Pirates/MLB category, Page 257
Pirates farm report for July 10, 2019
Pirates INDIANAPOLIS (Triple-A, 44-44) is on all-star break. Right-handed pitchers Mitch Keller (6-3, 3.32), Montana DuRapau (1-1, 1.93) and Dovydas Neverauskas (1-1, 2.31) as well as late-addition right fielder Trayvon Robinson (.322) were selected for the International League all-star game Wednesday night. Next: Thursday at Columbus (Indians), 7:05 p.m. ALTOONA...
Pirates players insist their July output is sustainable
During the All-Star break, we discussed how Pirates management may view the recent surge by their players now that they are within 2 1/2 games of first place in the National League Central. They sound optimistic. But I bet the jury is still out. It should be. Because for as...
Tim Benz: Cubs manager Joe Maddon thinks he’s figured out Pirates, NL Central
When the All-Star break ends, the second half of the season will resume the same way the first half ended for the National League Central. Division rivals will be jockeying for position as all five teams reboot the schedule within 4 ½ games of each other in the standings. The...
Pirates’ Josh Bell collects 1 of NL’s 5 hits in All-Star Game loss
CLEVELAND – Josh Bell has a plan for the next time he faces the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka. He’s just not speaking about it publicly. If there is a next time, it could be in a World Series. Until then, Tanaka must live with the fact that Bell got the best...
Pirates farm report for July 9, 2019
INDIANAPOLIS (Triple-A, 44-44) is on all-star break. Right-handed pitchers Mitch Keller (6-3, 3.32), Montana DuRapau (1-1, 1.93) and Dovydas Neverauskas (1-1, 2.31) and right fielder Trayvon Robinson (.322) were selected for the International League All-Star game Wednesday night. Next: Thursday at Columbus (Indians), 7:05 p.m. ALTOONA (Double-A, 47-38) is on...
Pirates ready to take aim on 1st place in NL Central
CLEVELAND — While street sweepers clear away debris from the past two days of celebrating baseball and its stars, All-Star closer Felipe Vazquez will pack up the car Wednesday morning and return to Pittsburgh with his family. But he won’t be there long. It’s off to Chicago’s Wrigley Field on...
Union looks for changes in baseball’s economics after expiration of CBA in 2021
CLEVELAND — MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday there has been one preliminary meeting with the union to discuss the collective bargaining agreement that expires in 2021. Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, is concerned that the game’s economics are changing, evidenced by the delayed...
Despite record HR pace, MLB’s Rob Manfred insists balls aren’t juiced
CLEVELAND — On one side, you have American League All-Star starting pitcher Justin Verlander, who believes the baseballs are juiced this season. He has allowed a major league-high 26 home runs in only 19 starts, with perhaps 15 more outings to go. “It’s a joke,” he said Monday at All-Star...
Tim Benz: Who are the 2019 Pittsburgh Pirates?
At the Major League Baseball All-Star break, the 2019 standings do a nice job telling the story of the National League Central. I’m not sure that they do as good of a job telling the story of the 2019 Pittsburgh Pirates. Come to think of it, I don’t know how...
Pirates’ Josh Bell bows out in first round of Home Run Derby
CLEVELAND — Josh Bell knows a baseball game when he sees one. What unraveled Monday night at Progressive Field during the MLB’s Home Run Derby had bats and balls, TV cameras everywhere you turned and an announced crowd of 36,119. But Bell knows this: “It wasn’t really baseball in my...
Pirates farm report for July 8, 2019
INDIANAPOLIS (Triple-A, 44-44) is on all-star break until July 10. Right-handed pitchers Mitch Keller (6-3, 3.32), Montana DuRapau (1-1, 1.93) and Dovydas Neverauskas (1-1, 2.31) as well as late addition right fielder Trayvon Robinson (.322) were selected for the International League All-Star game Wednesday night. Next: Thursday at Columbus (Indians),...
Pirates’ Josh Bell bows out of Home Run Derby early; Mets’ Pete Alonso wins
CLEVELAND — Josh Bell drove a baseball 459 feet, but the Pittsburgh Pirates’ All-Star lost in the first round of the Home Run Derby, 25-18, to the Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr., on Monday night at Progressive Field. With best friend Jon Schwind — a hitting coach for the Triple-A...
All-Stars Austin Meadows, Charlie Morton, Gerrit Cole find there’s life after Pirates
CLEVELAND — Austin Meadows made the trip to the All-Star Game on a private jet with his wife, Tampa Bay Rays teammates Brandon Lowe and Charlie Morton, and Morton’s wife and four kids. It was hard to believe fewer than 14 months ago, Meadows was hitting .448 through his first...
Pirates’ Josh Bell refuses to say ‘I told you so’ to critics
CLEVELAND — The world was listening. Media from all over the globe, men and women carrying all sorts of video equipment, cellphones and cameras, gathered around Josh Bell’s table Monday at Huntington Convention Center. He talked about everything from the Pittsburgh Pirates’ pennant hopes in the second half of the...
Pirates’ Adam Frazier named National League Player of the Week
Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Adam Frazier will go into the All-Star break with a National League Player of the Week award under his belt. Congrats to @A_Fraz12 on being named the NL Player of the Week!#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/chjJLGtDFe— Pirates (@Pirates) July 8, 2019 In a week when the Pirates won series...
Pirates’ Josh Bell to start as DH in All-Star Game
CLEVELAND — Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Josh Bell will start in the All-Star Game, after all. National League manager Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers said Monday that Bell will be the starting designated hitter in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night at Progressive Field. “I like that presence in...
First Call: Jameson Taillon starts road to recovery; Ivan Nova helps Pirates
In “First Call” Monday, Jameson Taillon starts his road to recovery. Ivan Nova helps the Pirates. Charlie Morton continues to shine. And the home run contest may have gotten a little easier for Josh Bell. Baby steps Pirates starter Jameson Taillon ended up playing catch at PNC Park before the...
Tim Benz: It’s not worthwhile for Pirates to find position for Francisco Cervelli
After at least six concussions, Francisco Cervelli says he’s done with catching. The Pirates general manager isn’t ruling that scenario out either. “As we go through with Cervy, we need to be cognizant that there may be a position change at hand,” Neal Huntington said. “We’re continuing to work through...
Kevin Gorman: Felipe Vazquez goes from Pirates’ Nightmare to All-Star dream reliever
Felipe Vazquez was still down and out about giving up the game-winning run to the Milwaukee Brewers in the 10th inning Friday night when Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle called the closer into his office the next day. When Hurdle informed Vazquez that he was chosen to play in the...
Tim Benz, Mark Madden talk USWNT, Mike Sullivan, Pirates, Twitter suspension
Mark Madden may be suspended from Twitter (#FreeMarkMadden), but he isn’t suspended from the “Breakfast With Benz” podcast page. We talk at great length about the United States Women’s National Team. They won the World Cup. Have the politics and self-generated sidebar stories surrounding this team outweighed their accomplishments? It...
Kevin Gorman: Best way for Pirates to honor team is to keep it intact
The Pittsburgh Pirates enter the All-Star break below .500 but in contention for the NL Central title and a wild-card berth, attempting to avoid no-man’s land before the trade deadline. No wonder Neal Huntington took the middle ground. The Pirates general manager walks a tightrope when talking about his team,...
Good vibes continue as Pirates enter All-Star break with another winVideo
It was only a week, and it only lasted 24 at-bats. But Bryan Reynolds never had experienced such a hitting slump in his young career. On the day before the All-Star break, Reynolds hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the seventh inning, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 win...
Pirates’ Francisco Cervelli could play corner infield or RF when he returnsVideo
Francisco Cervelli remains out of action, as he has been since May 26 because of a concussion. And with the catcher continuing to take infield and outfield reps during batting practice while awaiting clearance, what is his positional future with the Pittsburgh Pirates? “As we go through with Cervy, we...
Pirates’ Neal Huntington in balancing act as trade deadline approaches
Stop if you’ve heard this before. Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington is walking a tricky line of weighing options with an inconsistent team in the race for the postseason. Huntington is in his fourth consecutive mid-summer that scenario. His team entered the final day before the All-Star break 3½...
Jon Schwind, Josh Bell’s Home Run Derby pitcher, hopes to find sweet spot
Jon Schwind is hoping to be the perfect pitcher for Josh Bell, which is to say he hopes to repeatedly find the sweet spot on Bell’s bat Monday in the Home Run Derby. As a former roommate and teammate of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ All-Star first baseman who has 27 home...
