PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates’ fans have been clamoring to have Paul Skenes promoted to the big leagues from just about the time he was drafted with the first pick in last year’s draft. Well it finally happened. Skenes will make his MLB debut against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday at PNC Park. While Skenes made it to Pittsburgh ahead of his first-career start, it was a call that was initially missed – three times to be exact. Exhale, Pirates’ fans. It was a message that was ultimately received.  “So we had an 11 a.m. game and I had a bullpen in the morning,” Skenes explained at a press co ..read more

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a day off on Thursday after falling 5-4 to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday afternoon, dropping the three-game series. Oneil Cruz came through with a clutch two-out double to drive in three runs and give the Pirates (17-21) a lead but the Bucs couldn’t hold on. The Pirates will look to turn the page for what should be an exciting weekend of baseball on the North Shore as the Chicago Cubs (22-16) come to town. First pitch on Friday night is set for 6:40 ET and the game will be televised on SportsNet Pittsburgh. Weather Temperatures in the upper 50s with a slight ch ..read more

I’ve been blessed and fortunate to have covered the Pittsburgh Pirates and MLB for various outlets. I’ve been to thousands of regular season games, hundreds of postseason games, two dozen All-Star Games and nearly four decades’ worth of spring training camps. That’s not to brag. I’m grateful that a baseball-crazy kid who grew up in the middle of nowhere has been able to experience all that, like the person who hit the baseball lottery. Most of those games tend to run together in my mind after all these years. However, some still stand out. One of those games was on June 8, 2010, at Nationals P ..read more

Pirates’ minor league affiliates picked up two wins on Thursday night, with Keiner Delgado hitting his third home run in four games since Pittsburgh acquired him from the New York Yankees via trade. After struggling as a closer to start the year, the Indianapolis Indians tried Geronimo Franzua’s hand as an opener. He pitched three innings—allowing just one unearned run—to get things going in a 9-6 win over the Louisville Bats. Double-A Altoona lost 7-4 to the Somerset Patriots. The bullpen hemorrhaged six runs across the seventh and eighth innings, erasing the advantage gained from six innings ..read more

Amidst a hot start to the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates are recalling infielder Nick Gonzales from Triple-A Indianapolis, a source told Pittsburgh Baseball Now. The move is a logical one for the Pirates, who have been scuffling at the plate for the better part of the season. Gonzales has been on fire with Indianapolis through his first 30 games of the season. The 24-year-old is putting up numbers similar to what he showed during his college career at New Mexico State. In Triple-A this season, Gonzales is hitting .358 with a .431 on-base percentage and a .608 slug. He’s already whacked 14 doub ..read more

As Paul Skenes gears up for his widely-anticipated debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates, it’s easy to draw parallels with Gerrit Cole. Both right-handed pitchers were drafted out of college with the first pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cole’s debut generated plenty of buzz, aided by the fact that the Pirates were off to a 37-26 start en route to what would be their first playoff appearance in over two decades. While Cole and Skenes will be compared for obvious reasons, there is a starting pitcher whose situation is eerily similar to that of Skenes’. In the 2009 draft, the Washington Nationals sel ..read more

Paul Skenes has certainly earned his promotion to the major leagues. His statistics are proof of that. The Pirates plan to call the big right-hander up from Triple-A Indianapolis on Saturday. The first overall pick in last year’s draft will debut that afternoon with a start against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. Skenes was overpowering at Indianapolis as he had a 0.99 ERA, a 0.91 WHIP and 14.8 strikeouts per nine innings in seven starts. The 21-year-old gave up just four runs (three earned) on 17 hits in 27.1 innings while striking out 45 and walking eight. So, the numbers certainly paint a cle ..read more

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton often says he doesn’t live in a speculative world. Well I do, at least for a moment. Top prospect Paul Skenes will make his major league debut on Saturday evening against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. In order to get Skenes to Pittsburgh, the Pirates will have to clear a spot on both the 40-man and active rosters. There are multiple routes the Pirates could take to get their prized prospect to the big leagues. Here are several roster casualties the Pirates could consider. This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read. The ..read more

The Pittsburgh Pirates are finally promoting pitching prospect Paul Skenes to make his MLB debut on Saturday against the Chicago Cubs at PNC Park. Skenes, who played his junior collegiate season at LSU after transferring from the Air Force Academy, is in a relationship with social media sensation Livvy Dunne. Dunne is a member of the LSU gymnastics team that won its first national championship earlier this year. The 21-year-old Dunne has turned into a viral TikTok star and has eight million followers on the platform. After the baseball world received word of Skenes’ promotion, Dunne took to Ti ..read more

Pirates’ minor league affiliates picked up two wins in three attempts on Wednesday… although the biggest news regarding the farm system was Paul Skenes’ promotion to the big league club. Triple-A Indianapolis lost 4-3 to the Louisville Bats, taking a 3-2 lead in the middle innings that vanished because of a pair of runs allowed late in the game. The Altoona Curve picked up a 3-0 win with Pirates’ general manager Ben Cherington in attendance, riding five shutout innings from Graham Ashcraft to victory. The Greensboro Grasshoppers dealt with a rainout, and they’ll take part in a doubleheader on ..read more