Notes: 4-2 Week; Player Shuffle Keeps On Keepin' On; Kells, Shelty All Stars; Pirates, Minors, MLB News

Halfway done...

Notes:

• The Bucs came home and whupped the Marlins, 9-4, to christen their City Connect unis. Game two was played under steel mill-type haze thanks to the Canadian wildfire smoke swirling south. The Pirates, with the input of MLB and the MLBPA, decided to play but offered a ticket exchange to those fans who prefer a clean-air contest. A lil' smog did the boys good as they took a 7-1 decision behind Mitch Keller. Same yucky air Thursday, and the Buc players wanted the game rescheduled, but they played on. Good thing, too - after a delayed start, they rallied from a 4-0 deficit to take a 5-4 win to sweep the series. The Brew Crew arrived for the weekend. The Bucs had lost nine straight games to Central foes, and the string ended there when the Pirates overcame a pair of four-run deficits to win the opener, 8-7, on Carlos Santana's walkoff homer. But the team showed its warts and dropped the next pair.
• The rehabilitation assignments of 1B/DH Ji-Man Choi and LHP Rob Zastryzny were bumped up to  Indy on Wednesday. OF Bryan Reynolds and RHP Colin Holderman are also at the end of their IL, so should be some weekend roster movement. And there was. On Friday, Holderman was activated and RHP Cody Bolton was optioned to Indy. Two days later, OF Bryan Reynolds came off the IL, and INF/OF Ji Hwan Bae went on it.

Bryan Reynolds is back - photo 2023 Pirates

• Movement works both ways - 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes, who missed a couple of days, went on the 10-day IL with back stiffness and IF Jared Triolo was called up. Triolo started, as per Shelty's MO, on his first day here and posted his first MLB hit.  
• IF Mark Mathias, recently DFA'ed, was claimed by the Seattle Mariners.
• John Perrotto notes that LHP Jarlin Garcia to says he'll play catch from 45 feet this week, the first time he will throw since sustaining nerve damage in his left arm in spring training.
• RHP Mitch Keller was named to the NL All-Star team. Kells is the first Pirates starting pitcher to be selected to the ASG since AJ Burnett and Gerrit Cole repped Pittsburgh in the 2015 Midsummer Classic. Keller ranked second in the NL in strikeouts (118), tied for third in wins (nine), sixth in WHIP (1.10), ninth in batting average against (.223) and 11th in ERA (3.34). Also, Skipper Derek Shelton was named to Philly manager Rob Thompson's NL All-Star Game Coaching Staff.
• Trivial Pursuit: Nick Gonzales' first four Bucco hits were a single, double, triple and home run. He and Ke'Bryan Hayes (2020) are the only Pirates since 1961 to hit for the cycle with their first four hits. 
• National pundits note that Andrew McCutchen would be a shiny trinket for the Bucs to move, although Cutch and the club both seem happy with him staying where he is. Mitch Keller's name has also popped up on a couple of radars. 

Anthony Solometo - 2022 photo/Bradenton

• In MLB Pipeline's new Top 100 Prospects list, the Pirates LHP Anthony Solometo has slipped in at # 100. Other Bucco prospects on the list include 2B Termarr Johnson (#30), C Henry Davis (#31), C/UT Endy Rodriguez (#39), and RHP Quinn Priester (#57). 
• Indy's Rodriguez and Greenboro's RHP JP Massey are headed to this year's future game in Seattle. Endy, interestingly enough, was selected as an infielder rather than catcher. The match will kick off All-Star week on July 8th. 
• RHP Beau Sulser is back in the system after being released by his Korean team. He tossed for the Bucs and Baltimore last year, with an 0-0/3.63 line in 10 outings
• Miami claimed RHP Eli Villalobos, recently waived by the Pirates, and assigned him to AA Pensacola. The Bucs had claimed him from the Fish earlier in the season, so it's a reunion for Eli.
• RHP Chad Kuhl has been unconditionally released by the Nationals.
• C Jose Godoy, who was a Buc for eight games last year, was waived by Baltimore to open a 40-man spot and went unclaimed. He was assigned back to AAA.