The Pirates’ power arms have stumbled in the first two games of this week’s series with the Cubs. Joe Block has the story.
Manager Derek Shelton says he needs more from his starters than he’s gotten from Mitch Keller and Jared Jones this week.
Shelton says his middle and long relief haven’t allowed leverage for setup man Aroldis Chapman and closer David Bednar.
Pitching for the first time in a big league game since July 3rd, Jared Jones says the rust showed.
The series wraps up at PNC Park this afternoon. We’re on the air on WCCS at 12;10 with the first pitch at 12:35. Another power arm, Paul Skenes (8-2, 2.16 ERA) throws for the Pirates against Cubs righty Kyle Hendricks (3-10, 6.33 ERA).
Oneil Cruz says he wasn’t expecting to be moved from shortstop to center field by the Pirates, but it’s “not good news but not bad at the same time.” Cruz does not anticipate any problems with the transition and said he would call the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. to talk about it. Tatis also moved to the outfield from shortstop. Cruz didn’t even have an outfielder’s glove when he took fly balls yesterday. He borrowed one from Gold Glove center fielder Michael A. Taylor for his workout. He was a DH for the second straight game last night, getting four hits, and the team has not announced when he will play in the field.
In addition to activating Jones yesterday, the Pirates brought back Carmen Mlodzinski from the injured list and he threw two scoreless inning last night. Utility man Ji Hwan Bae was optioned to Indianapolis and pitcher Brady Feigl was designated for assignment, with the intent to return him to Indy. Starting pitcher Jake Woodford was designated for assignment on Monday.
ALTOONA CURVE
The Pirates have promoted star second base prospect Termarr Johnson to Altoona and he started for the Curve last night in a 3-1 win over New Hampshire. Johnson was 0-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base. He hit only .238 for Greensboro but after starting slowly, he hit .319 in July before falling back to a .175 average this month. The 2022 first round draft choice just turned 20 years old in June. He’s the third-youngest player in Curve history.
In last night’s game, Nick Cimillo had two hits, with a double, and drove in two runs. DH Yoyner Fajardo had two hits, including a double. Nick Dombkowski gave up a run on two hits over five innings, striking out eight. Grant Ford threw two scoreless innings and got the win. Jack Carey threw two scoreless and earned the save.
Emmanuel Chapman starts for the Curve in the second game of the series tonight.
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