Gameday 41: Pirates look for series win against the Chicago Cubs

Bailey Falter on the mound for the Pirates on Mother's Day

May 12, 2024

There wasn’t much that we didn’t get to see on Saturday in the Pirates/Cubs game.

The major league debut of the best pitching prospect in baseball, Paul Skenes, who struck out seven batters in 4+ innings of work.

Walks, a lot of them. Pirates pitchers issued 10 free passes on Saturday. Kyle Nicolas walked three straight batters on four pitches. Colin Holderman came in after a rain delay and walked another three.

Then there were the home runs, five of them by the Pirates. Oneil Cruz, Connor Joe, Andrew McCutchen, Yasmani Grandal, and Michael A. Taylor all went deep for the home team.

Speaking of Cruz, he had two batted balls that were at least 114 mph and hit a double that went 119.7 mph off the bat.

In the end, the Pirates won 11-10 with Holderman picking up the win and David Bednar getting his seventh win.

The Pirates and Cubs conclude their three-game series on Mother’s Day with a 1:35 pm ET start time. Bailey Falter is expected to face Kyle Hendricks.

Pirates Lineup

DH - Andrew McCutchen

LF - Bryan Reynolds

SS - Oneil Cruz

RF - Connor Joe

CF - Jack Suwinski

3B - Jared Triolo

1B - Rowdy Tellez

C - Joey Bart

2B - Alika Williams

Cubs Lineup

SS - Nico Hoerner

DH - Seiya Suzuki

CF - Cody Bellinger

3B - Christopher Morel

1B - Patrick Wisdom

RF - Michael Tauchman

LF - Ian Happ

2B - Nick Madrigal

C - Miguel Amaya

Pitching Matchup

PIT - Bailey Falter (2-2, 4.34 ERA, 37.1 IP, 9 BB, 26 K)

CHC - Kyle Hendricks (0-3, 12.00 ERA, 21 IP, 7 BB, 16 K)

Yesterday’s Feature

With Paul Skenes making his major league debut on Saturday, Ryan Palencer took a look at how the former first-overall pick deals with pressure through mental strength

Bucs On Deck

Paul Skenes deals with pressure through mental strength

Saturday will be a culmination of a lot of things for Paul Skenes, when he makes his much-anticipated Major League debut. Over the last two summers, Skenes has enjoyed a lot of eyes on him and a bright spotlight. However, prior, Skenes was seeing success at a more grounded level at Air Force…

a year ago · 3 likes · 6 comments · Ryan Palencer

Today’s Feature

David Matoma was one of the most intriguing names in the lower levels of the Pirates system going into this season. He’s made two appearances for the FCL Pirates this year, the second of which I was in attendance for. I go over my observations on not only him but two other pitchers in the system—Carlos Castillo and Peyton Stumbo.

Bucs On Deck

Player Observations: David Matoma, Carlos Castillo, Peyton Stumbo

While there were quite a few hitters that were repeating in the complex, there were quite a few new names on the pitching side that they brought over from the Dominican Summer League. Perhaps the most notable was right-handed pitcher David Matoma out of Uganda. While in the Dominican, Matoma hit triple-digits with his fastball and didn’t allow an earned run in 16.2 innings pitched while striking out 14 and walking seven…

a year ago · 2 likes · Anthony Murphy

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Bucs On Deck

Player Observations: Estuar Suero, Miguel Sosa, Jose Regalado

Even though there are a few repeaters, the amount we’ve seen on the Florida Complex League team players is pretty high. So, my trip to Bradenton was an excellent opportunity to see (plus get video) some of the players playing in the FCL. Many people have heard their names, but they haven’t seen many of them in action…

a year ago · 5 likes · Anthony Murphy

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WTM

When Shelton goes into his obligatory postgame babbling about key hits and missed opportunities, it’d be nice if someone would ask him whether penciling in Tellez and his automatic oh-fer most days isn’t a missed opportunity. That’s four ABs he could have given to somebody who, unlike Tellez, might have done something useful. It’s easy to pick on Grandal as the goat, but the impact of that daily oh-fer gets lost in the more obvious dramatic moments.

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