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The hottest team in baseball right now may just be the Pittsburgh Pirates.  They continued their hot play today with a 9-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.  This win gave them a sweep of Cincinnati and extended their season long winning streak to nine games.  This is exactly the type of play that Pittsburgh needs if they hope to make a run at a playoff spot this season.

The Pirates offense got things started right out of the gate.  Gregory Polanco would hit a two-run home run in the top of the first.  The second inning would see more offense from the Buccos.  Max Moroff got things started with an RBI single to right field.  That was then followed up by a two-run homer by Corey Dickerson, his fourth straight game with a home run.  Starling Marte capped off the inning with a solo ho...

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have not cooled off over the All Star break.  After a five-game series sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers to end the season’s first half, the Bucs have opened the second half with two wins over the Cincinnati Reds.  Tonight, they got another quality start on the mound, and their offense stayed hot as they beat the Reds 6-2 at Great American Ballpark.

Nick Kingham started for Pittsburgh tonight, and was solid on the mound, going into the seventh inning.  He gave up two runs on four hits in 6.1 innings.  A two run homerun by Curt Casali in the seventh ruined Kingham’s shutout bid, but the right-hander still turned in another quality start before Clint Hurdle handed the ball over to the Bucs’ bullpen.

The Pirates took the lead in the third inning on a solo homerun...

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The Pittsburgh Pirates ended the first half of the season as one of the hottest teams in Major League Baseball heading into the All Star break.  In their return to action after the break, and after a nearly 3 hour rain delay, the Bucs’ strong play continued as they went on to beat the Cincinnati Reds by a 12-1 score.

Jameson Taillon started for Pittsburgh tonight, giving up one run on six hits in 5.1 innings.  The bullpen was solid tonight, giving up just three total hits across 3.2 innings of work.

But the night belonged to the Pirates offense, which feasted on Reds’ pitching.  Sean Rodriguez and Starling Marte had four RBIs each, and five different players had multi-hit games, including Colin Moran who had four and Elias Diaz who had three hits.

Rodriguez had a good game after ret...

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By winning games Friday and Saturday over the Cincinnati Reds, the Pittsburgh Pirates put themselves in prime position for a series sweep.  Unfortunately today, the Bucs fell behind early and couldn’t complete a late game comeback, as they fell to the Reds by a 8-6 score at PNC Park.

Neither starting pitcher made it out of the sixth inning this afternoon.  Joe Musgrove struggled this afternoon, giving up six runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings.  Anthony DeSclafani started for Cincinnati, giving up two runs on three hits in 5.2 innings.

The Pirates took the early lead on a solo homerun by Colin Moran in the second inning.  The Reds would respond with a pair of runs in the top of the third on a groundout by Scott Schebler and a single by Jose Peraza.

Cincinnati would take command of the ...

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After playing terrible baseball for the past month, the Pittsburgh Pirates were in desperate need of a strong home stand.  So far, so good.  The Bucs won their third consecutive game, and second straight over the Cincinnati Reds, with a 6-2 victory this afternoon at PNC Park.

Pittsburgh used a three-run sixth inning to break open what was once a close game.  Ivan Nova started for the Bucs, giving up one run on five hits in six innings of work.  Steven Brault and Michael Feliz finished off the Reds over the final three innings to secure the victory.

Starling Marte’s groundout scored Josh Harrison in the bottom of the first inning to give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead.  A solo homerun by Eugenio Suarez in the second tied the game.

Solo homeruns by Colin Moran and Elias Diaz in the thi...

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It was exactly one month ago that the Pittsburgh Pirates season took an ugly turn.  Pittsburgh would lose to the San Diego Padres that night and then go on to lose 17 of their next 25 games.  Skids like that can definitely take a toll on team, but with over three months remaining in the season all hope has not been lost.  After ending their road trip on Wednesday with a win the Pirates looked to build on that tonight in game one of a ten game homestand.

They would come back to PNC Park to open a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds.  Cincinnati may be the only Central Division team looking up at the Buccos at the moment, but they always play them tough.  That would be no different tonight, as after a back and forth game Pittsburgh would prevail with a 3-2 victory.

The Pirates ha...

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Nothing ever comes easy for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  After two ugly losses while most of us were asleep the past two nights, Pittsburgh squeaked out a 5-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks today to wrap up this three-game series and six game road trip.

Early on things did not look good for the Pirates.  Arizona took a two-run lead when David Peralta hit a two-run homer off of Jameson Taillon.  Upon review the ball actually bounced out of Austin Meadow’s glove and then over the fence.  Taillon settled in after that to pitch seven innings allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

The Buccos bats would come to life in the second to score four runs.  Josh Bell would get things started with a double to left that scored Colin Moran.  Jordy Mercer would then hi...

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Baseball can be a fickle game that can humble anyone.  Being humbled has been the story of the Pittsburgh Pirates for three straight series now.  After a 6-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals today, Pittsburgh has dropped three straight series for the first time in 2018.  This loss would be mostly caused by Clint Hurdle’s mishandling of his bullpen.

For the second straight day St. Louis would strike first and Matt Carpenter had a hand in it once again.  After leading the game off with a double and then moving up to third on a groundout, he would score on an infield single by Marcell Ozuna.  The Pirates would come back to tie the game in the fourth on an RBI single by Colin Moran.

The Buccos would break through with a big fifth inning that looked to be enough to earn a Sunday afternoon...

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The Pittsburgh Pirates were looking to take two out of three from the Cincinnati Reds this afternoon.  The two teams combined to hit four home runs and, in the end, Cincinnati would bring home one more run in a 5-4 victory over Pittsburgh.  The loss would be the Pirates fifth in six games and first time since mid-April that they have lost back to back series.

Zeros were put on the board through the fist two and a half innings today, but the Reds would put a four spot on the board in the bottom of the third.  Ivan Nova would walk the first batter of the inning and then give up a single to right.  With one out, Nova would commit a throwing error that would load the bases for Eugenio Suarez and he would clear the bases with a grand slam to left field...

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Baseball is a long and tedious season filled with highs and lows.  It can be tough for fans not to take those highs and lows to the extreme, which is exactly what Pittsburgh Pirates fans have done during this four-game losing streak.  It would take some free baseball to decide a winner tonight, and in the end the Cincinnati Reds would leave the ballpark with another mark in the loss column.

Pittsburgh jumped out to an early lead when Francisco Cervelli hit a two-run home run to deep left field in the first inning.  That lead would grow by one in the fifth when Corey Dickerson hit an RBI single to center field that drove in Josh Harrison.  Chad Kuhl would even get in on the scoring in the sixth when a hard bunt got past the pitcher’s mound to bring in Austin Meadows.

Kuhl pitched very...

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