Pirates/MLB category, Page 177

The Pittsburgh Pirates are down to the final days of training camp, with exhibition games Monday and Wednesday against the Cleveland Indians before making final decisions on the 30-man Opening Day roster. Most of the decisions were made for them. The Pirates started training camp at PNC Park with 39...

Breakout candidate Jacob Stallings No one will mistake him for Jason Kendall, but Stallings hit a cumulative .290 in three Triple-A seasons and .262 for the Pirates last year. Not bad, but he’ll get more at-bats in 2020 and will need to improve on his total of 13 RBIs. Pressure’s...

A position-by-position preview of the Pirates heading into Friday’s season opener in St. Louis: Critics will point to first baseman Josh Bell’s erratic arm and third baseman Colin Moran’s tendency to allow ground balls to reach the outfield. Those are fair criticisms of the Pittsburgh Pirates infield. And if the...

It seems as if Pittsburgh’s three professional sports teams finally are on the verge of returning to play after the coronavirus lockdown. The Pirates’ first regular-season game is Friday. The Penguins’ first exhibition game is July 28 against the Philadelphia Flyers. That’s also the day the Steelers are supposed to...

As a former bench coach who is well aware of the job requirements, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton has been deferential to Don Kelly when it comes to mapping out the minutiae of his first spring training and the subsequent three-week training camp. Where Shelton heaps constant credit on Kelly...

Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, the team’s top position prospect, has tested positive for covid-19, manager Derek Shelton announced on Sunday. Hayes has not practiced with the Pirates at all during training camp at PNC Park and remains in quarantine. “He’s not back with us yet,” Shelton said of...

Until a few days ago, John Ryan Murphy didn’t know whether he would start the season on the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 30-man roster, their taxi squad or be sent to their alternate training site in Altoona. That was nothing new to a 29-year-old catcher on his fifth team in eight seasons,...

NEW YORK — Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Derek Holland, Philadelphia second baseman Neil Walker and Texas pitcher Edinson Vólquez have made opening-day rosters. So have Milwaukee first baseman Logan Morrison, Cincinnati pitcher Nate Jones, Tampa Bay pitcher Aaron Loup and New York Yankees pitcher Luis Avilán. The seven were among the...

Thursday was the 50th anniversary of a really bad idea. Three Rivers Stadium opened July 16, 1970, and I was there. It was a spectacular debut, even though the Pirates lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2. After having watched baseball in dingy old Forbes Field, with its view-destroying pillars and...

Perhaps the best way to describe the first baseball game of 2020 at PNC Park is to say it was an exhibition game that looked like a Major League Baseball regular-season game, was played like a spring training game and pretended to play to a packed house instead of an...

Joe Musgrove struck out five while allowing one hit and one walk in three scoreless innings, a strong performance for the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander a day after he was named the Opening Day starter. Guillermo Heredia drove in two runs with a fifth-inning single to center, a solid debut for...

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost catcher Luke Maile for the season when he underwent surgery Friday for a fractured right index finger, a day after being hit by a pitch in an intrasquad game. Maile’s surgery was performed by Dr. Edward Birdsong at Allegheny Health Network in Wexford. Maile is expected...

Through a tumultuous season followed by a difficult offseason, Kyle Crick has found “a driving force” as a relief pitcher whose role could become even more important for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Crick’s rollercoaster 2019 season, which ended with a fractured index finger from a fistfight, was only a prelude to...

The Pittsburgh Pirates hosted the first major sporting event in Pittsburgh since March 10 — a 129-day stretch — but there were no fans for their exhibition game against Cleveland on Saturday night at PNC Park. There were, however, plenty of cheers. The Pirates have been playing training camp intrasquad...

Upon being named Opening Day starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Joe Musgrove’s mind couldn’t help but drift to the man who shared his love of baseball and pushed him to chase his dream of playing in the majors. “I just think about how proud my dad probably is right now,”...

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting lineup suffered a big blow with the announcement Gregory Polanco has tested positive for covid-19, which threatens to force the right fielder to miss the start of the season. Pirates manager Derek Shelton confirmed the positive test Friday afternoon after receiving consent from Polanco to go...

The Pittsburgh Pirates placed closer Keone Kela on the 10-day injured list, according to MLB transactions. The 27-year-old right-hander has not participated in training camp for undisclosed reasons. Kela was ordained the closer by new Pirates manager Derek Shelton at the outset of spring training at Pirate City in Bradenton,...

For the first time in 293 days, a game between two Major League Baseball teams will be played at PNC Park. The Pirates host the Cleveland Indians in an exhibition game at 7:05 p.m. Saturday — with the game being carried on radio and television. It’s the first of three...

One of the most uncomfortable interactions with coaches involves asking why a player didn’t participate in practice, attempting to clarify whether it’s for a disciplinary, illness, injury or personal matter. Derek Shelton won’t discuss it. Because he can’t discuss it. That’s the reality of the covid-19 sportsworld, when teams aren’t...

Our “Breakfast With Benz” Pittsburgh Pirates Spring Training 2.0 coverage has built all week to this. We’ve posed one crucial question per day about the Pirates as they prepare for the 2020 shortened season. We looked at the batting order and the starting rotation. We analyzed the bullpen and tried...

If you’re already tired of hearing about the Pirates “piggyback” starting idea, too bad. They aren’t going to be the only team employing that type of tactic in this herky-jerky 2020 Major League Baseball season. That’s what Jeff Erickson tells us in this week’s “Breakfast With Benz” fantasy sports podcast....

David Eckstein was a 5-foot-7 shortstop who was drafted in the 19th round by the Boston Red Sox in 1997. Three years later, the Red Sox waived him. World Series and All-Star Games didn’t appear to be in his future. But big brother, Rick, never stopped believing, a stubborness that...

Justin Meccage’s reaction to the talents of relief pitcher Chris Stratton is encouraging. “This guy’s got pitch characteristics that not many people have in terms of spin on the fastball, spin on the curveball, spin on the slider,” the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen coach said. “Very elite-type pitches.” But can Stratton...

This week at “Breakfast With Benz,” we have isolated one major question surrounding the Pirates per day as they ramp up for the start of this delayed 2020 season. So far we have looked at the lineup, the starting rotation, and the future of first-round draft choice Cole Tucker. Thursday’s...

You’re calling off sick on Friday, right? What? You’re not? How come? Did you forget it’s “Dave Parker Day”? Yup! Tomorrow is the 41st anniversary of “The Cobra’s” MVP performance in the All-Star Game, July 17, 1979. That’s when the Pirates right fielder gunned down two American League runners with...