Buccos Bouncing Back?
For the first time in a month, the Pittsburgh Pirates won a series, beating San Francisco 9-4 in Wednesday afternoon's rubber match, and got back above .500 in doing so. At 28-27, they sit ½ game back of New York Mets and the National League's third and final Wild Card spot and just one game back of the Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
It's certainly a lower bar than they'd built throughout April, but the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step… or something like that. With 29 runs scored in their last six games – more than they scored in the first 14 games of the month – they have found some of the offense that'd gone missing.
Five Hits From History
Despite the Pirates' offensive struggles in the month of May, one player whose numbers at the plate didn't plummet was Andrew McCutchen. His batting average was .250 in April, .293 in May. His OPS was .807 in April, .816 in May. And he had two more hits (24, to April's 22) in eight fewer plate appearances. That means he has 47 hits for the season and is now just five away from 2,000 for his career.
Aside from his ability to provide offense in the top third of the order and DH nearly every day, this is exactly why Bob Nutting and Ben Cherington signed McCutchen this past winter. Because he now has a chance to hit both his 300th career home run and 2,000th career hit in a Pirates uniform. The homers may take until closer to the All-Star Break to achieve, but the hits are very likely to occur during the nine-game homestand that starts Friday at PNC Park against the rival St. Louis Cardinals.
Considering the way the Cardinals have tortured the Pirates over the years, it would be nice to have a landmark moment against them.
Make that 2,000th hit a walk-off home run in extra innings, much like that legendary July night in 2015, and we'd really have something.
I know, I know. They just won their first series in a month. Let's not get greedy.
Hard Target To Miss
Despite the success Pat Freiermuth has had in his first two years, the Steelers still spent a Top 100 draft pick, 93rd overall, on Georgia Bulldog Darnell Washington. The 6'7" 264-lb rookie is incredibly gifted physically with his size, but admitted he still has a lot to learn and refinements to his game are necessary at the NFL level.
"I played at Georgia. I thought I would come here and know a lot of things already. But I still got tons of things to learn," Washington said Wednesday. "I can't remember what day it was (but) there was press man. I was like 'it's real.'"
With the emergence of Connor Heyward late last season, adding Washington as a viable pass-catching weapon alongside Freiermuth and Heyward could give the Steelers' passing game a potency both in the middle of the field and the red zone they've had trouble finding the past few years.
Fall Saturdays Are (Mostly) Set
More dates/times and viewing options for local college football teams were announced on Wednesday.
Highlights of yesterday's releases included the scheduling of the 106th Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia in primetime on ABC from Morgantown on Saturday, September 16th.
The Big Ten and it's network partners also announced more kickoff times and viewing options for Penn State's schedule, including primetime games on Saturday, September 2nd against West Virginia on NBC, Saturday, September 23rd against Iowa on CBS (a White Out), and Friday, November 24th at Ford Field in Detroit against Michigan State on NBC.
West Virginia also announced kickoff times, including one for an early season non-conference visit from the Duquesne Dukes on Saturday, September 9th at 6pm on the Big 12 Now streaming service.
Swaggerty's Wife's Battle
Pirates' minor league outfielder and former 1st Round draft pick Travis Swaggerty revealed via his social media that his wife, Peyton, is dealing with a rare medical condition that required a visit to the Mayo Clinic this week.
The two met when Travis was a freshman in college and Peyton a senior in high school and married in 2020.
Despite a strong spring, Swaggerty was sent to AAA Indianapolis to start the season and is hitting .213 through 18 games.
