Notes: 50-50 Week; Cutch 2,000; Injuries, Moves & News

June bugs...

Notes: 

• Hapless Oakland came to town and quickly put Pittsburgh in a 3-0 hole in the opener, making the Bucs sweat for their 5-4 victory. Then the A's beat on Buc ace Mitch Keller to end a 15-game road losing streak, and chased Roansy early in the rubber match to take the series. Oakland may have just been due; they went on to sweep the Brewers. Then the Mets came calling and were clobbered 14-7 by the Pirates; the next day, the Bucs had three hits and lost 5-1 to even the set. Cutch led off the deciding game with a single to left, Andrew's 2,000 hit, and with that out of the way, Pittsburgh rode Mitch Keller to a 2-1 series clincher.

Cutch got 2,000 on Sunday - photo 6/11/2023/Pirates

• Pittsburgh recalled OF Canaan Smith-Njigba; RHP Chase De Jong was DFA'ed for the second time
• Vince Velasquez had elbow surgery and is done for the next 11-12 months. The procedure was done because of damage to Velasquez’s UCL, but it wasn't TJ surgery, FWIW.
• DFA'ed IF Chris Owings went unclaimed and was outrighted to Indy.
• Shelty said RHP Roansy Contreras is going to the bullpen, so they'll need a call-up from Indy for the Cub series next week; late reports, unconfirmed by the team, say it'll be 27-year-old RHP Osvaldo Bido (3-4/4.55) - and yes, they are that thin in AAA. The Bucs have Mitch Keller, Rich Hill, Luis Ortiz and Johan Oviedo still standing in the rotation after losing Roansy, Velasquez and JT Brubaker. 
• For  those wondering what a Mitch Keller and/or Oneill Cruz long-term deal might look like, Dan Szymborski of Fangraphs took a shot at projecting their shape.
• 23-year-old righty JP Massey has been named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Month. JP went 1-0 with a 0.72 ERA in May (he's 2-2/2.58 in seven '23 starts). 
• RHP Blake Cederlind, who was recently released by the Pirates, signed a minor league deal with the San Diego Padres.