Morning Rundown: Andrew McCutchen placed on IL, Pirates win again, Thomas Harrington with seven shutout
McCutchen heads to IL, Pirates win second straight, Harrington throws seven shutout
The Pittsburgh Pirates have won two in a row after defeating the Seattle Mariners on Saturday. They now have the opportunity to go for the series sweep on Sunday.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off the bottom of the first innings with a home run, his eighth of the season. It was his first as a Pirate and one of three hits on the day. Rowdy Tellez (10) and Jared Triolo (5) also went deep for the home team.
Bailey Falter allowed two runs on eight hits while striking out eight over 5.2 innings pitched. Kyle Nicolas got the last out of the sixth, and Dennis Santana paved the way for Domingo German after throwing two clean innings.
German struggled in the ninth, walking a batter and hitting another two. That forced the Pirates to bring in David Bednar, who struck out two on his way to his 22nd save of the season.
Jake Woodford, who tossed six strong innings last time out, will face George Kirby in Sunday's series finale.
The Pittsburgh Pirates placed Andrew McCutchen on the 10-day injured list Saturday. According to the team, he left Friday’s game with left knee discomfort.
McCutchen had been playing well over the past seven games, hitting .348/.448/.739 with three home runs and nine RBI.
Alika Williams was recalled to take his spot on the roster.
In 101 games this season, McCutchen has hit .235/.336/.405 with 16 home runs, 40 RBI, and a wRC+ of 109.
After getting traded to the Baltimore Orioles in the Billy Cook trade, Patrick Reilly faced the organization that drafted just over a year ago on Saturday.
Reilly was assigned to Double-A Bowie immediately after the trade and pitched well in his first two games with his new organization. He hit a wall against Altoona, allowing four earned runs on three hits and three walks while striking out three in 4.1 innings pitched.
Most of the damage was done in the fourth inning, where he allowed a three-run home run to Brenden Dixon.
Thomas Harrington spun a gem for the Indianapolis Indians on Saturday. He needed just 63 pitches to get through seven innings, allowing just two hits while striking out two. Of the 63 pitches, 50 went for strikes.
Ensuring Ryan Borucki an inning for a rehab appearance bumped Harrington from the game. At the pace he was pitching (nine pitches per inning), he could have easily completed the game and likely stayed under 100 pitches.
The strikeout totals were a bit low, but the fastball was thrown with a little more velocity than we had previously with him in AAA, and you can’t argue the efficiency.
That’s 13 shutout innings over the last two games between the Indianapolis starters, and it happened to be two of the best pitchers in the Pirates’ system—Harrington and Bubba Chandler.
Pittsburgh Pirates sent LHP Ryan Borucki on a rehab assignment to Indianapolis Indians
Pittsburgh Pirates recalled SS Alika Williams from Indianapolis Indians
Pittsburgh Pirates placed OF Andrew McCutchen on the 10-day injured list
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Top Exit Velocity
Joey Bart - PIT - 109.3 mph - Double
Edward Olivares - IND - 109 mph - Home Run
Joey Bart - PIT - 108.1 mph - Double
Oneil Cruz - PIT - 107.7 mph - Groundout
Braylon Bishop - BRD - 106.7 mph - Home Run
Top Pitch Velocity
Dennis Santana - PIT - 99.3 mph
Dennis Santana - PIT - 98.8 mph
Dennis Santana - PIT - 98.6 mph
David Bednar - PIT - 98.4 mph
Dennis Santana - PIT - 97.9 mph
Most Whiffs
Bailey Falter - PIT - 16
Thomas Harrington - IND - 10
Dominic Perachi - ALT - 7
Inmer Lobo - BRD - 4
Geronimo Franzua - IND - 5
Luigi Hernandez - BRD - 5
Indianapolis Indians - 3 vs St. Paul Saints - 0
Top Hitter - Billy Cook: 3-4, R, 2B
Top Pitcher - Thomas Harrington: 7 IP, 2 H, 2 K
Altoona Curve - 7 vs Bowie Baysox - 6
Top Hitter - Sammy Siani: 3-4, 4 R, BB, 3B
Top Pitcher - Jaden Woods: 3 IP, H, BB, 4 K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - PPD
Bradenton Marauders - 6 vs Dunedin Blue Jays - 4
Top Hitter - Braylon Bishop: 1-3, 2 R, RBI, HR, SB
Top Pitcher - Inmer Lobo: 4 IP, H, 3 BB, 2 K
DSL Pirates Black - 0 vs DSL Mariners
Top Hitter - Deshandro Tromp: 1-2, BB, SB
Top Pitcher - Dariel Florentino: 4 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 6 K
DSL Pirates Gold - 2 vs DSL Brewers 2 - 4
Top Hitter - Adbiel Feliz: 1-3, 2 RBI, BB, 2B
Top Pitcher - Reinold Navarro: 3 IP, ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Cutch goes to the 10 day IL and we call up Alika Williams? Why? We have at least 3 MI's in Cruz, IKF, and Triolo. The answer is we do not need a MI.
At AAA, we have Billy Cook, a RF/CF/1B lighting it up at Indy since we traded for him a few weeks ago - hitting for a .972 OPS against LHP's and .847 OPS against RHP's. Bae is not the answer in the OF nor at the plate. Time to try something new?
Thomas Harrington is another of those tall RHP's that teams find in small colleges - he was drafted by the Pirates in 2022 out of Campbell U as the #36 pick. Reminds me a lot of the kid the Pirates will face today, George Kirby, who was drafted by the Mariners in the 1st Round of the 2019 Draft out of Elon College, 2 picks after the Pirates drafted Quinn Priester.
Harrington pitched 127 innings last year, and is still only at 89 innings so far this year. As you noted, he is very efficient and likes to involve the rest of the team - 8 GB outs yesterday.
The top pitcher in the Bradenton game, Inmer Lobo, is well on his way to a nice career. The Pirates had to part with Hoy Park to get Lobo, who pitched 17 innings in the DSL in 2023 with a 1.62 ERA. The 6'1" LHRP now has 32.2 IP for Bradenton with a 1.65 ERA and 31 K. Any further Info on this kid?