Pittsburgh Pirates

If ever there was a baseball game that you only needed the first inning to understand in its entirety, this one was it. Starling Marte lead the game off with hit a triple, which was aided by Brandon Phillips clearly not understanding how fast and completely fearless Starling Marte is once he starts running bases. Marte scored on an infield single by Russell Martin, which was aided by Zack Cozart and/or Joey Votto. After an Andrew McCutchen strikeout, Mat Latos walked Garrett Jones and Neil Walker. Pedro Alvarez then sent a fly ball in to the left field corner to score two runs (thanks to some poor Neil Walker baserunning, Alvarez ended up on first base and his hilariously low total of just five doubles on the season remained in stasis). That gave the Pirates a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the first, Charlie Morton hit Shin-Soo Choo with the first pitch in the Name of Justice or Possibly Just Bad Control, got Cozart to bounce into a double play two pitches later, then got Joey Votto to fly out three pitches after that. Latos settled in after that bad first inning, but it didn't matter. Morton looked much better than he did in his debut, holding the Reds to just three hits and five base runners (he hit Choo and Xavier Paul). He struck out two hitters, got seven ground outs (two flyouts, for comparison), threw his fastball in the 93-96 range, and mixed in some great curveballs. I know that a lot of people roll their eyes when I say this, but I think that Morton's looked pretty good in his first two starts back. The added velocity on his fastball and sinker make him a much more dangerous pitcher than he was before his injury, and I think that he's someone that could help the Pirates this year. The first thing that a lot of people will notice in this one after the final score is that the Pirates struck out 17 times tonight against Latos and company. Any time a team racks up strikeouts like that it's wort noting, but I do think that it's also worth noting that the Pirates drew six walks tonight and that those six walks made a huge difference in this game in particular. The two walks in the first inning really drove that rally from one run to three runs, and a walk of Jordy Mercer in the seventh inning lead to the fourth run. On the flip side of the ball, the Pirates struck out ten Red hitters tonight and didn't walk even one of them (though of course HBPs don't count). That's not to say that they should keep on striking out seventeen times in a game, just that they faced off against a good pitcher in Latos and that they did some things very well and that helped bring the Pirates a solid win against a very good baseball team. I'll take that.

Are the Reds the biggest rival for the Pirates? Way back when the Pittsburgh Pirates were added to the NL Central, they were robbed of a lot of natural rivalries. The Philadelphia Phillies being the big one. The Atlanta Braves, although that would have probably led to a 300% increase in Sid Bream highlights each season. It would even be easy to have a rivalry with the New York Mets or the Washington Nationals (especially if the Penguins/Capitals fans bring the Pittsburgh/Washington feud to baseball). Yet the Pirates have been stuck in the NL Central without any real rivals. Part of that is the move. Another part is that it’s hard to have a rivalry when you’re horrible year after year. The Pirates beat up on the Astros and get destroyed by the Brewers. That has been the story for the last several years. There have been some sparks. Take the Brewers, for example. The Dave Kerwin incident. Crying Braun. But it’s hard to tell if that’s a rivalry that started when Randall Simon started clubbing mascots, or just Pirates fans and the Pirates themselves being frustrated at constantly losing to the Brewers. They’re 6-4 this year, and it doesn’t seem like that hostility is there. The Reds, on the other hand, have emerged as a potential rival. From a location standpoint, the two teams are close enough to be area rivals. Cincinnati is actually slightly closer to Pittsburgh than Philadelphia. The Cardinals, Brewers, and Cubs have dominated the division in the past, and the Pirates and Reds are now emerging to take those two spots behind the Cardinals, who are always good. So you’ve got two young teams who have a shot at battling it out in meaningful games beyond the 2013 season. Neither team owns the other team. This year the Pirates are 5-3 against Cincinnati. Last year the Reds won 11-7. The year before it was the Pirates winning 10-5. In 2010 it was 10-6 Cincinnati. So it’s not a situation like Milwaukee where there’s some bad blood, but it’s less interesting because you know that one team historically dominates the other team. Then you’ve got the beanball wars. Aroldis Chapman hit Andrew McCutchen last year, and McCutchen wasn’t the same for the rest of the season. Brandon Phillips is always wanting retaliation against someone. On Monday night McCutchen was hit by Leake (probably accidental there), and Chapman buzzed a pitch by Neil Walker’s head (probably not as accidental). First pitch of Tuesday’s game: Charlie Morton hits Shin-Soo Choo. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Reds retaliate tomorrow, as they couldn’t tonight with the immediate warning by the umpire. The beanball wars and the fact that these two teams are battling it out in the best division in baseball are key ingredients for a rivalry. The fact that neither team has a significant advantage over the other team helps. What could be interesting is if the two sides meet up in the Wild Card game. Currently that seems to be the consensus projection, and if the season ended today they’d be playing that game in Cincinnati. Ultimately any sort of good rivalry is only possible if both teams are competitive. We wouldn’t be talking about this at all if the Reds or the Pirates were at the bottom of the division. Since they’re both competitive this year, it makes each game matter. As the season continues we’ll highlight those Cincinnati games, and especially the stretch at the end of the year where the Pirates play the Reds six times in their last nine games. The back and forth beanball wars only add to the fire. Rivalries help make the game fun. Winning is always fun, but a win over a rival has a different feel than a win over someone like the Mariners or Angels who never play the Pirates. After years of going without a real rival, it seems the Pirates have found one in the Reds. We’ll see if that rivalry escalates tomorrow after today’s Pirates win —

Indianapolis was rained out yesterday. They will play a doubleheader today, as Jeanmar Gomez will try again to get his second rehab start. West Virginia is still on their All-Star break. Jamestown opened their season Monday. Check below for a preview of their roster. For a look at the possible starters over the next few weeks, please check out our Probable Pitchers Chart. Check out the Recent Transactions section to the bottom of this page, for all Pirates minor league transactions. A full recap of yesterday’s action can be found here. Dovydas Neverauskas gets the start in game three for Jamestown AAA: Indianapolis (47-25) @ Norfolk (38-33) 6:05pm DH Probable starter: Jeanmar Gomez (0-0, 3.00) and Andy Oliver (3-2, 3.04) Yesterday’s Result: Indianapolis was rained out Jeanmar Gomez will make his second rehab start for Indianapolis tonight. In his first outing, on a limited pitch count, he went three innings. Gomez allowed two runs(one earned) on three hits, three walks and three strikeouts. He is scheduled to go either five innings or 75 pitches today, whichever comes first. With the Pirates this season, he was 2-0, 3.07 in seven starts and five relief appearances. Andy Oliver should get the start in the second game. He has made 14 starts this season. Oliver has pitched a total of 71 innings, allowing 51 hits, three homers and 60 walks. He has 79 strikeouts, a 1.13 GO/AO ratio and a .202 BAA. He pitched well in his last start, though he needed a lot of pitches to get through his five shutout innings. Oliver gave up four hits, three walks and he struck out seven batters. Prior to that game, he had walked six batters in five of his last six starts. He is second in the International League in strikeouts and leads the league by a wide margin in walks. AA: Altoona (31-37) vs New Hampshire (33-37) 7:00pm Probable starter: TBD Yesterday’s Result: Altoona 5, New Hampshire 4 in 10 innings No starter has been announced for today’s game as of yet. There is a chance it will be the debut in Altoona of Eliecer Navarro, who was recently promoted from Bradenton, but hasn’t been officially added to the roster yet. When they name a starter, we will update this post. High-A: Bradenton (26-41) @ Jupiter (35-32) 6:35pm Probable starter: Matt Benedict (0-6, 5.55) Yesterday’s Result: Jupiter 11, Bradenton 5 Matt Benedict will make his eighth start of the season tonight. He has also pitched six times in relief. As a starter he is 0-4, 5.85 in 32.1 innings, with a .357 BAA. In 48.2 total innings this season, he has given up 72 hits, four homers, 14 walks and has recorded 29 strikeouts. Benedict has a 1.46 GO/AO ratio. He has been shelled on the road this season, allowing 22 runs in 14 innings. He has done well against Jupiter this year, throwing two shutout innings in relief in one outing and giving up one run over six innings in a late April start. Low-A: West Virginia (37-33) vs Lakewood (26-41) 7:05pm  6/20 Probable starter: TBD Yesterday’s Result: West Virginia is on their All-Star break. West Virginia is off today. They are on their All-Star break and won’t return until tomorrow. They finished the first half of the season in third place, 2.5 games behind Hagerstown. The Power will open the second half with seven home games, four against Lakewood and three against Hagerstown. West Virginia sent six players to the South Atlantic All-Star Game last night. which was won 2-1 by the Northern Division. Short-Season A: Jamestown (2-0) @ Mahoning Valley (0-2) 7:05pm Probable Starter: Dovydas Neverauskas (NR) Yesterday’s Result: Jamestown 3, Mahoning Valley 0 (game recap) Dovydas Neverauskas will make his first start of the season tonight. He spent most of last season in the Gulf Coast League, where he made nine starts and one relief appearance. He also had a late season outing for State College in which he allowed one run on two hits and two walks in four innings, with four strikeouts. In the GCL, Ne

TOP OF THE SYSTEM A look at how the current top 20 prospects did today.  Note that this list doesn’t include players currently in the majors. If a player is in the majors, he will be removed, everyone below him will be shifted up a spot, and a new player will be added to the bottom of the list. Rankings are from the mid-season rankings, and links on each name go to their Pirates Prospects player page. 1. Jameson Taillon, RHP, Altoona (3-5, 2.89) - DNP 2. Gregory Polanco, CF, Altoona (.333) – 0-for-3 3. Tyler Glasnow, RHP, West Virginia (3-1, 2.83) - DNP 4. Alen Hanson, SS, Bradenton (.291) - 4-for-5, 2 2B 5. Austin Meadows, CF, 2013 1st Round Pick, Unsigned 6. Josh Bell, RF, West Virginia (.289) - DNP 7. Nick Kingham, RHP, Altoona (1-0, 0.00) - DNP 8. Luis Heredia, RHP, West Virginia Power (0-0, 0.00) – DNP 9. Reese McGuire, C, GCL Pirates (.000) – DNP 10. Dilson Herrera, 2B, West Virginia (.282) - DNP 11. Tony Sanchez, C, Indianapolis (.303) - DNP 12. Barrett Barnes, CF, West Virginia (.222) – DNP 13. Kyle McPherson, RHP, Indianapolis (0-1, 19.29) – Triple-A DL 14. Stetson Allie, 1B, West Virginia (.324) - DNP 15. Wyatt Mathisen, C, West Virginia (.185) - Low-A DL 16. Clay Holmes, RHP, West Virginia (2-5, 4.95) - DNP 17. Stolmy Pimentel, RHP, Indianapolis (0-0, 0.00) - DNP 18. Vic Black, RHP, Indianapolis (0-2, 2.63) – Triple-A DL 19. Harold Ramirez, CF, Jamestown (.400) - DNP 20. Blake Taylor, LHP, GCL Pirates (0-0, 0.00) – DNP ORDER YOUR 2013 PROSPECT GUIDE The 2013 Prospect Guide is now available, and is the perfect resource to follow the minor league system during the 2013 season. You can order your copy on the products page of the site. Order together with the 2013 Annual and save $5! DAILY SUMMARY Top Pitcher: David Bromberg, RHP (3.27) – 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 0 HR Top Hitter: Eric Avila, 3B (.221) – 3-for-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI Home Runs: Adalberto Santos (3), Eric Avila 2 (2, 3), Jin-De Jhang (1) AAA: INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS    Indianapolis was postponed due to rain. Adalberto Santos had a big night for Altoona. AA: ALTOONA CURVE    Box Score Result: Altoona 5, New Hampshire 4 Starting Pitcher: David Bromberg, RHP (3.27) – 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 0 HR Top Hitter: Adalberto Santos, 3B (.261) – 2-for-5, HR, 3 RBI Other Notable Performers: Mel Rojas, LF (.255) – 2-for-5 Charles Cutler, DH (.327) – 2-for-3, 3B Game Notes: David Bromberg has given up one earned run in 13 innings over his last two starts, with a 19:4 K/BB ratio. In his last ten games he has a 2.57 ERA in 56 innings, with a 56:18 K/BB ratio. Adalberto Santos came up big in tonight’s game. He hit a two run homer in the eighth inning, putting Altoona up 3-1 at the time. The Curve (who were going by the name of the Altoona Coasters tonight, in a “What-If” promotion) gave up three runs in the top of the ninth, but Andy Vasquez hit an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game and send it to extras. In the bottom of the tenth Santos hit a walk off single to score Drew Maggi from second. A+: BRADENTON MARAUDERS   Box Score Result: Jupiter 11, Bradenton 5 Starting Pitcher: Zack Dodson, LHP (1-5, 5.32) – 2.2 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 0 HR Top Hitter: Eric Avila, 3B (.221) – 3-for-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI Other Notable Performers: Alen Hanson, SS (.291) – 4-for-5, 2 2B Game Notes: Eric Avila hit two solo homers, giving him three homers on the year. Alen Hanson had four hits and two doubles, and now has 14 on the season. Hanson also had his 20th error of the year, and his fifth error in his last seven games. The bat has been great ever since he was benched for a few games in mid April, but his defense has been struggling a bit lately. That error came with two outs in the third inning. Jupiter went on to score seven runs in that frame, knocking Zack Dodson out of the game mid-inning. A: WEST VIRGINIA POWER   West V

The strongly-built Jin De-Jhang was robbed of two hits on sharp grounders after his homer. After driving through a downpour, multiple traffic jams and an EZPass gate that would not lift, I made it to Mahoning Valley to check out the short-season Jamestown Jammers play their second game of the year. Let’s do this Power Rankings style: the 7 players who impressed me most on Tuesday night. This is not a ranking of the prospects as a whole, simply a small-sample-size look at one game and various musings. 1. Catcher Jin-De Jhang destroyed two pitches thrown from Scrappers pitchers. Leading off the 5th inning, Jhang blasted a pitch from Caleb Hamrick about 380 feet over the right-center field fence. The outfield is pretty expansive at Eastwood Field, so Jhang really had to drive one for his first home run of the season. Later, Jhang mashed a pitch off a Mahoning Valley reliever very foul, but still long and high. Jhang is built like a tree stump: listed as 5-foot-11 but probably shorter, sporting thick arms and legs that supply him with plenty of power. There’s a reason he is batting cleanup for the Jammers. The 20-year-old Taiwan native was also a solid backstop, letting only one pitch past him that I saw. The home run was Jhang’s only hit Tuesday night, but it follows a 2-for-4 day at the plate Monday to get his New York-Penn league career off to a good start. 2. Starting pitcher Colten Brewer made his first New York-Penn League start, but you wouldn’t know it from the results: five shutout innings, allowing just five hits and generating eight groundouts to zero flyouts. “It’s a huge jump, it’s a different atmosphere,” Brewer said. Brewer said Tuesday’s crowd of 2,082 was the largest he has ever pitched in front of, with the two thousand including his father behind home plate. The Pirates’ directive for him is to pitch to contact with fastballs, showing in Brewer getting just two strikeouts and one walk. The tall Texan pitched through traffic and a bit of wildness early, then settled in to a groove in which his fastball sat 93 mph and touched 95 mph. A scout watching Brewer called him a “live arm,” and his 6-foot-4 frame fits right into the Pirates’ glut of projectable high school right-handers. 3. The speed of left fielder Jeff Roy in his first professional game was not a surprise. I clocked him at 4.0 seconds from home to first base, which easily puts him at a 70 for pure speed. He is a shorter player at 5-foot-9, so his goal will be to create havoc on the basepaths. “That’s the biggest asset of my game is my speed,” Roy said, adding that his goal this season is to get on base as much as possible. That includes showing a couple bunt attempts as he did Tuesday night. Roy stole 30 bases in 30 attempts for Rhode Island this season before the Pirates selected him in the 18th round. 4. The other player who created trouble on the bases was right fielder Elvis Escobar. Hamrick struck him out his first two at-bats, but Escobar blooped an opposite-field single off reliever Alexis Paredes in the 6th. That’s when the fun began. Paredes and Czech catcher Martin Cervenka were all out of sorts. Three pitches got away from Cervenka, Escobar’s speed no doubt on Paredes’ mind, and Escobar took the next base all three times. He got credit for two steals, then scored Jamestown’s third run on a passed ball. Despite demonstrating his wheels on the bases, Escobar did not show the best closing speed on a fly ball to right field and he struck out twice. It was a tough night overall for Jammers hitters, getting only four hits after 14 on Monday. Though the hits were enough in a 3-0 victory. 5. One unexpected surprise I had was watching 22-year-old outfielder Jesus Vasquez take batting practice. He went 2-for-4 Monday night, then knocked the most hard-hit balls of any player I saw in BP. Vasquez also has one of the most muscular, solidl

Mike Zagurski has been outrighted to Triple-A. (Photo by: David Hague) The Pittsburgh Pirates designated Mike Zagurski for assignment last week to make room on the roster for Brandon Cumpton. Today the lefty cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, according to Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors. Pirates fans probably won’t want to see Zagurski around after his struggles in the majors, but the Indianapolis pitching staff has been very depleted with all of the call-ups and injuries. At the least, Zagurski should be able to take some innings and help keep the pitching staff fresh in Indianapolis. If the Pirates need another lefty in the majors later in the year, they’ll probably be better off turning to Andy Oliver or Kris Johnson.

MLBTR reports that Mike Zagurski has cleared waivers, which obviously comes as no surprise. We'll know by tomorrow whether he elects free agency. Zagurski quickly became a punchline in Pittsburgh, but he isn't quite as bad as what he showed in his brief stay as a Pirate, and he's good Triple-A depth. It would be nice to have him back.

Charlie Morton. Assassin Creed “The RPM’s are ramped up,”  Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle has a nice way of saying that Charlie Morton has added velocity to his electric stuff.  The first pitch that Morton threw hit the Reds lead off hitter.  The rest of his outing Morton was spot on. He was probably spot on with his first pitch too. After the game, Hurdle wouldn’t speak directly to the beanballs the Reds and the Pirates have traded in their games this season. When teams wanna play hard and want to compete, it’s not just at the plate, its on the basepaths.  We have to do things we have never done before to get to where we want to go.  Hurdle Well, it’s not exactly trading, the Reds have been hit ten times. Leadoff hitter Shoo has been hit six times. The Bucs have been hit six times. But this game was about Charlie Morton.  The Bucs right hander said this after the game… I got ground balls and a few hard hit balls right at people. In his last three games at Great American Ballpark, Electric Stuff has two complete games to add up to an ERA of 0.39 with 10 strikeouts and four walks. The two complete games were just good.  But here, I got some weak contact and the few times they hit it hard, I had guys making great plays behind me.  I wouldn’t look at all three outings like it is the park.  I would look at them individually. I feel like I spray balls here and there.  Some go places I wouldn’t have thought they would have gone.  Control is good…considering.  To me it seems like to be more consistent in the misses.  For me, it’s those one or two that get away. And the one that hit exactly the right spot Charlie? Yeh, it just got away, said Morton.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Pedro Alvarez singled home a pair of runs in the first inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates ended Mat Latos’ streak of 21 regular-season starts without a loss, beating the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 on Tuesday night. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Pittsburgh Pirates News

After Monday’s game — which saw Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman throw near Neil Walker’s head in the ninth inning — many Pirates fans were looking for retaliation. They got just that in the first inning when Charlie Morton hit Shin-Soo Choo right below the knee with his first pitch of the game. That led to a warning from the home plate umpire, and drew the ire of Mat Latos in the Reds’ dugout, but the Reds didn’t retaliate. Perhaps the better retaliation for the Pirates came in the top half of the first inning when they put up three runs on Latos. Starling Marte led off the game with a triple, stretching the play on an ill-advised run from second as the relay was coming in. Brandon Phillips threw a two hop relay to third, giving Marte enough time to slide in safely. He scored the first run when Russell Martin reached on an infield single to shortstop as Joey Votto was unable to scoop the low throw. Martin avoided another out stealing second as he made some Matrix style moves to avoid the tag. With the bases loaded, Pedro Alvarez took an 0-2 fastball to the opposite field to bring in two more runs. The Pirates added one more run in the seventh inning off Curtis Partch. After that first inning they struggled against Latos, who finished with nine strikeouts in five innings. Strikeouts were the theme of the night for the offense, as the Reds pitchers combined to strike out 17 batters. The Pirates managed ten of their own to counter that, and pull off the 4-0 victory for the best retaliation you could ask for. Charlie Morton pitched 5.1 shutout innings tonight for the Pirates. Morton Excellent, But Why the Early Hook? Charlie Morton was excellent tonight, going 5.1 shutout innings and allowing just three hits. More importantly he didn’t walk anyone, showing better control than he has in the past. Morton’s curve and sinker both looked great tonight, with the sinker mostly sitting 92-94 MPH and leading to a 7:2 GO/AO ratio. One questionable call came in the sixth inning when Morton was pulled after throwing only 61 pitches. With one out, Morton struck out Zack Cozart, but the ball got past Russell Martin, putting a runner on. Clint Hurdle went to Tony Watson to face Joey Votto, despite the fact that Morton was pitching well and only had 61 pitches on the night. Watson gave up a double to Votto, putting runners on second and third with one out. He got out of the jam with a key strikeout against Brandon Phillips, and a groundout back to the mound against Jay Bruce. A lot of people disagreed with Morton being a lock for the rotation. As it worked out, the Pirates didn’t have any other choice when it came time for him to be added to the roster. However, he’s back to his old “electric stuff” in the last two starts. The sinker and curve — his two best pitches, and two pitches he couldn’t throw last year due to his injury — have both been extremely effective. He is definitely showing that he belongs in the rotation, and throughout his rehab starts and his first two outings in the majors he has looked more like the successful 2011 version rather than the injured 2012 version. Melancon and Grilli’s Usage If you want to make a game shorter this year, just go to Mark Melancon and Jason Grilli for the final two innings. That said, it was a bit questionable to go to those two in the eighth and ninth innings of a 4-0 game, especially when so many concerns have been brought up about both pitchers being used too much this year. Melancon pitched three games in a row over the weekend, then had Monday off, so it’s not like he needed the work. Grilli pitched on Friday and Sunday, and also didn’t really need the work. It’s good that those two guys shut down the game, and with the Pirates and Reds projected to battle it out in the Wild Card matchup in the early projections, any win against Cincinnati is good. But if you’re looking