Pirates take early 4-1 lead due to some extremely beneficial BABIP luck. Pad lead to 7-1 after Reynolds doinks one off the RF Foul Pole. Priester looks great throwing upper 90’s fastballs for a few innings before giving up 4 runs in the blink of an eye. Bednar takes 7-5 lead into 9th and survives by an eyelash after striking out Abrams with one out and getting a fly out to end it with tying run on 3rd and go ahead run on 2nd.
Of course I didn’t dare predict this before the game, but looking at Rutledge’s AAA stats I was pretty sure that even the Pirates were going to tee off against him.
Meanwhile, Bednar is really shaky at this stage of the season for the second year in a row.
They didn’t tee off on him. Two pop ups that fell for hits inches from the foul line in the 1st inning, and a HR off the foul pole sealed his fate. Pirates had BABIP luck more than anything tonight.
Not sure what his trade value would be, but I’d prob look for a top 150 OF or SP prospect, a high upside arm as a potential replacement in a year or two, and a lottery ticket 🤷🏻♂️
Thank goodness all those times that Shelton misused him early in the season in no way affected him over the course of a season. I can't wait for Bednar to get to the off season. If this organization had any sense at all they would shut him down for the rest of the season!
Disagree somewhat on that. Per baseball reference, he’s come into games in the 8th inning seven times all season. Two of those were games they were losing rather handily and he hadn’t pitched in awhile so it was an effort to get him work.
In almost (not all but almost all) every other multi inning appearance he had multiple days off before and after the outing. I wouldn’t think that constitutes misuse.
You're probably right, it just seems counter-intuitive to me watching any closer pitch more than one inning or not having a one inning pitch count. I do see a couple of other teams do multiples with closers and closers are volatile. I have a tendency to overreact with local guys playing at PNC.
That’s a good point. Also several of his multi inning outings happened over a 2-3 week span right before the All-Star break so it seems like he’s been used more in multi inning stints than he really has.
It’s tough to juggle. You don’t really want to tank games by not using your best players, but you also don’t want to overuse them either. At least it’s scaled down in the second half; only 3 instances by my count. Of course, that may be necessitated by the fact that he’s been inefficient in this second half.
Too many innings! His "good" run in AAA averaged five innings. That means 4+ good innings are possible in an MLB game. Do they really expect guys to do well for 6 innings in the majors when they don't pitch that deep in the minors? Ridiculous!
Walk’s okay. At least he talks about the game most of the time. Brown cannot stop rambling for even a few seconds and talks about nothing. His laughing out loud for 10-15 seconds after he says something only he thinks is even remotely funny makes my skin crawl. He’s one of the most annoying sport broadcasters I can ever remember.
Play-by-play broadcasters were meant for radio broadcasts to tell you what was happening on the field. Why they’re needed on TV broadcasts has always been beyond me. I can see what’s happening and don’t need nor want someone to tell me. They aren’t needed so wind up just filling the air with meaningless drivel and Brown has perfected that useless skill. The mute button helps some but when you unmute he’s still there endlessly pontificating.
Missed the game, whos got a nice spicy recap?
Pirates take early 4-1 lead due to some extremely beneficial BABIP luck. Pad lead to 7-1 after Reynolds doinks one off the RF Foul Pole. Priester looks great throwing upper 90’s fastballs for a few innings before giving up 4 runs in the blink of an eye. Bednar takes 7-5 lead into 9th and survives by an eyelash after striking out Abrams with one out and getting a fly out to end it with tying run on 3rd and go ahead run on 2nd.
Raise it!
I nominate you for future spicy recaps. Excellent work.
Agreed, perfect amount of spice!
I can't watch the games but by commenters standards it was a typical drama filled Pirates win with Bednar providing late game excitement, lol.
Now I am down to 8 !!!!!
Just get to 73 so they can finish with 70 something wins and 80 something losses.
Then once there, if still possible, I’ll be rooting to get to 80 wins. Highly unlikely since they would have to go 12-4 the rest of the way.
Of course I didn’t dare predict this before the game, but looking at Rutledge’s AAA stats I was pretty sure that even the Pirates were going to tee off against him.
Meanwhile, Bednar is really shaky at this stage of the season for the second year in a row.
They didn’t tee off on him. Two pop ups that fell for hits inches from the foul line in the 1st inning, and a HR off the foul pole sealed his fate. Pirates had BABIP luck more than anything tonight.
BTW, good factoid from Mackey that I had forgotten: Rutledge was taken one pick before Priester in the 2019 first round.
Actually, it was one pick AFTER Priester.
Anyhow, a win is a win and so raise it.
Yikes...had em all the way lol
Honestly I don't trust Bednar anymore. His pitch count is high again. I hope he proves me wrong.
Unpopular opinion, but if I’m BC, he’s def being shopped this winter.
What would you shop him for?
Not sure what his trade value would be, but I’d prob look for a top 150 OF or SP prospect, a high upside arm as a potential replacement in a year or two, and a lottery ticket 🤷🏻♂️
Somehow he did it, yay, but 30 pitches, 15 strikes, and just 3 whiffs
Second half Bednar has been quite tedious at times.
He doesn’t look great but he’d be out of the inning if the shortstop catches that pop up and the first baseman had thrown the ball to second base.
Yeah, people always just blow those poor defensive plays off.
This is a good point, but did he look good after that though? Missing location badly.
Bednar really not missing bats
At this point this is not surprising, Bednar has been mediocre for a while.
Thank goodness all those times that Shelton misused him early in the season in no way affected him over the course of a season. I can't wait for Bednar to get to the off season. If this organization had any sense at all they would shut him down for the rest of the season!
No matter what it's either Shelton's fault or Haines' fault.
How was he misused?
Too many attempts at multiple inning saves for a team that isn't competing for anything.
Disagree somewhat on that. Per baseball reference, he’s come into games in the 8th inning seven times all season. Two of those were games they were losing rather handily and he hadn’t pitched in awhile so it was an effort to get him work.
In almost (not all but almost all) every other multi inning appearance he had multiple days off before and after the outing. I wouldn’t think that constitutes misuse.
You're probably right, it just seems counter-intuitive to me watching any closer pitch more than one inning or not having a one inning pitch count. I do see a couple of other teams do multiples with closers and closers are volatile. I have a tendency to overreact with local guys playing at PNC.
That’s a good point. Also several of his multi inning outings happened over a 2-3 week span right before the All-Star break so it seems like he’s been used more in multi inning stints than he really has.
It’s tough to juggle. You don’t really want to tank games by not using your best players, but you also don’t want to overuse them either. At least it’s scaled down in the second half; only 3 instances by my count. Of course, that may be necessitated by the fact that he’s been inefficient in this second half.
Bednar looks awful
Okay so tell me again, Williams and Rivas are both in the lineup solely because of their defense, right?
Palacios covered a lot of ground.
So this is Priester? Then who tf was that other guy a month ago?
I liked this version way better tho- left a couple breaking balls up in the zone but the stuff looked better to me.
Boy did you speak too soon. Although his ERA went down.
He heard the footsteps of Jones, Skenes, and Bubba, and decided he better pick up the pace.
Recognize him now?
Oh, yeah. I guess it took him a while to realize he was back with the Pirates.
Too many innings! His "good" run in AAA averaged five innings. That means 4+ good innings are possible in an MLB game. Do they really expect guys to do well for 6 innings in the majors when they don't pitch that deep in the minors? Ridiculous!
😂
Brown and Walk are so terrible.
Walk’s okay. At least he talks about the game most of the time. Brown cannot stop rambling for even a few seconds and talks about nothing. His laughing out loud for 10-15 seconds after he says something only he thinks is even remotely funny makes my skin crawl. He’s one of the most annoying sport broadcasters I can ever remember.
Play-by-play broadcasters were meant for radio broadcasts to tell you what was happening on the field. Why they’re needed on TV broadcasts has always been beyond me. I can see what’s happening and don’t need nor want someone to tell me. They aren’t needed so wind up just filling the air with meaningless drivel and Brown has perfected that useless skill. The mute button helps some but when you unmute he’s still there endlessly pontificating.
Half-right. Brown sucks, but Walk is good and has a nice dry sense of humor.
Walk is fine. Brown can get on my nerves.
I can't remember if Walk does color on Peacock or Apple games, but happy he's in the booth on those games.
What did they say/do now?
Just their usual clown stuff involving some camera Bob decided to fixate on.
Priester hit 96 and 97 if that gun is accurate.
Statcast is accurate.
I did not know that reading was direct from Statcast. Cool.
It looks like he's in the 95 to 96 range consistently.
This is encouraging to me
Please let this be Hayes from now on!