The Pirates have won four in a row, which ties for the longest winning streak under Derek Shelton (h/t to TNBucs in the comments). The previous four game streaks came during the 2022 season. The first time that happened was on July 12th in a win over the Marlins. The second time came on September 14th in a 10-4 win over the Reds.
The disclaimer here is that the Pirates followed the first streak with a 2-12 stretch to finish the month of July. They followed the second streak with eight straight losses. This Pirates team doesn’t feel like one that would be subjected to long stretches of losing. Tonight they have a chance to give Derek Shelton his longest winning streak.
PIRATES VS WHITE SOX
Game Time: 6:35 PM EST
Pirates Starter: Vince Velasquez (0-1, 5.79)
Red Sox Starter: Mike Clevinger (1-0, 0.00)
Pirates Lineup:
Game 2 vs. the White Sox.
📺 AT&T SportsNet
📻 93.7 The Fan | The PRN#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/NQ5Hupg82V— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 8, 2023
White Sox Lineup:
Tonight's #WhiteSox starters in Pittsburgh: pic.twitter.com/BxJvPk8xzk
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) April 8, 2023
TODAY ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
**My daily column looks at the impact that Ji-Hwan Bae and Dauri Moreta are having on the Pirates in the Middlegame.
**The Pirates pick first in the 2023 draft. John Dreker, our resident draft expert, has been profiling candidates for the number one pick every Saturday. This week he looks at Wyatt Langford, the outfielder from Florida with tremendous raw power potential.
**Anthony Murphy looked at how Ji-Hwan Bae continues to be a difference maker in today’s Daily update.
**My column yesterday looked at how the positive vibes in the MLB clubhouse could eventually impact younger players like Endy Rodriguez.
**Ethan Hullihen broke down the Pirates Opening Day payroll, putting them at around $75 million for the start of the 2023 season.
**In the latest Roundtable, we picked our sleeper prospects to follow in the Pirates system.
**If you missed it from earlier this week, check out our minor league previews to see how the Pirates stack up at each level:
Triple-A: Indianapolis Indians
Double-A: Altoona Curve
High-A: Greensboro Grasshoppers
Single-A: Bradenton Marauders
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
Kopech and oviedo tomorrow, calling a cruz missile and a 6-3 victory for the buccos
I still think that Cutch should be our lead off hitter. He and Cruz should switch.
Yep. Cutch is taking a ton of pitches. His overall swing % before today was 38% and just 15% on pitches out of zone. Make the pitcher work overtime on the first hitter.
Jose Hernandez is the best pitcher in the bullpen. Convince me otherwise
Bednar.
Moreta is pretty tough himself
I am certainly pleased that we are remaking this mess
have seen enough of Crowe, De Jong and Underwood over the years
Would love to see DeJong, Crowe and Underwood replaced in that order.
could be done tomorrow with Mlod, Yerry and Yohan
Heres to hoping we put this behind us and fight for a series win tomorrow!
Nice job Hernandez!
Those hotdogs behind Cutch sure look tasty.
Will Velasquez and Hill keep their ERA’s under 15 before they’re replaced in the rotation?
I feel like getting a win between the 2 of them is stealing a victory.
It was fun while it lasted.
Hat tip to Sox hitters that inning.
Didn’t take long to balloon a bunch of ERA’s.
This is the problem with our bullpen, full of pitch to contact guys, only Bednar is a K pitcher……
The altrenative for Shelton’s teams has been pens that can’t find the plate.
Six walks, eleven hits and one HBP!?! These guys are lucky to be down by only three.
4
FFS
Daggers…
Sure went south fast….
That was rough
Twice in one game a Pirate throws a hittable pitch on 0-2?
Marauders got no hit tonight. 16 Ks in 30 PAs.
Take your walk there Cruz.
I feel like Cruz has been quietly struggling. Since the eye incident? 🤔
Did he throw him 5 or 6 balls?
More than enough.
Imagine having Endy in that spot instead of Delay….
He hit that too good. A little more loft and it’s bouncing into the river!
That’s why I love Castro.
Gotta love the double play!
Pitchers best friend besides a good looking redhead
pitch clock is dumb
I know I miss batters adjusting themselves and taking a bunch of swings before stepping in, what’s better than a pitcher throwing to first base 3 times in a row before throwing a pitch, oh I know a pitcher that’s take 30 seconds between pitches.
Pitch clock is gonna save baseball!
I dunno Im enjoying the shortened game times quite a bit
Yes, but sometimes I gotta go pee…
Cup, get a cup.
Was hoping that DeJong was only facing Roberts!
These bucs are relentless! No matter how this game ends up, I am loving the fight that I see since last year we wouldve rolled over and probably been down 13-1 right now
Choi is this years Yoshi.
I wonder if we can trade him to the Phillies…
I’m for trading him to anybody.
And Hedges to the Giants for, wait for it….Sabol! He’s not doing that great, but I’ll take him back!
Oye Cómo Va, Santana!
I certainly hope that “Infield In” decision is questioned by the media.
Why is Greg Brown so surprised about McCutchen’s throw?
He’s also part of the master plan. Wink, wink.
We spotted them a run as part of a master plan to make them complacent with a 4 run lead. Then we’ll score 5 runs before they know what hit ’em.
Some of that vintage “gold glove” defense there.
Dang.
Oh my God, Cutch throws like me.
I’m starting to miss VV.
I miss Hill! At least he was giving up bombs so it wasn’t as time consuming as the walks!
Don’t worry he probably will throw quite a few more bombs this year.
I was asking myself why is this game boring me, is not the score, then it hit me, the freaking walks!!!!!
Happy to see Castro have a successful AB there. Would love to see him become a consistent hitter and be the starting 2B.
Our xBA is .448… some of these have to fall
VV could have used that low strike.
We need to win tonight. We’re in a pennant race and the Brewers are losing. 🙂
I’m not aware of RJ Reynolds as a player but I love his vibe.
He was easy to root for back in the day.
Gary Redus as well, and didn’t take Bonds’ crap.
Much unlike previous years, I have confidence in the pen and lineup to overcome this early deficit. Surreal feeling after The Great We Don’t Give a Shit period.
Which is why it was such a bad move to play the defense in. Why would Shelton think we couldn’t come back from a 2-1 deficit in the 3rd?
The wheels on Cutch…
Bring Him Home….
Mission accomplished..
Cruz did that in 10 strides.
I once did an actual count — nine strides to first.
Cutch’s steal was 12 strides.
Hill and VV are placeholders until they bring up the young guns. Still, it’s frustrating to watch., especially when you see the potential with the other three starters.
You can find better placeholders. Easily.
Agreem
BC’s offseason is looking pretty dismal. Santana and Joe may work out, but Hill and VV look awful, Choi is just taking up space and Hedges looks like a downgrade from Delay/Heineman. Cutch doesn’t count because that was all Nutting.
Given the Pirates’ recent history of veteran signings, if 2 guys work out, that’s progress.
Trade Choi and bring up Triolo to back up 3rd and first. Also creates a little competition for Hayes. He needs to step up.
Triolo had hamate surgery, doubt he’ll see any mlb action this year.
The game changing decision was infield in as far as I’m concerned.
At least Hill has the potential to be average. VV can only dream of mediocrity.
Yeah, when you’re scoring runs like we have this week, why tempt fate? I’d love to know what our analytics staff says about playing in in the first few innings of a game.
Let’s not forget, he’s out of the inning with no runs scored if the infield is playing back like they should have been. Who here has ever seen a major league team play the infield in in the 3rd inning?
Well the White sox just did in the bottom half.
I guess the analytics trump good sense
I would have to agree. Third inning seems a little too early.
A manager craving praise. If it works, Shelton takes credit. If it doesn’t, he can blame the pitcher for “not executing “.
But I ask again, who here has ever seen an MLB team bring the infield in in the 3rd inning?
Poor managing, worse pitching. You don’t spend enough to have five good starters and then you make dumb in-game moves to compound matters, you’re not going to have long winning streaks.
Also quite amazing how I would rather trust DeJong than Velasquez. And I do not trust DeJong
It’s amazing how much I do not enjoy watching Hill and Velasquez starting. I was even okay watching Glasnow walking what felt like five in a row every start.
Nickles will pay $4 million for this kind of performance but he balks at paying Reynolds $15 million a year for 8 years. Bad calls on both decisions.
Why would the Pirates pay 15 million a year for 8 years for a left fielder. That’s crazy.
Uh, cause he can hit? And that’s getting him cheap
I could care less to have him at age 34 and older. What’s so hard about keeping him for 3 seasons and giving him a QO?
Because he’ll probably be even better five years from now and you keep good players. And he’ll be worth $10-15 million more a year than the $15 million he wants.
Reynolds is going to be better at age 34 than at age 29? That’s just dumb. This isn’t the steroid era of the 2000s.
We’ll see.. . and he’s 28, not 29. He’ll be 33 and yes, he’ll be better than today.
How many beers deep are you? Lmao.
Bat him 2nd or 3rd and play him everyday for the next 8 years.
Pass
Stop the bleeding here.
VV was attacking and throwing strikes in the first, now hes out of the zone and erratic, the first version is the successful one sadly
I can’t stop thinking how Velasquez belongs in the bullpen not a SP
Absolute joke that this guy is in the rotation.
A AAA bullpen.
VV = Bryse Wilson
He might not make it through four innings tonight. Not really all that close to the zone anymore and he’s sitting on 60 pitches.
Of course but Nickles signs a FA pitcher for $4 million he’s going to start.