jung ho kang tagged posts

The Pittsburgh Pirates season has officially come to an end today after a 10-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.  Pittsburgh had an up and down season that never saw them go on the type of roll a team needs to reach the post season.  Bad free agent signings, injuries, and down years for players were the main factors to the team seeing their playoff streak snapped after three years.

St. Louis started the scoring in the third with a Yadier Molina RBI single to center.  In the fifth inning, the Pirates took the lead on an Andrew McCutchen two run single to left.  That would be the last time that the Buccos held the lead on the day.  Ryan Vogelsong pitched his final five innings in a Pittsburgh uniform today and allowed one run on five hits, to go with three walks and one strikeout.

Antoni...

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The St. Louis Cardinals are desperate for a playoff spot.  Entering the final weekend of the regular season one game behind the San Francisco Giants for the second Wild Card seed in the National League, the Cardinals are in need of a series sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  After a blowout victory last night at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals came from behind this afternoon to beat the Bucs 4-3.

Chad Kuhl pitched a great game for the Pirates, but stayed in one inning too long.  He gave up two runs on eight hits in five innings of work.  Antonio Bastardo gave up a run in just a 1/3 of an inning, and Felipe Rivero took the loss (1-6) by giving up a run in the eighth.

The Pirates jumped on Michael Wacha and the Cardinals in the first inning.  Jung-ho Kang crushed a three run homerun to left...

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After a 12-2 blowout loss last night, the Pittsburgh Pirates returned to PNC Park looking to get back on track tonight against the Chicago Cubs in the second of this four game series.  As has been the case in nearly every game they’ve played throughout the season, the Cubs jumped out in front early tonight and held on late for a 6-4 victory over the Pirates.

Tonight was most likely the final start in the career of Ryan Vogelsong. The 39 year old veteran faced Chicago starter John Lackey.  While Vogelsong was looking to go out on a winning note, Lackey was looking to sharpen his game in preparation for a postseason push.  Tonight, Vogelsong gave up four runs on four hits with five walks and five strikeouts in five innings, rounding out his ERA at 5.00 for the season...

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The Pittsburgh Pirates may be out of the mix for a playoff spot, but that doesn’t mean they won’t show any passion on the diamond.  They may have lost to the Washington Nationals today by the final of 10-7, but they emptied the bench when a pitch was thrown at one of their own.  It has been reported that no Gatorade coolers were harmed in the process.

Tensions were high after Bryce Harper injured his hand while sliding into third base on a fake tag by Jung-ho Kang.  This is just more proof that baseball players are overly sensitive when it comes to the unwritten rules of baseball.  Kang would come up to bat in the bottom half of the inning and Washington starter A.J. Cole would unleash a pitch behind Kang that emptied the benches.  After the scuffle was broken up, Cole and Sean Ro...

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After a successful road trip, the Pittsburgh Pirates returned to PNC Park for their final home stand of the 2016 regular season, beginning tonight with the first of a three game series against the Washington Nationals.  Tonight, these two teams traded punches back and forth and exchanged runs throughout, and the Pirates came up with a pair of huge hits, one in the ninth and one in the eleventh, to beat the Nationals 6-5.

Neither starter was at his best tonight.  Jameson Taillon lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits, while Gio Gonzalez pitched five innings for Washington, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks.  It was a long game, with a lot of substitutions and pitching changes...

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The common theme for the 2016 season has been inconsistency for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  After a horrendous stretch of games the past couple weeks, the Bucs had put four straight victories together and were looking for a four game series sweep as they entered play this afternoon against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark.

Unfortunately, Ivan Nova and the Pirates came up short this afternoon, as the Reds overcame an early deficit to avoid the series sweep with a 7-4 victory.

Nova wasn’t at his best this afternoon, giving up five runs (three earned) on nine hits in just three innings.  Tyler Glasnow pitched three scoreless innings in relief while Drew Hutchison gave up a pair of runs in two innings.

The Pirates took the lead in the top of the second with a pair of runs.  Jun...

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After rain delayed the start of this four game series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh would overcome a back and forth game to defeat Cincinnati 9-7 in ten innings.  At this point in time my hopes for the Pirates are that they finish the season with at least 82 wins and in order to do that, they need to go on a bit of a winning streak.  That streak currently sits at two.

The Buccos opened the scoring when Andrew McCutchen hit a RBI double to left field.  He would then come around to score on a Gregory Polanco home run.  The Reds jumped on the board in the bottom part of the inning on a Brandon Phillips single to left.  Cincinnati then tied the game in the second when Ramon Cabrera hit a two run home run to right.

Ryan Vogelsong continued to show his age t...

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It has been a struggle to score runs for the Pittsburgh Pirates as of late.  The offense has squandered opportunities and failed to cash in with runners in scoring position.  Tonight, though, the bats woke up in a big way, especially in the ninth inning, as the Pirates routed the Philadelphia Phillies 15-2 at Citizens Bank Park.

The Pirates hit five homeruns, including two by Andrew McCutchen and a three-run bomb by Jordy Mercer, while making this one a laugher with an eight run ninth inning.

John Jaso homered in the first inning to get the scoring started, McCutchen homered in the fourth, and Sean Rodriguez homered in the fifth to make it a 3-0 score.

The Phillies got two runs back in the fifth to make it a 3-2 lead, but the Pirates blew this game open in the late innings...

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After a lackluster performance in last night’s 6-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates returned to action tonight for the second game of the four game series at Citizens Bank Park.  It was a back and forth game tonight, but the Pirates delivered the knockout blow with a three run homerun in the top of the ninth, as the held on and beat the Phillies 5-3.

Entering tonight, the Pirates had lost 12 of 14 games, and were on their way to another loss tonight.  But the Bucs kept battling back tonight, and finally came up with the big hit to earn the victory.

Both starters pitched very well tonight, and both probably deserved to win the game.  Ivan Nova gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits with 11 strikeouts in six innings, while Alec Asher gave up two runs on four...

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It may be hard for some of you to believe, but there is still some season left for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Granted it is meaningless at this point, unless you are tracking what draft pick they will have in 2017.  Tonight they opened a four game series on the eastern side of the state with the Philadelphia Phillies.  The venue may have changed, but the result was the same as Pittsburgh dropped the opner 6-2.

Gerrit Cole returned from the DL tonight and looked like he should go straight back to the bench.  He pitched only two innings and gave up five runs on four hits, with four walks and three strikeouts in the process.  All five runs came in the second inning and that started with a Freddy Galvis solo home run.  Cody Asche then hit a RBI double for the second run of the night.  A R...

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