First Call: Brotherly love at PNC Park; Austin Meadows stays hot

In Friday’s “First Call,” we see a family bonding moment that made Major League Baseball history at PNC Park. Austin Meadows stays hot for Tampa. And a contract situation to watch in the NHL.

Multiple Morans

Brother, can you spare a strike?

Pirates infielder Colin Moran faced his brother Brian, a pitcher for the Florida Marlins, Thursday night.

From the backyard to the bigs.

Moran vs Moran

️️ pic.twitter.com/8ihLW5DVkI

— Pirates (@Pirates) September 6, 2019

Brian got Colin on a strikeout.

At age 30, it was the major league debut for Brian. Colin is 26. And the exchange made a little history.

With Colin and Brian Moran squaring off right now, it is the 1st time since 1900 a brother faced off against his sibling in his Major League debut in a pitcher-vs-batter scenario (or other way around).

(h/t: @EliasSports)

— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) September 6, 2019

Brian ended up striking out his younger sibling and getting the win, pitching a clean fourth inning. Colin went 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles.

The Marlins won 10-7.

Speaking of history

We had our first regular-season pass-interference challenge Thursday night.

I know. You’ll obviously remember where you were when you saw it live. Quite breathtaking.

Early in the fourth quarter, Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky rolled right and hit receiver Taylor Gabriel on the sideline for a 15-yard gain.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur thought Gabriel pushed off against defensive back Jaire Alexander.

Video review officials disagreed, and the noncall was upheld on the field.

That sentence felt weird to write in the first place. But that’s what happened.

You can judge for yourself here.

Sadly, it was one of the more exciting moments in the game as the Packers won a 10-3 snooze fest.

Meadows is mashing

The hot September of Austin Meadows continues.

The former Pirates first-round pick homered again Thursday against Toronto.

Austin powered us to victory. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/FJ8Gug3nLQ

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) September 6, 2019

The Rays won the game 6-4. Tampa is currently the top wild-card team in the American League, with a half-game lead on Oakland and a one-game lead on Cleveland.

Meadows is slugging 1.353 over his first five games in September. He’s homered three times this month already. The outfielder has 27 homers and 75 RBIs on the season.

Meanwhile Chris Archer — whom the Pirates acquired for Meadows and others — is 3-9 with an ERA of 5.19.

Points for creativity

Check out this move to get a safe call at third base in that same game.

You can't tag what you can't touch ? pic.twitter.com/GwbAiyH57X

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 5, 2019

That was one heckuva slide by Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to leg out a triple. Certainly, that was a more graceful moment at third than Tigers base coach — and former Pirate — Dave Clark.

Whoopsies! pic.twitter.com/O4RE3UGE6j

— Subscribe to Cut4 on YouTube!!!! (@Cut4) September 5, 2019

Eh, footwork was never Clark’s strongest attribute as a player either.

Torey’s talks

Torey Krug’s contract talks are going slowly.

In fact, he tells NHL.com that they are “nonexistent.”

Krug was a big help to the Boston Bruins as they reached the Stanley Cup Final last year. He was second among NHL defensemen during the playoffs with 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in 24 games.

The 28-year-old is entering the final season of his four-year, $21 million contract. He has been eligible to sign an extension since July 1 and can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, 2020.