clint hurdle tagged posts

It was an emotional day at PNC Park.  Steve Blass was stepping into retirement, Clint Hurdle was relieved of his duties, and oh yeah, the Pittsburgh Pirates were playing their final game of the season.  Unfortunately for the Bucs, they ended the season with a whimper, falling 3-1 to the Cincinnati Reds.

Trevor Williams started for Pittsburgh, giving up two runs on five hits in seven innings.  He fell to 7-9 on the season, despite pitching a solid game.  The offense, unfortunately, didn’t provide much support on a day that the team really needed to win.

The Reds took the lead in the top of the second on a solo homerun by Aristides Aquino.  Brian O’Grady’s solo homerun in the fifth inning put them in front 2-0.  A sacrifice fly by Jose Osuna in the bottom of the sixth cut the lea...

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I may be a little late to the party in regards to this question, considering how poorly the Pittsburgh Pirates have performed over the past month, but it begs to be asked after today’s humiliating 11-9 defeat and series sweep to the St. Louis Cardinals.  Pittsburgh held a four-run lead through six innings, and then the wheels fell off again.

The Pirates offense was clicking today with nine runs on thirteen hits.  Those numbers are good enough for any team in the Majors to earn a win.  Josh Bell looked to regain his power stroke with two two-run home runs, the first coming in the first inning with the second occurring in the fifth.  Bryan Reynolds scored a run in the third on a throwing error and Starling Marte came home on a ground out later that inning.

The bottom of the seventh is ...

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The Pittsburgh Pirates returned to PNC Park Friday night to open a six-game home stand, with the first three games against the New York Mets.  New York has been a team on the rise as of late and even added a pitcher at the trade deadline.  The Mets swept Pittsburgh last weekend at Citi Field, and were looking to add to that success against the Pirates tonight.

New York came out swinging against Bucco starter Trevor Williams.  Pete Alonso got things started in the first with an RBI double to right center.  He would then come in to score on a Wilson Ramos groundout to third base.  The Mets added another run in the third when J.D. Davis hit a double to center field.

That was the final run Williams gave up on the night as he worked through the sixth inning allowing three runs on six hits ...

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The Pittsburgh Pirates lost their seventh straight game last night, falling 3-0 to the New York Mets.  They are now twelve games under .500, in last place in the N.L. Central, 10 games out of first place in the division, and 9 games out of the final wild card spot.  In fact, the Pirates currently have the second worst record in the entire National League.

Trevor Williams started for Pittsburgh last night, and overall, he pitched well.  He did run into trouble with the long ball, though, and it cost him mightily.  He fell to 3-4 on the season, giving up three runs on four hits in seven innings.  He was out-pitched by his mound opponent, Steven Matz, who pitched a complete game shutout, giving up just five hits and striking out seven while earning his sixth victory of the season.

The ga...

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The Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals wrapped up their three-game series this afternoon at Busch Stadium.  St. Louis took game one, while Pittsburgh rebounded last night to even up this series.  A win for either team today would be big in the tight N.L. Central Division race.  In the end it would come down to one swing of the bat by Paul Goldschmidt in the seventh inning.

The Pirates struck first today when Starling Marte hit a solo home run in the top of the first.  The Cardinals would quickly answer in the bottom half of the inning when Tyler O’Neill hit an RBI single to right.  Jose Martinez gave St. Louis a one run lead in the second with a sac fly to right.  The Buccos plated three runs in the fourth and it started with Chris Archer...

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The Pittsburgh Pirates began their final series before the All-Star tonight when they hosted the Milwaukee Brewers for the first of three games.  Milwaukee has owned Pittsburgh this season, but the games have been tight for the most part.  That would be the same tonight, as this game looked like it would be a Brewers blow out before the Pirates rallied and then fell short 7-6 in ten innings.

Steven Brault made the start tonight, but would leave after four innings of work with shoulder discomfort.  The Buccos looked like the finally had a solid five-man rotation going after getting Jordan Lyles back a week ago, but depending on the seriousness of this injury, Pittsburgh could be scrambling for a fifth man in the rotation...

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The old saying is that pitching wins championships.  The Pittsburgh Pirates are far from a championship caliber team with their current rotation, but they do have an offense that can keep them in games.  That was the case tonight as they overcame a six-run deficit to defeat the Detroit Tigers by the final of 8-7.  Two bad innings by Trevor Williams, who made his return from the IL, put them in a bad spot.

Williams would work five innings and allow seven runs on nine hits to go with seven strikeouts.  He was throwing strikes all night, hence the zero walks, but when he wasn’t getting swing and misses Detroit was hitting him hard.  Kudos to Clint Hurdle for allowing him to work through five innings...

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The Pittsburgh Pirates were in desperate need of a strong performance from Chris Archer on Tuesday night.  Unfortunately, the Bucs’ starter struggled again on the mound, and the Pirates dropped their fifth straight game, a 7-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

Archer fell to 4-6 on the season, giving up seven runs on eight hits, including five homeruns, in six innings of work.  Despite giving up four homeruns in the second inning, Clint Hurdle stuck with Archer through six innings, trying to preserve a severely overworked bullpen.  The result was another difficult evening on the mound for Archer, who has regressed significantly since the trade to Pittsburgh.

The Pirates took the lead in the top of the first on a two run single by Josh Bell.  But the Braves answered with four solo homeruns i...

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It is hard to imagine things getting any worse this season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but every day something else presents itself.  Prior to first pitch with the Atlanta Braves, it was announced that Jordan Lyles had been placed on the 10-day IL with hamstring tightness.  Just four pitches in the bottom of the first Joe Musgrove and Clint Hurdle were ejected after Musgrove hit the jersey of Josh Donaldson with a pitch.

The benches would clear and after some shoving, both Musgrove and Donaldson were ejected with Hurdle quickly to follow.  This doomed Pittsburgh for the rest of the night, as an underperforming bullpen was tasked to cover an entire game.  Atlanta would hit five home runs on the night to go along with thirteen hits, in a 13-7 victory.

The Pirates led in this game after J...

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After a two game absence, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitching struggles returned on Friday night at Miller Park.  The result was a 10-4 blowout loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Clint Hurdle initiated the “starting pitcher by committee” strategy, and once again, it failed.  Rookie Davis gave up three runs on four hits in three innings, Clay Holmes gave up a run on two hits in one inning, and Nick Kingham gave up six runs (five earned) on five hits in 2.1 innings.

Meanwhile, Brandon Woodruff struck out Pirates’ hitters in six innings of work, improving to 8-1 on the season after giving up three runs on four hits in six innings.

The Brewers scored three runs in the second inning to take control of the game.  A two-run homerun by Eric Thames gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead, and a sacrifice f...

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