The Pittsburgh Pirates (20-13) are at PNC Park on Saturday night to take on the Toronto Blue Jays (19-14) in game two of their three-game series. First pitch is at 6:35 PM.
Johan Oviedo (2-2, 4.78) will be on the mound for the Pirates, trying to bounce back from a rough start last time out. The Blue Jays are sending out 28-year-old right-hander Jose Berrios (2-3, 5.29) for his seventh start of the season.
Andrew McCutchen is still out of the lineup, after suffering a left ankle sprain while getting ready for yesterday’s game.
**Anthony Murphy had a live look at Altoona yesterday and shared his thoughts this morning.
**In case you missed it from late last night, here’s the daily Prospect Watch, with a big day for some hitters in Indianapolis.
**Here’s our weekly Saturday look at how the 2023 draft is shaping up. This one looks at the strengths and weaknesses of the draft class.
**It’s been a rough two days for catchers in Greensboro…
Remember how yesterday’s umpire scorecard was a bigger disaster than the Twitter page of Anthony Bass? Well, last night’s game looks like a normal umpire scorecard
Umpire: Clint Vondrak
Final: Blue Jays 4, Pirates 0#NextLevel // #LetsGoBucs#TORvsPIT // #PITvsTORMore stats for this game 👇https://t.co/q9zzY9dylC pic.twitter.com/lrZUmeqT4S
— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) May 6, 2023
LINEUPS
Pirates
UPDATE: Pirates announced that Joe and Santana have flipped spots in the lineup you see below
Game 2.
📺 AT&T SportsNet
📷 93.7 The Fan | The PRN #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/VIL1lnSdY9— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 6, 2023
Blue Jays
Let's win the series! #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/fDvlIFsx33
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 6, 2023
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Well at the beginning of the season, we all would certainly take the current record. The Rays and Jays were expected to be much better than the Pirates. I know this losing streak sucks, but if they beat up on their next opponent we will feel a lot better.
If they beat up on the Rockies, it’s a decent sign Bucs can consistently beat up on the bad teams. Meaning they’re no longer one of the bad teams. But apparently the past five games are showing they’re not quite one of the good ones either. But it’s progress.
The Rockies will be a good test. They’ve won 5 of 6 including sweeping the Brewers, and they’re going to want to make a statement after being swept by us at home. So it’s a big “if”, but yes if the Pirates beat up on the Rockies, then we can see progress. If they don’t…
Well, even the 2019 Pirates had stretches of 11-3 near the start of the season and 12-5 going into the All Star break so maybe the “progress” we saw was just a fluky combination of a team getting hot while playing teams that were struggling.
The record, yes. But the little I have been willing to watch we are not even competitive. I am back into 2022 mode, once we are down by 2 I figure between our lack of hitting, fielding and/or pitching, that the game is basically over, and it is time to do something else.
Looked like they were finally getting to Berrios last inning. Maybe score a quick 7 now before their pen gets ready!
Only hope now is that they bring in Anthony Bass and leave him in too long
April was fun. May…not so much.
If MLB really wants to speed up games, give teams a white flag option once games become official. There’s no reason to play innings 6-9 tonight other than they have to do it.
But, but stats and their historical value…🥸
how did the point of the game become to remove the ability watch/listen to the game?
seems like all these new rules are coming from people who don´t like baseball
And there are more changes possible for next year. I absolutely hate Rob Manfred. He’s so bad for the game
doesnt even deserve to have his name printed on the baseballs
Oviedo needs to be sent down. Also, there has got to be someone better than Castro. He is a AAA player at best not a major leaguer.
When your first five hits are HRs, you build some equity. Castro’s issue is that he’s not the best option at any position. I’d hope he hangs around .270-.280 with some pop and get some bullpen help for him at the deadline. He’d be useful for a number of teams, but not one with a glut of MIs.
I said pregame that I hoped that Johan would bring his A game…..not sure he brought even his C game…..
This losing streak is no fun ☹️
Oviedo’s ERA with Hedges catching: 9.19
With Delay or Heineman: 3.00
Oviedo showing us why Cardinals dealt him away last year.
Pitching. Pirates need more and better pitchers. That should be the emphasis in the Draft..
Really? Have you noticed that big fat 0 up there on the scoreboard and one that looked an awfully lot like it yesterday?
If Pitching only gave up 1 run, what would the final score be?
2-1 Pirates, apparently.
Sooo….how do you plan on spending the rest of your Saturday night?
Have to be at work at 3am, so luckily bedtime for me.
honey and jack and lime
OK, who’s “Honey”?
A beer before sleep for the marathon.
Not sure. Fortunately I haven’t seen any of this slop as I’m tuned into the Derby. But unless fortunes change dramatically for Bucs in next 20 minutes, guess I’ll be looking for something new to stream.
That was my thought! Switch to the Indy game and as is usually the case no one that I watch play is playing, can’t understand why these kids who get an automatic day off on Mondays get so many days off. Anyway, Hulu The Bear is how I’m gonna continue my evening.
I saw that Indy lineup before, that was rough looking. Bradenton seems like the only affiliate to watch if you want to hold your interest through the whole lineup, otherwise the others just have real dead spots for legit/sleeper prospects nightly.
The Derby will take up a couple minutes of it.
Well that option is done…….Maybe the Vegas/Edmonton game?
I do have some laundry………
lets go bucs!
I realize this has no impact on the major league club, and that the Pirates treat all injuries like it was hockey, but….Swaggerty has been out for two weeks now, any update on what is keeping him out?
It was said to be illness. If it’s not illness, then it’s code for something else they don’t want to share. I tend not to pry when it’s specific codes. Oneil Cruz used to have code injuries when he was benched, “sprained ankle” last year, “lower body discomfort” a few years ago just meant he wasn’t giving effort and there was no injury. But when it’s something like illness or even just dealing with some issues, I don’t even ask
Jared Jones?
I don’t know, but I have seen pictures of him with Altoona in the past few days doing baseball stuff, with no sign of anything bad in the photo (aka cast/boot). I thought someone would check Wednesday during the medical updates, but I didn’t see anything
Here is to Johan is on his A game and the team backs him up to get a much needed win tonight,