Well, we’re running pretty low on Pirates news right now, but here’s a minor signing:
The Bucs inked Felix Pie to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. The 27 year old outfielder did not appear in the majors last season, but hit .285 for the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves. He’s a career .249 hitter in five seasons between the Cubs and Orioles.
Here’s a bizarre video of Pie:
132 days until Opening Day.
Go Bucs
Photo: Keith Allison/Creative Commons
Another ugly game to cap off the sweep by the Orioles. Erik Bedard only went 3.1 innings, his shortest outing of the season. He gave up 4 runs in the first inning, and 7 in total. Doug Slaten gave up 3 in .2 innings, Chris Resop went 3 innings, and Jared Hughes went one.
Matt Wieters and Steve Pearce both drove in five runs a piece.
Despite the horrible pitching, the Pirates were able to put up 6 runs. Rod Barajas hit a three-run bomb, his sixth of the season. Alex Presley, Casey McGehee, and Pedro Alvarez each drove in a run, and the offense didn’t look too bad overall. Baltimore starter Tommy Hunter went 6 innings, giving up 5 runs on 7 hits. Former Bucco great Dana Eveland went 2 innings, closing out the game.
Pirates (32-30) – Orioles (37-26)
Win: Hunter (3-3)
Loss: Bedard (4-7)
No doubt that this was an ugly series. The Orioles are a great hitting team, and there’s a reason they’ve been one of the top teams in the league all year. The combination of the Pirates’ two worst starters against one of the better offenses made for some bad games, although Bedard’s start was somewhat surprising. The Bucs’ offense was the lone bright spot on the series, putting up 13 runs in the three games. They scored 6 runs in two of them, which is great progress for a team that was on pace for a historically bad offensive season. Either way, both the Pirates and the fans need to put these three games in the past. Unfortunately, the Reds swept their series with the Indians, so the Pirates dropped to three games back of first place. The Bucs and Tribe will play a weekend series in Cleveland, which will be interesting with both teams coming off being swept and fighting to get back to the top of their divisions. Hope everyone can make it to a game or two at Progressive, should be fun.
Go Bucs
Kevin Correia gave up 5 runs on 10 hits in 6 innings. Tony Watson gave up a two-run broken bat home run to Chris Davis, and Joel Hanrahan pitched a scoreless inning. The Pirates left 22 on base. Yes, 22. Neil Walker drove in the only run of the night for the Bucs on a groundout. Casey McGehee, Alex Presley, and Jose Tabata all had 2 hits each. Tabata made a bone-head out on the bases, getting thrown out at third on a bloop single to left field. Jake Arrieta, who started the game with a 7.85 ERA at home, went 7 innings, striking out 9 Pirates.
Reds won, Pirates drop to 2 games back.
Pirates (32-29) – Orioles (36-26)
Win: Arrieta (3-8)
Loss: (2-6)
Go Bucs
In what will hopefully be Brad Lincoln‘s last start, the Orioles absolutely crushed the Pirates’ pitching. Jeff Karstens was supposed to make his return tonight, but was forced to stay on his rehab stint after facing a setback in his last start.
The first inning was promising for the first place Bucs when they got a two-out rally going, which was capped off with Matt Hague driving in Andrew McCutchen for the early 1-0 lead. Lincoln pitched a scoreless first, but it was all downhill from there. He hung a curveball to Mark Reynolds in the second, and he took him deep for a two-run homer. In the third, Adam Jones drove in a run on a single, and then put the Orioles up 4-2 with a homer in the fifth.
That was Lincoln’s last batter, and he was yanked in favor of Juan Cruz after just 4.1 innings. Casey McGehee got the Bucs back within a run in the sixth with a solo shot to right, his second of the year. Chris Resop, unfortunately, opened the flood gates when he came out of the bullpen. Steve Pearce reached on an error, and then Resop threw away Endy Chavez‘ bunt attempt to put runners on second and third with no outs. Brian Roberts, making his 2012 debut, drove in a run with a sac-fly, and J.J. Hardy drove in another on an RBI single. Resop then gave up a towering home run to Chris Davis, and Baltimore went up 8-2.
The Pirates showed signs of a comeback in the seventh when Clint Barmes lead off with a single and Alex Presley doubled. Neil Walker drove in Barmes with a groundout off Wei-Yin Chen, and Cutch made it 8-4 with a sacrifice fly. Doug Slaten kept the Orioles off the board in the bottom half, and it looked like the Bucs would have a shot to come back in the last two innings.
Luis Ayala shut Pedro, Jose, and Rod down in order in the eighth, and but the game wasn’t over yet. Presley drew a one-out walk in the ninth, and Walker struck again with a two-run bomb to get the Bucs with two. The Orioles brought out their closer, Jim Johnson, to finish the game. He got Cutch to chase a high fastball, and McGehee, who was having a great day at the plate, to ground out. Game one of the series at Camden Yards went to the O’s.
Other highlights/lowlights:
- Casey McGehee went 2-3 with 2 walks. Tabata and Walker also had 2 hits.
- Pedro looked absolutely terrible at the plate, going 0-4 with 2 punch-outs. He looked like a statue for most of the night, taking pitch after pitch right down the middle.
Hey, it’s one bad game. The pitching was pretty bad, but the 6 runs are promising, especially considering the Bucs battled all the way to the end. Cincinnati won tonight, so the Pirates drop to second place in the Central.
Pirates blogger @rumbunter snapped this picture of Kevin Correia on the bench, clearly disinterested in the shellacking the Bucs took tonight.
Pirates (32-28) – Orioles (35-26)
Win: Chen (6-2)
Loss: Lincoln (3-2)
Save: Johnson (19)
Go Bucs
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Baltimore Orioles
June 12, 2012 7:05
June 13, 2012 7:05
June 14, 2012 7:05
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Probable Pitchers
Brad Lincoln (3-1, 2.40 ERA) vs. Wei-Yin Chen (5-2, 3.49 ERA)
Kevin Correia (2-5, 4.29 ERA) vs. Brian Matusz (5-6, 4.82 ERA)
Erik Bedard (4-6, 3.59 ERA) vs. Tommy Hunter (2-3, 5.40 ERA)
Series Notes
The Orioles hold a record of 34-26 and sit one game back of first in the AL East… The Pirates are tied for first in the NL Central with a record of 32-27… The Bucs took two of three from Baltimore last year at PNC Park… Second baseman Brian Roberts is expected to be back with the club Tuesday after missing time with a concussion… Brad Lincoln gave up five runs in four innings last week vs. Cincinnati… Wei-Yin Chen allowed just one run in seven innings Wednesday at Boston… Kevin Correia is 1-0 with a 3.71 ERA in his last three starts… Brian Matusz lasted just two innings against Boston, giving up four earned runs… Erik Bedard faces his former team for the third time in his career… Tommy Hunter pitched seven innings on Saturday, giving up three runs… Mark Reynolds committed 31 errors last season, which was the most in the AL… Matt Wieters had an average of .321 with runners in scoring position in 2011… J.J. Hardy hit 30 home runs last season, which was the most for an AL East shortstop since Miguel Tejada in 2006.
Go Bucs
