The Pirates pulled a bit of a surprise with the opener strategy last night, going to LHP Josh Fleming in the first inning, before turning the ball over to Quinn Priester for one of his best MLB appearances.
Fleming labored a bit through the first inning, allowing three walks, but pitching a scoreless frame. He’s been used as an opener twice before this season, throwing 2.1 and 4.0 innings in those starts. This time around, the Pirates turned to Priester immediately.
Priester threw six innings, allowing two runs, one earned, while striking out eight. This was a career-high in strikeouts for Priester at the Major League level. The right-hander led with the sinker/slider combo, throwing each offering 30 times out of his 95 pitches. The slider had seven whiffs on 15 swings, with seven more called strikes. The sinker only got one whiff, but had 12 called strikes. Priester also got two whiffs on his four-seam fastball, and three on his curveball.
The Pirates gave him plenty of support, but Priester did have to pitch through a tie game for a few innings. Bryan Reynolds hit his 17th homer of the year in the third inning, putting the Pirates up 2-0. Priester allowed his runs in the bottom of the third.
In the sixth inning, the Pirates broke the game open with six runs, fueled by a grand slam by Joey Bart. The power didn’t stop there. Rowdy Tellez hit a solo homer in the seventh, Jack Suwinski hit one in the eighth, and Joshua Palacios hit a two run homer in the same inning.
The Pirates won 12-2, after Dennis Santana closed out the game with two shutout innings and four strikeouts.
Rotation Depth
The outing from Priester helps the Pirates in a week where they needed starting help. Martin Perez will start on Wednesday, followed by Paul Skenes on Thursday for the final game against the Brewers.
The weekend series should feature starts from Mitch Keller, Luis Ortiz, and we could see another outing from Priester before the All-Star Break. He’d have a good matchup against the 26-67 White Sox.
Roster Moves
**Priester was activated from the 15-day IL ahead of the game. To make room on the active roster, outfielder Edward Olivares was optioned to Triple-A.
**LHP Justin Bruihl cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Indianapolis.
**David Bednar started a rehab assignment in Altoona on Tuesday night, pitching a scoreless inning.
**Ryan Borucki continued his rehab work in Altoona, throwing 1.2 scoreless innings.
**The Pirates released outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba. Acquired in the Jameson Taillon trade in 2021, CSN had a .212/.344/.330 line with two homers in 179 at-bats this year in Triple-A. He combined for a .259/.361/.414 line with 18 homers in 773 at-bats during his time in Triple-A since the trade, while dealing with injuries every season.
Pirates Prospect Watch
Jack Brannigan homered twice for Greensboro, while Termarr Johnson extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Read about all of Tuesday’s minor league action in the latest Pirates Prospect Watch.
