Thursday, July 09, 2015

Pirates complete sweep of Padres, 5-2

By Nate Barnes
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/pit/
July 9, 2015

Pirates complete sweep of Padres, 5-2

Pittsburgh Pirates' Travis Ishikawa, left, scores on a hit by Gregory Polanco as San Diego Padres catcher Derek Norris reaches to tag him in the eighth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, July 8, 2015, in Pittsburgh. Neil Walker (18) and home plate umpire Jim Wolf watch.(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A walk, of all things, might have been the key to the Pirates' 5-2 victory over the Padres on Wednesday night.

Pitching Details

Pittsburgh completed its 10th series sweep of the season, which ties a club record.
Andrew Cashner was one out away from completing an eight-inning, two-hit gem. Then he walked Travis Ishikawa. Gregory Polanco, Andrew McCutchen and Jung Ho Kang followed with RBI singles to knock out Cashner.
''We had no one on base with two outs, it was big,'' manager Clint Hurdle said of Ishikawa's walk. ''He has some experience in that area and got some good looks.''
Ishikawa was acquired by the Pirates on waivers after San Francisco designated him for assignment last week.
The Pirates scored all three runs in the eighth with two outs as they finally wore down the opposing pitcher.
''Cashner was tough, but we kept showing up and battling,'' Hurdle said. ''We did some gritty hitting.''
Cashner allowed one hit in his first six innings for San Diego, but was gone in the eighth. Brandon Maurer allowed his inherited runners to score and Cashner (3-10) was charged for four runs in 7 2/3 innings.
''He had basically a two-hitter going into the eighth and we had a couple defensive plays that could've been made that led to that first run,'' San Diego manager Pat Murphy said. ''I thought he had as good an outing as I've seen in a while.''
Deolis Guerra (2-0) retired all six batters in the seventh and eighth for the win. Antonio Bastardoworked a scoreless ninth to pick up his first save of the season.
Matt Kemp sent his seventh home run of the year into center field for an early 1-0 San Diego lead. The Padres struck again in the second when Will Venable walked with one out and scored on Melvin Upton Jr.'s double off the center-field wall.
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Pirates complete sweep of Padres, 5-2
San Diego Padres starting pitcher Andrew Cashner throws against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first  …
Pittsburgh cut its deficit in half in the home second. Jung Ho Kang doubled and scored on Pedro Alvarez's sacrifice fly to left. The throw home from Venable arrived in time, but was off-line.
After allowing two runs in the first two innings,Charlie Morton settled in and held the Padres to two runs and five hits in six innings. He walked four and struck out five.
''My off-speed pitches got some good contact,'' Morton said. ''It was one of those nights when I was mixing my pitches well.''
Cashner retired 15 Pirates in a row before Neil Walker doubled leading off the seventh. He advanced to third on Kang's fly out and tied the game when Francisco Cervelli grounded into a fielder's choice.
RIP TARP MAN
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Pirates complete sweep of Padres, 5-2
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Charlie Morton (50) throws against the San Diego Padres in the f …
Grounds crew member Matt Gerhardt was swallowed by the tarp Tuesday night when a gust of wind swelled beneath the covering and enveloped him as he attempted to tamp it down. After McCutchen, Polanco and other Pirates personnel helped rescue Gerhardt and secure the tarp, Gerhardt's co-workers had some fun with him.
Before Wednesday's game they drew an outline of a body in the dirt near third base, the same location Gerhardt was caught in the tarp. Alongside the outline read ''RIP TARP MAN'' and ''7.7.2015'', the date of Tuesday's game.
UP NEXT
Padres: San Diego is off Thursday, then finishes its 10-game road trip with a three-game series in Texas. RHP Ian Kennedy (4-8, 4.84 ERA) matches up with Rangers LHP Wandy Rodriguez (5-4, 4.23).
Pirates: Pittsburgh's 10-game homestand concludes with a four-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals, who lead the Pirates in the NL Central. LHP Jeff Locke (5-4, 4.15 ERA) pitches against St. Louis RHP Carlos Martinez (9-3, 2.70).
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: LF Justin Upton was scratched from the lineup Wednesday with soreness in his side.
Pirates: 3B Josh Harrison (thumb) underwent surgery on his left thumb to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament Wednesday and will miss seven weeks.
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Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Polanco helps with tarp, then triples as Pirates top Padres


By John Perrotto
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/pit/
July 8, 2015

Polanco helps with tarp, then triples as Pirates top Padres
Pittsburgh Pirates starter Francisco Liriano pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, July 7, 2015. (AP Photo/Vincent Pugliese)

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Gregory Polanco had the go-ahead hit in the eighth inning after helping with a save in the third.

Pitching Details

Polanco helped free a grounds crew member trapped underneath a billowing tarp, then hit a triple that sent the Pittsburgh Pirates past the San Diego Padres 3-2 Tuesday night.
Polanco and fellow Pirates outfielders Andrew McCutchen and Sean Rodriguez made the play of the game at the start of a 1 hour, 42 minute rain delay in the top of the third inning.
Strong winds and rain caused the tarp to start swelling as the grounds crew at PNC Park struggled to cover the infield, and a worker was swallowed up. McCutchen, Polanco and Rodriguez came from the dugout to help pull the tarp off him.
''Get him out as quickly as possible,'' Rodriguez said when asked about his first reaction. ''Some people are going to be claustrophobic immediately and start to kind of struggle a little bit. Right away I didn't know he was going to come out as calm as he did. I was just thinking pull off as much tarp as I can and see if I can lighten up whatever might have wrapped him up.''
It was 2-all when Rodriguez was hit by pitch from Joaquin Benoit (5-4) leading off the eighth. The .232-hitting Polanco tripled with two outs, giving the Pirates their fourth straight win.
''That was a pretty swing (Polanco) put on the ball,'' Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. ''He's had a lot better swings lately.''
McCutchen doubled, singled and set a career high by extending his hitting streak to 14 games. He had a 13-gamer as a rookie in 2009.
Tony Watson (2-1) pitched a scoreless eighth andMark Melancon worked the ninth for his NL-leading 28th save.
Matt Kemp doubled in both Padres' runs in the third after resumed. San Diego lost its fourth straight game and was held to two runs or fewer for the seventh time in eight games.
McCutchen doubled home a run in the third and Jung Ho Kang tripled in the tying run in the fifth.
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Polanco helps with tarp, then triples as Pirates top …
San Diego Padres starting pitcher Tyson Ross walks to the dugout after retiring the side during the  …
Pittsburgh starter Francisco Liriano allowed two runs and four hits in six innings with six strikeouts and a walk.
Padres starter Tyson Ross was pulled after the delay. He worked two scoreless innings.
Kemp and Clint Barmes had two hits apiece for the Padres.
''We've pretty solid baseball for the most part all season but we just seem to have a hard time finding a way to win the close games,'' Barmes said. ''You look at this lineup and it's a little baffling why we haven't scored more runs. It's not for a lack of effort.''
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: 3B Will Middlebrooks, who had been limited by a sore left ankle, made his first start since June 28 and went 1 for 4. ... C Tim Federowicz, recovering from arthroscopic right knee surgery, is on course to begin a rehab assignment next week at low Class A Fort Wayne.
Pirates: LF Starling Marte missed his second straight game because of a strained left oblique.
UP NEXT
San Diego RHP Andrew Cashner (3-9, 4.06 ERA) faces RHP Charlie Morton (6-2, 4.30) in Wednesday night's series finale. Cashner is 1-3 lifetime against the Pirates despite a sparkling 0.95 ERA in six games, including two starts. Morton is 4-1 with a 2.65 ERA against San Diego in six career starts.
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Tuesday, July 07, 2015

Burnett writing incredible final chapter


Tuesday, July 7, 2015, 12:03 a.m.

Christopher Horner | Trib Total Media
Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett delivers during the first inning against the Padres on Monday, July 6, 2015, at PNC Park. Burnett was chosen to the NL All-Star pitching staff Monday.

“I guess I'm a Yinzer,” A.J. Burnett was saying late Monday after the Pirates' pulsating, 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres. “That's what they say. I'm cool with that.”
This was the best night yet on Burnett's “Fare Thee Well” Tour.
In fact, it was one of the best nights of his 16-year career.
It began with his teammates “hooting and hollering,” in the words of manager Clint Hurdle, when they were informed before the game that Burnett would be making the first All-Star appearance of his career, July 14 in Cincinnati.
“I was waiting for ‘Just kidding,' ” Burnett said.
It ended when Pedro Alvarez singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, an inning after Burnett walked off the field to a thunderous roar from the crowd of 23,182.
That left the Pirates with a 48-34 record and Burnett — even though he didn't get the win — with a spiffy 1.99 ERA. Not bad for a 38-year-old who lost 18 games last year.
It isn't supposed to work this way, you know.
Fairy tale endings are for Disney movies, not aging athletes. But there are exceptions. Jerome Bettis was one. He starred in one of sports' all-time great final acts.
Burnett seems intent on doing the same. He will be the oldest player on either All-Star roster. He could have made the game two years ago, but it seems fitting he'll finally get there in his apparent final year.
”I'll tell you one thing, there's no other colors I'd rather wear there,” Burnett said. “Because this is my home, man. I want to represent these guys and this locker room and this city and this organization for my first time in an All-Star Game.”
He also wants to do it for his sons, A.J. Jr. and Ashton, who were buzzing around their dad's locker long after the game had ended, each wearing No. 34 black T-shirts.
Andrew McCutchen, who scored the winning run, said if he could have chosen only one teammate to go to the All-Star Game, it would have been Burnett.
It was vintage Burnett on Monday, even if his fabled curveball didn't arrive until the later innings. If he wasn't fist-pumping after McCutchen's leaping catch at the wall, he was freezing Justin Upton on a called third strike, splintering Yonder Alonso's bat, picking Melvin Upton off first in the eighth inning, inducing yet another harmless groundball or sprinting down the first-base line to try to beat out a grounder.
Burnett gave his banged-up team 7 2⁄3 good innings, surrendering just five hits and a run on 111 pitches.
It should have been eight innings, but home-plate umpire Paul Emmel whiffed on an obvious whiff, ruling that Derek Norris got a piece of a pitch he actually missed by about a foot.
Burnett had already let loose with a jubilant fist pump by then.
“Wasted fist pump, man,” he said. “Guys were saying that's probably the best one they've ever seen. But that happens. We're all human.”
Credit Pirates management for their open-mindedness regarding Burnett. Too much was made of his unhappiness in the wake of Gerrit Cole starting Game 5 of the Cardinals playoff series two years ago, but Burnett still did some smoothing over with Hurdle upon his return.
As Hurdle put it shortly after Burnett signed, “He told me all the right reasons he wanted to be a Pirate again, and that's good enough for me.”
Now Cole and Burnett will be going to Cincinnati together, marking the first time since 1960 that the Pirates will send two starting pitchers to the Midsummer Classic.
That was a pretty good year.
This is shaping up as one, too, in the amazing career of A.J. Burnett.
Joe Starkey co-hosts a show 2 to 6 p.m. weekdays on 93.7 FM. Reach him at jraystarkey@gmail.com.


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/joestarkey/8690239-74/burnett-game-pirates#ixzz3fCXRNyN5 
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Alvarez's RBI single in 9th lifts Pirates past Padres, 2-1


By John Perrotto
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/pit/
July 7, 2015

Alvarez's RBI single in 9th lifts Pirates past Padres, 2-1
Pittsburgh Pirates' Pedro Alvarez, top. is greeted by Francisco Cervelli after he drove in Andrew McCutchen with the game winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Monday, July 6, 2015, in Pittsburgh. The Pirates won 2-1. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pedro Alvarez wasn't thinking about family matters with the game on the line.

Pitching Details

Alvarez singled home the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday night.
Alvarez's second career game-ending hit lifted the Pirates to their eighth win in 10 games and beat his father-in-law, Padres interim manager Pat Murphy.
''Just trying to focus on the task at hand which was going up there and trying to get the job done, no matter who it was,'' Alvarez said.
Murphy admitted that it was an awkward moment as the Padres lost their third straight game.
''Pedro was going to be all right, though, whether that ball went for a hit or landed in one of our guys' gloves,'' Murphy said. ''I would rather it had had gone into a glove.''
Andrew McCutchen started the winning rally with a one-out walk off Brandon Maurer (5-2), moved to second on Jung Ho Kang's singled, took third on Francisco Cervelli's fly out and scored when Alvarez grounded up a single up the middle.
Jared Hughes (2-1) pitched one scoreless inning for the win as the Pirates beat the Padres for just the fourth time in the team's last 20 meetings at PNC Park.
Shortly after learning he had been selected to the All-Star Game for the first time in his 17-year career, 38-year-old Pirates starter A.J. Burnett gave up five hits and one run over 7 2/3 innings. Burnett walked three and struck out four while pitching at least six innings for the 14th time in 17 starts this season.
He left after giving up two-out singles to Derek Norris and Yangervis Solarte in the eighth inning that put runners on the corners with two outs and the score tied 1-1. Tony Watson relieved and struck out Matt Kemp.
''This is my home,'' Burnett said. ''I want to represent these guys and this locker room and this city and this organization now my first time in the All-Star Game. I'm excited.''
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Alvarez's RBI single in 9th lifts Pirates past …
The ball comes out of the glove of Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen after dove for …
Padres starter James Shields' winless streak reached six games, though he allowed only an unearned run and two hits in seven innings. He struck out three and walked one while remaining stuck on seven wins since June 3.
''I didn't really have much zip on my fastball so I had to really make some pitches,'' Sheets said. ''I used the two-seamer a lot, got a lot of outs on the sinker.''
The Pirates tied it at 1-1 in the seventh inning on a two-out throwing error by third baseman Solarte on Alvarez's grounder that allowed McCutchen, who had doubled, to score from second base.
McCutchen was the Pirates' first hitter to reach second base.
The Padres scored their lone run on Alexi Amarista's sacrifice fly in the second inning. They have scored two runs or fewer in six of their last seven games and one run or fewer in 25 of their 86 games this season.
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Alvarez's RBI single in 9th lifts Pirates past …
San Diego Padres' Yonder Alonso, center, is tagged out by Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Jung  …
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: RHP Dale Thayer, who has been on the disabled list with a strained right shoulder since June 17, rejoined the team from his rehab assignment at Double-A San Antonio and will throw a bullpen session Tuesday. ... RHP Brandon Morrow, on the DL with right shoulder inflammation since May 3, is scheduled for a bullpen session Tuesday and a simulated game Saturday. ... C Derek Norris continues to play through a sprained right shoulder that he sustained last Friday in a win at St. Louis.
Pirates: 3B Josh Harrison was placed on the 15-day disabled list before the game with an injured left hand, though the team did not reveal the extent of the injury. ... LF Starling Marte was not in in the lineup a day after feeling discomfort in his left side and leaving the game. He is considered day-to-day.
UP NEXT
Padres RHP Tyson Ross (5-7, 3.63) faces LHP Francisco Liriano (5-6, 2.99) on Tuesday night. Liriano has gone 4-2 with a 1.98 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings in eight starts since giving up a season-high seven runs May 19 to Minnesota.
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Monday, July 06, 2015

With everyone on the right, who's left at left?


By Mark Madden Special to The Times 
http://www.timesonline.com/
July 6, 2015


The Phil Kessel trade was good for the Penguins.

The Penguins’ deployment of wingers remains a question mark.
In a conversation on my radio show the day after Kessel’s acquisition, coach Mike Johnston went against my grain pertaining to roles for several of his wingers.
I’m first-guessing, not second-guessing. Johnston may be right. He may adjust his thinking between now and the Penguins’ opener on Oct. 8. More roster alterations may transpire.
Johnston still sees Beau Bennett as a player versatile enough to move up and down the depth chart, and from side to side. GM Jim Rutherford echoed those thoughts in another interview.
But Bennett can’t play left wing. He can’t catch passes coming up the boards on that side of the rink. At left wing, Bennett is a liability until the offensive zone is gained. Bennett’s finesse-first style isn’t suited for third- or fourth-line duty, either.
It’s increasingly likely that Bennett’s time in Pittsburgh will come and go barren of positive results, skewed by injury and misuse. A wasted first-round pick.
Johnston sees Kessel, Patric Hornqvist and David Perron as right wings. That’s despite Perron’s preference for left wing and upgraded performance when playing there.
If Johnston sticks to that notion, one of those three will be miscast as a third-liner -- most likely Perron, thereby further diluting his chances of success.
Johnston feels Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz can still contribute as top-six wingers.
Dupuis might still have the speed, and actually has the legit versatility to flip from side to side.
But major knee surgery and blood-clot problems have limited Dupuis to just 55 games over the last two seasons. The former problem is often conquered. The latter, not so much. At 36, Dupuis is a question mark on numerous levels.
Kunitz, 35, had three goals in his last 38 games this past season. His grit remains. His touch and speed have dwindled. Seeing Kunitz as a solid third-liner is reasonable. Seeing him as a top-six is a leap of faith.
Leaving Dupuis and Kunitz in the top-six mix also provides temptation for Sidney Crosby -- too often held prisoner by his dislike for change -- to retreat to his comfort zone of centering two wingers he shouldn’t center anymore.
The wild card: Russian newcomer Sergei Plotnikov. Johnston says he’ll get a top-six look. But Evgeni Malkin doesn’t want a Russian winger. Malkin needs a good winger.
That might be Kessel. Johnston was vague about who would center Kessel, but early scuttlebutt says it will be Malkin. Crosby and Hornqvist will be left together to work down low. Malkin will tee up Kessel.
My preferred combinations for the top three lines would be (left to right): Perron-Crosby-Hornqvist, Plotnikov-Malkin-Kessel, Kunitz-Brandon Sutter-Dupuis. If Plotnikov lacks, put Dupuis in that spot. Bennett skates on Sutter’s right.
But that’s not what will happen.
Some potential remedies between now and training camp:
* If Bennett isn’t going to play top-six right wing -- and he’s not-- trade him. That’s best for the team, and for Bennett. The Penguins have zero faith.
* Trade Perron for a draft pick. The Penguins could certainly use a few of those. PR problem: If you can’t obtain a first-round pick for Perron, the swap to get Perron looks absurd. Like Rutherford traded a first-round pick for a second-round pick, or worse.
* Trade Kunitz. If Kunitz isn’t a Penguin, Crosby can’t want to play on a line with him. Logistics problem: Kunitz has a limited no-movement clause. That enabled Kunitz to keep himself out of the Kessel trade. Why did then-GM Ray Shero give a non-elite talent like Kunitz a no-movement clause?
Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
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