Pirates/MLB category, Page 219
Tim Benz: Pirates’ Mitch Keller fixing shortcomings he identified
During the Pirates’ rebooted training camp at PNC Park, starting pitcher Mitch Keller identified two specific goals to hone his arsenal. • Develop a changeup. • Get the spin and movement on his fastball to equal its often-electric velocity. So far, so good to start Year 2 of his big-league...
Index cards stuffed in Pirates players’ back pockets help put fielders in right spots
When Derek Shelton plants five players in the outfield grass — baseball teams normally use three — he is not trying to change the essence of the game or attract attention. The Pittsburgh Pirates employ a team of analysts and coaches who study where opposing batters are likely to hit...
Brewers homer twice off Joe Musgrove to beat Pirates
To say Brandon Woodruff was stingy against the Pittsburgh Pirates is an understatement. The Milwaukee Brewers right-hander was downright selfish in silencing their bats with swing-and-miss and soft contact. When Woodruff wasn’t striking out the Pirates – he had 10 Ks – he refused to let them hit balls out...
Pirates manager Derek Shelton’s patience with top of order pays offVideo
The Pittsburgh Pirates have a rookie manager who has mixed and matched lineups, experimented with playing a shortstop in the outfield and piggybacking pitchers, not to mention dealt with bullpen blues. Six games into his major league managerial career, Derek Shelton will be the first to say that he doesn’t...
Pirates’ Gregory Polanco on covid-19: ‘You have to take care’Video
As Gregory Polanco prepared for his first start in right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates since testing positive for covid-19, he issued a warning for those wondering what it’s like to have the coronavirus. “It’s something that, I mean, we’ve taken it seriously, but just a message for the people...
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Pirates learn that close plays win close games in beating Brewers
Derek Shelton sounds ready to ride the roller coaster with the Pittsburgh Pirates, experiencing the highs and lows of being a major-league manager in a three-day span with plenty of firsts. He got the thrill of his first victory on Sunday, the agony of watching his team blow a four-run...
Bring the noise! Joe Klimchak pulls off MLB’s crowd noise plan at PNC Park
If you are a Pirates fan who has ever been to PNC Park, you know who Joe Klimchak is. You may not know his last name off the top of your head. But you know his face. And his voice. Klimchak is the longtime Pirates in-game host at the stadium....
U mad, bro? Fans torn on Ben Roethlisberger, shred Pirates bullpen, defend Stephon Tuitt
Steelers and Pirates fans shouldn’t be mad about anything. Because this week’s “U mad, bro?” is coming a day early. I was looking at the rest of the week’s schedule and realized it was best if we just got our rage out a little earlier than normal. Because, apparently, a...
Career firsts by pitchers Geoff Hartlieb, Nick Burdi lead Pirates to 8-6 victory
With trust in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ bullpen fading, Geoff Hartlieb and Nick Burdi stepped onto the mound Tuesday night and offered hope in an 8-6 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park. Both pitchers recorded firsts while helping the Pirates recover from a 6-2 deficit they faced in the...
Pirates place relievers Kyle Crick, Clay Holmes on IL, add Geoff Hartlieb, Miguel Del Pozo
The Pittsburgh Pirates made a pair of moves to bolster their struggling bullpen Tuesday, placing right-handed relievers Kyle Crick and Clay Holmes on the 10-day injured list. Crick has a right shoulder strain, Holmes a right forearm strain. To replace them on the 30-man major league roster, the Pirates recalled...
Chad Kuhl relies on slider in return from Tommy John to pitch piggyback for Pirates
As the rain delay stretched past an hour, Chad Kuhl had a sense that he would be pitching when play resumed at the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home opener Monday night at PNC Park. Then manager Derek Shelton called the right-hander into his office, confirming both his suspicions and his comeback. “That...
Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis exploring ‘appropriateness’ of team nickname
The Indianapolis Indians, the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, are forming a committee to explore the appropriateness of their nickname. The team added that it will also gather community input. Professional sports teams have received backlash for nicknames considered offensive, and the NFL’s Washington team has dropped its Redskins...
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: A weird home opener saw Pirates blow big moments with bad ending
Plain and simple, the Pittsburgh Pirates blew a big cushion in the ninth inning to lose their home opener to the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-5, in 11 innings on Monday night at PNC Park. But it was more than that. The Pirates wasted so many positive moments, only to see the...
Tim Benz: PNC Park opener like we may never see again. Let’s hope so, anyway.
Curiosity. That’s what drew me so deeply into 2020’s coronavirus-delayed first weekend of Major League Baseball. Well, that, and desperation for any sort of live sports whatsoever. Just having the games back is what mattered most. Fans in the stands or not. I wasn’t eagerly looking forward to what “Pandemic...
Colin Moran continues home opener heroics, but Brewers rally to beat Pirates in 11th inning
This was a home opener like never before for the Pittsburgh Pirates, playing in a pandemic Monday night with no fans at PNC Park and enduring a one hour, 42-minute rain delay in the second inning. If that wasn’t weird enough, the Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers got their first taste...
Strangest Pirates home opener everVideo
If a Pirates home opener were played in the Twilight Zone, this is probably what it would look like. Ninety minutes before the first pitch with the Milwaukee Brewers, the normally teeming streets and sidewalks around PNC Park were practically empty. There were no pedestrians marching to the ballpark across...
Pirates play home opener as Marlins coronavirus outbreak raises concernsVideo
Before the Pittsburgh Pirates could play their home opener at PNC Park, a coronavirus outbreak with the Miami Marlins forced MLB to postpone two games and threatened to put the shortened season in jeopardy. Reports that the Marlins have at least 14 cases of positive covid-19 among their players, coaches...
Pirates’ Derek Holland also was ejected 7 years ago — just not from a baseball gameVideo
Derek Holland said the incident in St. Louis that resulted in his early exit from the finale of the Cardinals series was the first time he has been tossed from a baseball game. It was not a lifetime first, however, for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ oldest starting pitcher. Seven years ago...
Pirates activate Gregory Polanco in time to serve as designated hitter for home opener
The Pittsburgh Pirates activated Gregory Polanco from the injured list, and he will bat seventh and serve as designated hitter for their home opener Monday night against the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park. Polanco was cleared this past weekend after testing positive for covid-19, one of five Pirates players to...
Mark Madden: Major League Baseball won’t work outside of a bubble
Is America ready for sports to return? Obviously not. Is the reader prepared for refreshing sports notes? Here’s hoping. Get ‘em while they’re hot! (They’re always hot.) • Nine Miami Marlins players (and five other memers of the traveling party) are reportedly infected by covid-19. If Miami has to use...
Tim Benz: Patchwork Pirates, odd MLB season deliver as advertised over first weekend
The first weekend of Major League Baseball in the coronavirus era was exactly as advertised — not just for the local team but league-wide. From an MLB perspective, viewers across the country quickly got used to cardboard cutout fans, manufactured crowd noise and runners beginning extra innings at second base....
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Pirates manager Derek Shelton had a ‘pretty good’ day with first win
Derek Shelton entered the Zoom room for the postgame interview following the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, his first win as a major-league manager, shook his soaking-wet silver hair and slicked it back. “How was your guys’ day?” Shelton said. “Mine was pretty good.” The first...
Pirates plan for Gregory Polanco to start out as designated hitter when he returns to playing
When Gregory Polanco returns to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ lineup, the right fielder likely first will be used as a designated hitter. Pirates manager Derek Shelton said that’s the plan for Polanco, who has been working out at PNC Park this weekend after being cleared to return from a positive covid-19...
Pirates pitcher JT Brubaker shares a special moment with Derek Shelton in MLB debut
The magnitude of the moment of his major league debut didn’t cross JT Brubaker’s mind until he set foot on the infield dirt at Busch Stadium to face the St. Louis Cardinals. “As soon as I stepped on it, it hit me: the adrenaline, the nerves, the excitement, everything that...
Pirates win eventful game for Derek Shelton’s 1st victoryVideo
The Pittsburgh Pirates debuted their gray road uniforms with “Pittsburgh” in cursive across the chest, classic throwbacks to the early 1990s, and that wasn’t even the most prominent script change Sunday. Derek Shelton shuffled the starting lineup, a move the Pirates manager insisted was scripted before the start of the...
