9/4/23- By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on Twitter
Coming home after a 5-1 road trip in Missouri, the team was looking for some bouncebacks. Pirates looking to rebound after dropping the final game to the Cardinals. Starting pitcher Luis Ortiz looking to put together a better outing after a troubling season and rough game last time out. Jack Suwinski was hoping to get some momentum going after finally breaking out of his homerless drought. At home against the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers, it was a tough ask but one for which the Bucs were up to the challenge.
After a scoreless first inning, Ortiz started to fall apart, walking Sal Frelick and Willy Adames before hitting Mark Canha with a pitch to load the bases with no outs. A pair of deep fly outs by Victor Caratini and Bryce Turang would put the Brewers up by 2 early.
Bucs tied it up in the 4th as Andrew McCutchen hit a lead off double and Jack Suwinski smashed his 23rd home run of the year to dead center.
Pirates kept piling on in the 5th inning with a 2-out rally, starting with Hayes hammering a hanging curve to left center. Bryan Reynolds followed with a double and was himself doubled home by Cutch to push the line to a 4-2 score.
Brewers starter, Corbin Burnes, was in cruise control early as he set down 9 of the first 11 batters before it started unraveling on him, surrendering 4 runs off 7 hits in his 6 innings of work. On the other hand, Ortiz pieced together his best start in a long time, posting a quality start and keeping the team in it, managing to rebound from his inconsistent 2nd inning and got the win for the team.
News & Notes
- First overall draft pick, Paul Skenes, had a visibly uncomfortable video interview with Greg Brown and Bob Walk during the third inning.
- Ke’s 5th inning home run was his first career hit versus Burnes after 16 previous plate appearances.
- Suwinski went 2-for-4 on the day for just his 2nd multi-hit game since July 29.
- Cutch came out of the game following the 5th inning with reported left Achilles tendon tightness. He had fouled a ball off his leg during his at-bat, likely causing the issue.
- Carmen Mlodzinski, Colin Holderman and David Bednar combined to pitch the 7th, 8th and 9th innings allowing only 1 hit and 1 walk with a strikeout. Bednar secured his 32nd save on the season, which is tied for 5th most in MLB.
- Pirates will look to take the series tomorrow night as they face Brandon Woodruff. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35PM EST. Let’s Go Bucs!
Steel City Pirates 
If Skenes is good in Bradenton next March he should travel north with the big league team. They really could use the starting pitching help in 2024. Getting two decent veteran starters sounds like a dream I am afraid.
These small market teams that do well have have good but not great hitters up and down the lineup and on the bench. That’s how I see Andujar next year, with 200 plate appearances and a 125 OPS. Think about the 79 Pirates and how they had 12 guys that could hit well, of which 8 started any given game.
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Hey Mark,
I’ll be honest in that there’s essentially a zero percent chance Skenes breaks camp for Opening Day. Makes a good story and he very well might be ready but team gains a year of control if he stays for the first few weeks in April. Another year if he suddenly “finds it” midway through June. An arm of that caliber, the potential it provides, the team will want to be careful and ensure they maximize their control regardless of what fans want. That said, there are a number of SP options available via FA this off-season. Bucs won’t necessarily go for the top names like Snell but there are plenty other names out there. Would expect they sign 2. And one might end up being Velazquez on a cheap deal but they’ll get 2, at least.
Concerning Andujar, I just don’t know where he fits on the roster. Cutch likely comes back at DH, outfield is Davis/Suwinski/Reynolds/Joe (maybe another FA) so no room there. The team says he can play 1B but I don’t think we would be happy with that. Maybe he’s a bench bat, occasional RF starts vs LHP but who knows? Team has a lot of young guys who they want to get run on and see what they’ve got. 2024 will be a critical year and they should be “good” for whatever that means in the end.
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Good response, well written, along with the gamer. The number of people clamoring for Skenes to start in MLB in April amazes me, even if it doesn’t surprise me. He’s throwing on a bullpen-like pitch count right now and gave up a lot in his first AA appearance, which he has added a whopping (checks notes) one further appearance to. AA would be totally realistic for him to begin next season, though I could see AAA depending on how far along he is in development.
Anyone purporting Andujar to be anything more than a bat is kidding themselves, barring some amazing defensive transformation that somehow has gone totally under the radar. He slugs in AAA but hasn’t in MLB in too long. Unless they’ve gotten him to do a whole Scott Hatteberg routine at 1B, it just doesn’t make sense to keep him around, agreed.
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