ran for Kotsay and was driven in by a double hit by Yuniesky Betancourt. Morgan tackled Ryan Doumit at the plate and Betancourt advanced to third during the play at the plate. Shaun Marcum grounded to short, scoring Betancourt to give the Brewers a 6-0 lead.
Correia was charged with six runs (four earned) over six innings with two walks and one strikeout and picked up his first loss of the season.
Righty Shaun Marcum also flirted with a no-hitter through four innings. He didn’t allow a base runner until Lyle Overbay broke up the no-no in with a lead off single to right field in the 5th. Pedro Alvarez followed with a single, but were left stranded.
Marcum pitched seven shutout innings with one walk and four strikeouts. The four hits by the Pirates came off of Marcum. The Brewers bullpen held the Pirates hitless the final two innings.
The Pirates have lost three games in a row and have dropped to 5-6 this season –the first time this year the club has been under .500.
Pre-game News and Notes 4/13: Brewers @ Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates (5-5) will face the Milwaukee Brewers (5-5) at 7:05 for the first of a now two-game series.
Tuesday’s game was postponed due to rain. It will be made up on August 22 in part of a double-header. The first game will begin at 5:05 p.m. ET.
Right-hander Kevin Correia will face righty Shaun Marcum.
Correia out dueled Chris Carpenter during his last start pitching a seven inning shutout, limiting the Cardinals to just five hits while walking two and striking out three. Correia has been the Bucs most consistent starter this season. He even pitched an inning of relief during Friday’s 14-inning marathon game. Correia has allowed two earned runs over two starts (three appearances), 14 innings.
Marcum allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts over six innings against the Atlanta Braves his last start. Marcum is still working on his command after missing his next-to-last spring start with a stiff shoulder.
News:
- Jeff Karstens will no longer start in the rotation behind Kevin Correia and Paul Maholm (Thursday) because of the rainout, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports.
Instead, Charlie Morton will pitch on Friday and James McDonald will go on Saturday. Sunday’s starter is still listed as TBD.
- Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com also reports that reliever Evan Meek has been cleared and is ready to go out of the bullpen tonight.
- Lefty Joe Beimel reported to have no issues on Wednesday after pitching on back-to-back days for the Triple-A Indians.
Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports that the Pirates want Beimel to have two days off to make sure he doesn’t have any negative effects.
Beimel could be with the big league team as early as Friday.
- After seeing video footage of Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers sliding head first into home plate on Tuesday, Manager Clint Hurdle discussed to the players the dangers of the head-first slide. Hamilton will be out six to eight weeks with a shoulder fracture.
Hurdle told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, “You are very susceptible to injury, especially at home plate. I understand why people do it. I’m just not a big fan of it.”
Brewers:
Rickie Weeks 2B, Carlos Gomez CF, Ryan Braun LF, Prince Fielder 1B, Casey McGehee 3B, Mark Kotsay RF, Yuniesky Betancourt SS, Jonathan Lucroy C, Shaun Marcum RHP
Pirates:
Jose Tabata LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Lyle Overbay 1B, Matt Diaz RF, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Ryan Doumit C Ronny Cedeno SS, Kevin Correia RHP
Tabata, Bullpen, victorious in 14 inning walk-off
After 14 innings and five hours and 11 minutes, the Pittsburgh Pirates delivered a walk-off win in the bottom of the 14th inning to win, 4-3, at PNC Park during the early hours of Saturday.
Josh Rodriguez drew a walk off of Franklin Morales and Jose Tabata hit a double off the Roberto Clemente wall to score the winning run.
Since the run came after midnight, the win came on the 10th birthday of PNC Park.
Jose Tabata told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, “I’m looking for one pitch. I’m thinking if he throws a fastball, I’ll [take] a good swing. When he threw the pitch, I swung the bat. I stayed with my approach, middle-away, and [you] see what happened.”
The Colorado Rockies took advantage of right-hander Ross Ohlendorf’s early struggles. After allowing a leadoff walk to Dexter Fowler and a single by Jonathan Herrera, Jason Giambi launched a three-home run into the right field seats. The Rockies quickly took a 3-0 lead.
That was the only run the Rockies would score through the 14 inning game.
Ohlendorf was pulled after 2.2 innings with right shoulder discomfort.
The Pirates bullpen, which consisted of Jeff Karstens, Mike Crotta, Jose Veras, Joel Hanrahan, Chris Resop and Garrett Olson, pitched 11.1 innings allowing six hits, no runs, seven walks and 12 strikeouts.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 11.1 scoreless innings by the Bucs bullpen was the longest by the club in a game since 1900.
Manager Clint Hurdle told Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “My goodness, Scoreless? That’s a good hitting team over there. Our guys stepped it up. Every single one of them. There will be a couple who won’t be able to go [Saturday].”
The Pirates tacked on a run each of the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings.
After back-to-back walks to Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen by Jorge De La Rosa, Matt Diaz grounded to short in a 10 pitch at-bat, to score Walker and cut the lead, 3-1.
Jose Tabata hit his first home run of the season, as well as the first home run hit by a Bucco at PNC Park this year in the 5th inning.
Matt Belise walked both Lyle Overbay and Pedro Alvarez in the 6th, and Jason Jaramillo hit a RBI single to right field to tie the game at 3.
The Pirates showed their patience at the plate on Friday, after walking for a total of eight times.
The Rockies had plenty of chances during the late innings to score the go-ahead run. After Chris Resop allowed a lead-off double to Herrera, Carlos Gonzalez lined to shortstop. Troy Tulowitzki was intentionally walked and Jose Morales struck out for the second out. Seth Smith drew a walk to load the bases. Ty Wigginton hit a liner to third base but Pedro Alvarez made a spectacular play, diving for the ball and then threw from one knee to first baseman Lyle Overbay to end the inning.
The Pirates were out of bench players and only right-hander Evan Meek was left in the Pirates bullpen. It was reported that he was not available to pitch and even tried to convince the staff to let him warm up, if needed.
During the bottom of the 14th, and Josh Rodriguez on first base with two outs, Jose Tabata stepped up to the plate. Rockies Manager Jim Tracy received a lot of critism for not walking Tabata to get to Garrett Olson, who was on deck.
Although, it didn’t appear that way. Manager Clint Hurdle sent Andrew McCutchen to the on deck circle in hopes Tracy didn’t realize the batting order (There was a double switch in the 10th inning, so the pitcher was batting in the two hole).
It proved out to be the game winning play, as Jose Tabata hit a double off of the Roberto Clemente wall to score Josh Rodriguez and win in the 14th inning.
Colin Dunlap of the Post-Gazette asked Hurdle if it was a decoy to make Tracy think McCutchen was up next, “No, come on, why would we do that,” Hurdle said with a sly chuckle.
What was Manager Jim Tracy’s reasoning? “To walk him into scoring position … I know they have somebody over there that maybe takes a swing and not have to hit the ball very far at all to end up winning the game that way also,” he said.
An incredible ending for the Pirates on their first win at home this season.
Jeff Karstens, who pitched 3.1 innings after taking over after Ohlendorf was injured, told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, “I don’t even think words can describe what we did tonight. Just guy after guy came out; the situation didn’t matter, they just kept pitching. We were able to get out of it.”
Hurdle added, “My goodness. That’s a good hitting team over there. Our guys stepped it up tonight, every single one.”
Pre-game news and notes 4/8: Rockies @ Pirates; Yates suffers another set back
The Pittsburgh Pirates (4-3) will face the Colorado Rockies (4-1) tonight at 7:05 PM/ET for the second of a four game series.
Right-hander Ross Ohlendorf will face Left-hander Jorge De LaRosa.
Ohlendorf is making his second start of the season tonight. He picked a no-decision against the Chicago Cubs on April 3rd. He allowed four runs on eight hits over six innings with four walks and three strikeouts.
De La Rosa will also be making his second start of the season. He picked up the win against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday after pitching 5.1 shutout innings allowing just three hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
- Tonight marks the first time this season the Pirates have faced a starting lefty. The Bucs went 13-10 at PNC Park last season against a left-hander.
- Jose Tabata has had at least one hit in each of the first seven games. His seven game hitting streak in the longest in the majors.
- Neil Walker has hit safely in six of the first seven games this year. He also is tied in the National League with the most RBI –8.
- Rookie Mike Crotta has yet to surrender a hit or a run over his three appearances.
- Troy Tulowitki’s home run off Paul Maholm yesterday was just the second homer allowed by the Bucs pitching staff this season. That is tied with the San Francisco Giants for the fewest in the National League.
- Tonight is buc night at PNC Park. Although all the $1 tickets are sold out, you can still fill up on all popcorn, Pepsi and hot dogs for just one buck each.
News:
- Right-hand pitcher Tyler Yates is facing yet another setback. Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports that Yates has been diagnosed with a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow. The diagnosis came after a visit with Dr. James Andrews.
Yates had Tommy John Surgery back in 2009 and was pitching in his first spring this year since the recovery.
Langosch also reports that the Pirates will provide an update after being reexamined in six weeks.
- The Pirates, through the first five games of the season, have a team total of 50 strikeouts –the most in major league baseball.
Manager Clint Hurdle told Root Sports on Wednesday, “We’ve been doing too much of that. You know, you add fly balls and strikeouts together in account of soft outs. Tonight we had 17 soft outs. You get 27 in a game. It’s hard to score a lot of runs when you’re playing with 10 outs. The guys are aware of it. Just got to go a better job with two strikes. I think some of our problem is we’re still not aggressive enough in the count early. Taking a lot of pitches getting two strikes.”
- The Bucs will face their NL rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers, for a three game series that starts on Tuesday. Over the past several seasons there have been players plunked, words said and high emotions.
Andrew McCutchen told Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune, We know it’s going to be a battle. They’re thinking they can step all over us. We’re going to wake them up and tell them, ‘Hey, we’re not that team anymore.’
“We want to be that team that wakes everyone up. Then the next time they play us, they’ll know, ‘We’ve got to have our big-boy pants on.’ It’s up to us to do that.”
Rockies:
Dexter Fowler CF, Jonathan Herrera 2B, Carlos Gonzalez LF, Troy Tulowitzki SS, Todd Helton 1B, Jason Giambi 1B Seth Smith RF, Ty Wigginton 3B, Chris Iannetta C, Jorge de la Rosa LHP
*Helton was a late scratch.
Pirates:
Jose Tabata LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Lyle Overbay 1B, Matt Diaz RF, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Jason Jaramillo C, Ronny Cedeno SS, Ross Ohlendorf RHP
Pirates lose, 7-1, to Rockies in home opener
The Pirates combined for just four hits off of the Colorado pitching staff (lead by Esmil Rogers) in the 7-1 loss to the Rockies on the Bucs home opener.
Rogers allowed just one run on four hits over 7.1 innings with one walk and seven strikeouts.
Neil Walker told Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune, “A lot of us were up there looking for certain pitches. When he’s throwing 93, 94, 95 (mph) on the inner half for strikes to righties and lefties, your eyes light up when you see balls over the plate then, when you go to swing at 94, 95, it’s tough to barrel it up. I think we’ll be more prepared next time we face him.”
39,219 fans –the second largest crowd in PNC Park history– packed the stadium in their black and yellow on a gorgeous afternoon but the Pirates unfortunately couldn’t at pull out the third straight home opener victory.
Left-hander Paul Maholm started his first career home opener for the Bucs, and his second start of the season.
Maholm allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits with one strikeout over 5.2 innings.
Maholm tweeted after the loss, “The fans deserved a better opening day performance from all of us. Sorry. We still expect to win the series. #letsgobucs!”
The first pitch thrown by the left hander was hit into center field by the Rockies leadoff batter, Dexter Fowler. With one out, Carlos Gonzalez hit a ground ball to second, but Walker’s throw to the base was off as it went past Ronny Cedeno and into left field. Fowler scored and Gonzalez advanced to third on the two base error. Troy Tulowitzki followed with a sac fly to put Colorado up 2-0 in the 1st.
Walker told Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune, “I just blew it. Just a terrible play. Just bad. I just didn’t make the play. I hurried it. That’s it.”
Jose Tabata lead off the bottom of the 1st with a single to center field. Walker hit a single, advancing Tabata to third base and also swiped his first bag of the season. Andrew McCutchen hit a grounder to third to score Tabata and cut the lead 2-1.
The Bucs, the run in the 1st inning was the only run they would score the remainder of the game.
Tulowitzki lead off the 4th inning with a solo homerun to the left field seats, giving the Rockies a 3-1 lead.
Tulowitzki told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, “Obviously, they’ve played good baseball. Today they made a few mistakes and we took advantage of it. But I know Hurdle. He’s a good manager. He’ll do a good job over there.”
Maholm allowed three straight hits (two of them doubles) in the 6th as the Rockies added two more insurance runs.
Resop also gave up three straight hits (all singles) and two runs, pushing the Rockies lead to 7-1.
Rogers retired 18 batters in a row until Ronny Cedeno singled in the 8th inning. Steve Pearce, who pinch hit for Garrett Olson, singled and picked up his first hit of the season. With two on and one out, Tabata hit into an inning ending double play to end the threat.
Manager Clint Hurdle told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, “He was aggressive. I expected more from our offense. We’re always going to expect more from our offense. Rogers showed up and pitched well.”
Walker slams Bucs into opening day victory over Cubs, 6-3
The Pittsburgh Kid Neil Walker hit a bases loaded two out grand slam off of Ryan Dempster in the 5th inning as the Pirates went on to beat the Cubs 6-3 on opening day 2011.
Walker was just the second Pirate in team history to hit a grand slam on opening day. The other? The great one, Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente on April 10th, 1962. Walker, who grew up in Pittsburgh, will forever be a part of Pirates history –the team he grew up rooting for.
Trailing 2-0 to the Cubs, Ryan Doumit lead off the 5th with a single to center field. Ronny Cedeno worked a walk and pitcher Kevin Correia came to the plate. It looked like Manager Clint Hurdle’s extra work in spring training paid off as Correia dropped down a perfect sac bunt to move the runners. Ryan Dempster walked a second batter in the inning, Jose Tabata, to load the bases. Walker worked a seven pitch at-bat before driving a 3-2 fastball over the right field wall. Wrigley field was quiet as four Pirates touched home plate and took a 4-2 lead.
Walker told Stan Savran of Root Sports after the game, “I got ahead in the count. I had to make sure I wasn’t trying to do too much but use the big part of the field. He just walked two guys so I really wasn’t trying to do too much but get myself in a good position to hit and swing the bat. Fortunately I got into 3-2 [count] and he kind of made a mistake over the plate and was able to do something with it.”
“Definitely a special feeling, there’s no doubt about it. More along the lines of helping the team win today is more special. We had a great game today.”
Walker doubled in the 7th inning before Center Fielder Andrew McCutchen homered off of Dempster in the 7th to stretch the lead, 6-2.
Right-hand Pitcher Kevin Correia made his Bucco debut and his first career opening day nod. He was greeted on the mound by Manager Clint Hurdle n the 7th inning with two words: “Great game.” Correia allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits with one walk and three strikeouts over six plus innings.
The Cubs scored in the bottom of the 7th after a wild pitch thrown by lefty Scott Olson advanced Darwin Barney to second base. Kosuke Fukudome drove him in with a single to cut the lead to 6-3.
Set up man Evan Meek came into the pitch the 8th. He allowed a lead off hit but retired the next three in a row, including a pair of strikeouts to end the inning.
Joel Hanrahan, who Hurdle selected as the teams closer in spring training, allowed one hit and a walk in the 9th before striking out both Blake Dewitt and Marlon Byrd with 98 mph fastballs.
With the Pirates 6-3 victory, they have now won five straight opening day games which is tied for the lead in the majors with the New York Mets.
Small market teams vs. large market teams
During Thursday’s episode of MLB Tonight on MLB Network, the Analysis were discussing how small and large market teams can succeed, despite the huge difference in payroll.
They discussed how one bad draft can effect a small market team for four, five years down the road (Pittsburgh Pirates anyone?). Here is what they had to say:
Matt Yallof: “Money doesn’t guarantee anything. It doesn’t guarantee winning, but, if you have a lot of it, it can help ease the blow if you make some mistakes.”
Larry Bowa: “There’s no question about that. The Yankees in 2006 signed a pitcher from Japan named Kei Igawa. The total package was $46 million over five years. $26 million of that was for negotiation rights, to get him over here. Now, we all know everybody makes mistakes in this game. I don’t think anybody can say, ‘I was perfect.’ The point I’m trying to make here is when you are a big market team and you make a $46 million mistake like that, nobody hears about it…When you’re a small market team and you make a $46 million mistake like this, you’re paying for three, four, five years down the road. I think it makes a big difference what market you’re in.”
Mitch Williams: “You’re handcuffed. You’re absolutely handcuffed if you’re a small market team. What it does, you can not make mistakes. If you go down to Tampa and you look: Evan Longoria, first-round pick in 2006, David Price, first-round pick in 2007. Their scouts got it right. If they make that mistake, they sign both these guys and neither one of them pan out, they can’t recover from that. You can not make mistakes if you are a small market team…You have to have very knowledgeable scouts and they better know what they’re looking at and be tremendous evaluators of talent.”
Harold Reynolds: “Back to Larry’s point, you look at $46 million and you say that to Tampa or to Pittsburgh, and say, ‘You’re going to make a $46 million mistake’. They’re done. They’re sunk…We’ve seen it happen with the Red Sox, we’ve seen it happen with the Yankees, we’ve seen it happen across the board with big market teams. You just move on down the road and continue on…It’s not just one year, two years, for the small market, you may lose for five seasons before you’re able to recover. And people wonder why are the Pirates so bad the last 17 years? Well, they’ve missed it in their scouting early on. Now in the last four years they’ve put it together and all of a sudden everybody saying, ‘Oh. The Pirates are heading in the right direction.’ But before that, if you go back and you look at the first-round picks they made –They missed ‘em. And that was the end of them…You can’t miss. It’s a total different game when you’re a small market compared to a big team.”
Day 42 of Pirates spring training: news and notes
The Pirates will face the Tampa Bay Rays in Bradenton, Fla., today at 1:05 pm. It is the last game at McKechnie Field this spring.
Left-hander Paul Maholm will start for the Bucs against the Rays David Price.
- Steve Pearce, who will be on the Pirates opening day roster for the first time in his career, is “humbled” to make the team. Pearce told Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune, “I’ve been humbled. In ’08, I really struggled. I tried to repeat that (previous) year. When things weren’t going my way, it was very frustrating. I’ve been humbled and it’s made me work a lot harder. Even though my numbers haven’t been as (good) as they were in ’07, I think I’ve developed as a baseball player. I feel like I’m a better hitter. I’ve learned how to drive the ball the other way. I’m taking pitches, walking and improving my on-base percentage.”
- Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports that Catcher Chris Snyder was feeling better on Sunday (He was scratched prior to yesterday’s game).
Snyder received treatment today and additional exercises in the whirlpool.
- Right-hander Jeff Karstens will pitch against the Minnesota Twins on Monday, the final spring game of the season.
Pirates
Lineup: Tabata LF, Walker 2B, McCutchen CF, Overbay 1B, Diaz RF, Alvarez 3B, Doumit C, Cedeno SS, Maholm LHP
Pitchers: Maholm, Hanrahan, Leroux
Rays
Lineup: Upton CF, Damon LF, Longoria 3B, Shoppach C, Zobrist RF, Rodriguez 2B, Johnson 1B, Johnson DH, Brignac SS
Pitchers: Price
Pack your bags: The Pirates equipment truck departs today for Pittsburgh.
*Photo credit: @BucsInsider
Day 12 of Pirates spring training: news and notes
- FSN Pittsburgh will be telecasting four spring training games this year: March 6th (1pm) against the Toronto Blue Jays, March 10th (7pm) against the Baltimore Orioles, March 19th (1pm) against the Boston Red Sox and March 26th (1pm) against the New York Yankees.
- FM News Talk 104.7, the Pirates flagship radio station, will have 12 games this year which includes the home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
- Joe Beimel won the Pirates bunt tournament on Thursday, beating out Kevin Correia in the final round as the entire team watched. Not only was it was a fun way to bring the team together, but they also learned from it too. Read more.
- Scott Olsen is scheduled to throw another 25 pitch fastball session on Saturday. Afterwards, the Pirates will reevaluate him. Olsen has been sidelined due to a sore left hamstring.
- Evan Meek threw off flat ground on Friday and also threw long toss. It is unknown to when he will return to the mound. Meek has tightness in his right calf.
“There’s no rush with Evan,” Searage said. “I want to make sure he’s 110 percent before I send his butt out there. He’s playing long toss and doing flat ground right now.”
Beimel a different pitcher in second go around
Joe Beimel may be back in Pittsburgh for his second stint in his career, but he insists he is a much different pitcher now.
“I’m way different now than I was before,” Beimel said. “I’m much wiser.”
“When I was here the first time, I don’t think I was very good because now, looking back on it, I don’t know what kind of pitcher I was at the time,” said Beimel, who pitched in 164 games with the Pirates between 2001-03. “I was out there trying to strike guys out, wasn’t throwing strikes. I just watched some of those old tapes and, you know, it really made me sick. … I’m not that pitcher anymore.”
Beimel has previously pitched with the Twins, Rays, Dodgers, Nationals and Rockies during his 10 year career.
Manager Clint Hurdle will be using the lefty as a bridge between the starters and the late innings of the bullpen reserved for Evan Meek and closer Joel Hanrahan.
“I’m very strong against left-handed hitters and I can get right-handers out, too,” said Beimel, who has a career 4.16 ERA. “I think, with me, sometimes I get pigeonholed into being a left-handed specialist. I don’t like that, because you are only working one side of the plate. … I am very confident that I can face both and get both out, and I think that is the opportunity they are going to give me here.”
Kristy Robinson
Recent Comments