Morning Rundown: Pirates drop second straight against Reds, Bidois promoted
Pirates lose another game, Brandan Bidois returns from injured list
The Cincinnati Reds jumped all over Jared Jones on Saturday and are one game away from sweeping the Pirates.
Jones allowed six earned runs on six hits and three walks over five innings. During that fifth, it appeared that the velocity for Jones was starting to take a dip, registering in the low 90s with his fastball, even one that was 85 mph.
Derek Shelton and the trainer came to check on Jones during the fifth, and after a brief conference, left him in the game to finish out the inning.
There were times when Jones looked like something was visibly off, and he even grunted when he pitched.
After the game, it was reported that he was fine and that the 85 mph fastball was from Jones hurrying as the pitch clock wound down.
According to the transaction log, relief prospect Brandan Bidois was promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis on Saturday.
Bidois, 23, last pitched for the Greensboro Grasshoppers on July 5. Up to that point in the season he had a 4.25 ERA, with 43 strikeouts and 17 walks in 29.2 innings pitched.
This would make him an interesting candidate to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, as it wouldn’t make much sense to activate him for basically one game.
Former Pirates’ prospect Jun-Seok Shim will participate in the Arizona Fall League for the Miami Marlins.
Shim, 20, has yet to pitch this season, and has just eight innings of pro ball experience over the last two years.
RHP Brandan Bidois assigned to Indianapolis Indians from Greensboro Grasshoppers
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Top Exit Velocity
Nick Yorke - PIT - 109.3 mph - Groundout
Nick Gonzales - PIT - 106.3 mph - Single
Billy Cook - PIT - 106.1 mph - Single
Connor Joe - PIT - 105.4 mph - Single
Malcom Nunez - IND - 104.2 mph - Groundout
Joshua Palacios - IND - 104.2 mph - Home Run
Top Pitch Velocity
Jared Jones - PIT - 99.2 mph
Jared Jones - PIT - 99.1 mph
Jared Jones - PIT - 98.6 mph
Jared Jones - PIT - 98.6 mph
Jared Jones - PIT - 98.3 mph
Most Whiffs
Jared Jones - PIT - 11
Geronimo Franzua - IND - 6
Aaron Shortridge - IND - 4
Indianapolis Indians - vs
Top Hitter - Jake Lamb: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR
Top Pitcher - Geronimo Franzua: IP, 2 H, 3 K
Hey all, been busy with life stuff so havent been on as much, hope yinz are all hanging in through the drudgery that has been Pirates baseball to windup the season
The difference between last year and this year is striking. Last year, BC ditched all the veteran hangers-on at the deadline and the team suddenly started playing much better. The young guys didn't even perform all that well, but the team played better baseball and were a game over .500 the last two months after being 11 under before that. And that was even with the rotation falling apart.
This year, BC ignored the excitement Skenes created and spent four months refusing to try to fix the glaring offensive problems. Then he made a pathetic effort at the deadline. (And no, BDLC wasn't just a little below average like some keep insisting, he was a terrible player even before the trade.) And even with the team collapsing, he waited and waited to bring anybody up, instead clinging to all his failures. It's staggering that MAT, BDLC and Connor Joe are still getting regular starts at this point.
The difference is, a year ago it looked like the team was setting a course to try to move things forward. This year, BC and Shelton have made clear on a daily basis that they have no intention whatsoever of trying to change anything at all. Last year the players obviously were enthused, this year they've obviously quit, because they know the people running the team don't care.