The Pirates have suddenly gotten hot again, with three narrow wins over the weekend over the Cardinals coming on the heels of two straight in San Francisco last weekend. Greg Brown has the story of yesterday’s nail biter.
Manager Derek Shelton says the Pirates got a big win on a day when not everything went well.
Shelton says starter Rich Hill was outstanding.
Rich Hill was grateful for the defensive and offensive support.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol says the Pirates pitchers were tough all weekend long.
Next up for the Bucs is tonight’s series opener against the team with baseball’s worst record, the Oakland A’s. Right hander Johan Oviedo [3-4, 4.50 ERA] starts for the Pirates against A’s lefty JP Sears [0-3, 4.37 ERA]. Airtime is 6:40, first pitch at 7:05 from PNC Park on WCCS.
After using eight pitchers in Saturday’s win, the Pirates had to restock the relief corps yesterday, so they sent Yerry de los Santos back to Indianapolis and recalled Chase De Jong.
Saturday was Oneil Cruz bobblehead day at PNC Park, and the injured shortstop surprised fans by setting up at a table outside the stadium and handing out the bobbleheads. He also commented for the first time since suffering a broken fibula on April 10th, saying he is leaving it up to the Pirates’ medical team to handle the process of getting him back on the field. Cruz is to have his walking boot removed sometime this week.
The Pirates have promoted catcher Henry Davis from Altoona to Indianapolis, reuniting the 2021 top overall MLB draft pick with fellow catcher Endy Rodriguez. Davis is the organization’s number three rated prospect; Rodriguez is number two, and both play catcher, which is a dilemma for the Pirates. Davis had been seeing a bit more playing time in right field while still doing most of the catching in Altoona. Rodriguez has played catcher, first base, and DH for Indy, and is hitting .247 with four home runs and 16 RBIs for Indianapolis. Davis was hitting .284 with 10 home runs, 27 RBIs, and a 17.1 percent walk rate for the Curve.
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