Where Things Stand
Happy Thursday, everyone. I hope that you are all having a wonderful week. The Pirates certainly helped the cause last night. It wasn’t really a pretty win, but it was fun. Any time you score 13 runs in a game it’s fun. I could’ve done without Keller giving up 7 runs though. It was an exciting offensive performance by our beloved Buccos. Everyone got in on the fun. Jason Delay was the only Pirates player without a hit in the game, but he did reach by a walk and a hit by pitch and scored both times. Joe, Palacios, and Triolo contributed with home runs. Palacios, Joe, Triolo, Davis, and Peguero all had multi-RBI games. The pitching was pretty solid after Keller was removed. Keller really wasn’t too bad early on. He got roughed up a bit in the fifth and sixth innings, though. All in all, it was a pretty good game. I’ll let the guys in the Podcast Department break down all of the finer details for you.
Up Next
The final game of the series will be today at 7:40 P.M. EDT. The Pirates will look to Johan Oviedo while the Cubs will counter with Kyle Hendricks. The Bucs were able to beat Hendricks the last time they faced him back on August 25th, but it took a Mitch Keller gem to get it done. Hendricks only allowed two runs on six hits in 5.2 innings of work in that game. The Pirates have lost both of Oviedo’s starts against the Cubs this season. I know none of this sounds promising. I’ll throw in some good news to hopefully balance things out. Ke’Bryan Hayes has 2 home runs in 18 at-bats against Hendricks. Well, can the Pirates grab a win tonight and take the series? Will Oviedo shine? Let me know what you think in the comments.
Quick Hits
We’ll start off with a bit of prospect watching. On Tuesday night, the Indianapolis Indians scored 19 runs in a game against the Rochester Red Wings.
Indianapolis (67-76)
LF Canaan Smith-Njigba
Game stats: 4-6, a homer, double, and five RBIs
Season stats: .276/.362/.464, 14 homers, one triple, 26 doubles, and 69 RBIs (373 at-bats, or 101 games at Triple-A)
2B Nick Gonzales
Game stats: 4-5, a homer, triple, double, a walk, and five RBIs
Season stats: .280/.383/.503, 13 homers, seven triples, 26 doubles, and 45 RBIs (354 at-bats, or 94 games at Triple-A)
On his long road from Tommy John, Max Kranick went three innings while giving up one hit, one run, no walks, and struck out three.
Noe Toribio made his Triple-A debut and earned his first career Triple-A victory. In addition, four out of the nine Indians’ hitters had three or more hits on the night.
21 Indianapolis hits later, and the Indians beat Rochester 19-1. The Pittsburgh Pirates could’ve used some of those hits on the major league side of things.
If you watched Tuesday night’s disaster, you probably noticed a new name that came to pitch in relief in the seventh inning. Prior to the game, the Pirates called up right-handed pitcher Kyle Nicolas.
The Pirates have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Kyle Nicolas, the team announced. In corresponding moves, fellow right-hander Thomas Hatch has been optioned to Triple-A, while Andrew McCutchen has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
The 24-year-old Nicolas came to Pittsburgh in 2021 as part of the trade that sent Jacob Stallings to Miami. Primarily a starting pitcher during his first two years in the minors, he transitioned to a relief role this summer. By and large, he has performed much better out of the bullpen, albeit in a limited sample size. From August 1 to September 13, he pitched 21 innings in relief, posting a 2.14 ERA and striking out an incredible 30 batters.
Entering the season, both Baseball America and FanGraphs ranked Nicolas as the no. 14 prospect in the Pirates system. The evaluators at Baseball America praised his powerful fastball, while those at FanGraphs were more impressed with his consistent command. However, it should be said that both sources were assessing his body of work as a starter. Thus far, he has looked more like a power pitcher out of the bullpen, with an impressive 36.8% strikeout rate but a less-than-ideal 11.4% walk rate.
If you missed that game, his debut didn’t go well. He gave up six runs on three hits while walking two and recording only a single out. With a 162.00 ERA now, there really is only one direction he can go.
Alright. That wraps us up for today. We’ll be back here again tomorrow wrapping up the Cubs series and looking ahead to the Reds series this weekend. As always, #LetsGoBucs!