The Pittsburgh Pirates head to Arizona for a crucial series, trailing the Diamondbacks by half a game in the NL Wild Card race. Both teams are in good form, with the Pirates facing real talent and the Diamondbacks boasting a strong offense. Key injuries will impact both teams, with the Pirates hoping for returns from left-handed reliever Ryan Borucki and left-handed starter Bailey Falter, and Arizona dealing with sidelined starting pitchers Merrill Kelly, Blake Walston, and Eduardo Rodriguez. The matchup to watch is the Pittsburgh pitching staff against the Arizona offense, as both teams vie f ..read more

7-26-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X Pirates head to the desert to face the defending NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks, and they begin the series facing the Dbacks Cy Young finalist in starting pitcher, Zac Gallen. The bespectacled Gallen has been a workhorse as the ace of the Snakes staff over the past few years ..read more

7-24-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter For the rest of forever, Pirates fans will look at the lineup on a daily basis, and there will always be at least that one guy nobody wants to see. At different times this year, that’s at times been 3 or 4 different guys like Rowdy Tellez, Michael A. Taylor, Jared Triolo, Jack Suwinski, and of course, Yasmani Grandal. We went through this at the catching position each of the past two seasons too, with Roberto Perez who got injured before we could warm our way into complaint. Austin Hedges, who nobody wanted to see out of his catching ..read more

7-24-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X After a heart-wrenching loss last night, the Pirates will look to win the rubber match today, sending veteran lefty, Martín Pérez, who will face off against fellow southpaw Matthew Liberatore in what will likely be a bullpen game for the visiting Red Birds. Liberatore has bounced between the rotation and bullpen for St. Louis this season with a distinct difference in performance between the two situations. As a reliever, Liberatore’s opponents are posting a .235/.302/.322 slash line with 2 home runs and 4 doubles compared to a ..read more

7-23-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X Another day, another rematch from earlier this season in today’s game as the Pirates face veteran and long-time foe in Lance Lynn, who enters tonight’s game with some dismal numbers both on the season (4.39 ERA and -0.6 bWAR) and his in career against the Pirates (5.34 ERA across 123 innings). Lynn’s return to his roots in St. Louis has likely not gone as well as he or the team had hoped. Somehow, the Cardinals have won 6 of his last 8 games started despite Lynn posting a 5.77 ERA over 39 innings pitched in that span. Nearly 90 ..read more

7-23-24 – By Justin Verno & Corey Shrader – @JV_PITT and @CoreyShrader on Twitter Another Bat….man Justin Verno-  The July Trade Deadline is crawling closer and closer, Corey. It will be here before we can say, “have you heard the latest rumor?” Last week we tackled the idea of adding a OF (specifically CF). What’s on the agenda for this week?  Another bat. Corey Shrader- The 2024 Pirates team is one of contradictions. On one hand, they’ve got second most quality starts and a top 5 pitching fWAR in the National League. And on the other hand, they’ve got a bott ..read more

7-22-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X Start out the post All Star Break schedule with a series win against the Phillies? Yeah, I’ll take that. As before the break, stack those series wins and you’ll look back on your season with a pretty good record. There’s always room for better. Far too often this time of year, we almost look past what the team is actually doing while we freak out about what might be added or subtracted from them in the next week or so. Heck, I had a guy tell me yesterday that he hoped the team would resist the urge to add because he liked the team as they are and wan ..read more

7-22-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X Last time Andre Pallante faced off against the Pirates, he came away with a no decision despite tossing 7 innings of 4-hit, 1-run ball in an eventual 3-2 win by the Cardinals. It was the best performance of the season for the Red Birds righty and one the Bucs hope is not repeated when they rematch tonight in Pittsburgh. I covered most of what fans need to know about Pallante during the preview last time around but key things are that he is a ground-ball MACHINE! In his matchup on July 4th, he got 5 strikeouts, 6 fly outs and 12 ..read more

7-22-24 – By Michael Castrignano –@412DoublePlay on X The Pirates and Cardinals meet for a three game series, each fresh off taking 2 of 3 from an NL East playoff contender and with some high stakes at play. They’ve taken vastly different routes to get where they are – with the Pirates relying on a youth movement to propel them to success and the Cardinals picking pieces from old folks homes in their quest to return to October baseball; however, they have a similar turning point in the season. On May 11th, Paul Skenes debuted for the Pirates and since then, the team has gone 32-27 to keep ..read more

7-21-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X A comeback win Friday. A dominant pitching performance on Saturday. What is in store for the final game of the series today? Pirates will face off against rookie Tyler Phillips with a potential sweep of the best team in baseball on the line. Phillips has posted a 4.50 ERA over his first 10 major league innings but his minor league numbers have been fairly sub-par. He was a 2015 draft pick by the Texas Rangers in the 16th round – 468th overall – out of Bishop Estate Prep in Pennsauken, NJ. The Rangers DFA’d Phillips in 2021 befo ..read more