And the season is finally here...
Players:
Active Roster: Lineup: SS Oneil Cruz, C Henry Davis, 3B KeBryan Hayes, DH Andrew McCutchen, LF Bryan Reynolds, RF Jack Suwinski, CF Michael Taylor, 1B Rowdy Tellez, 2B Jared Triolo; Bench: C Jason Delay, UT Connor Joe, OF Edward Olivares, IF Alike Williams; Rotation: Mitch Keller, Martin Perez (L), Jared Jones, Bailey Falter, Marco Gonzales (L); Bullpen: David Bednar, Ryan Borucki (L), Aroldis Chapman (L), Roansy Contreras, Josh Fleming (L), Luis Ortiz; Ryder Ryan, Hunter Stratton.
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Temporary Shuffle: RHP Roansy Contreras was placed on paternity leave just before the Miami series; LHP Jose Hernandez was recalled from Indy for three days, long enough to post his first big-league save. Hunter Stratton also joined the papa club earlier in the week.
Injuries: UT Ji-Hwan Bae (hip), C Yasmani Grandal (foot) - 10 day IL; pitchers Colin Holderman (virus - started Indy rehab this weekend), Carmen Mlodzinski (forearm) - 15-day IL; pitchers Dauri Moreta (TJ), Johan Oviedo (TJ), C Endy Rodriguez (forearm), out for year/60-day IL. A trio of pitchers are on the 60-day IL at Indy: Mike Burrows (TJ), Brennan Malone (labrum) & Aaron Shortridge (shoulder).
DFA'ed: OF Canaan Smith-Njigba, C Ali Sánchez and quite unexpectedly LHP Jackson Wolf were designated to clear 40-man spots for RHP's Jones, Ryan and Stratton. CSN & Sanchez cleared waivers; Ali declared for free agency.
Traded: In a surprise move, RHP JT Brubaker, who is on the 60-day IL while recovering from TJ surgery and not expected back in action until sometime around the All-Star break, was sent with international pool money to the Yankees for a PTBNL. JT was one of only four players remaining from the 2020 team, along with Ke’Bryan Hayes, Mitch Keller and Bryan Reynolds.
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| T Brubaker - 2023 Topps |
Reassigned to Indy: Pitchers: Domingo German, Ben Heller, Jose Hernandez, Brent Honeywell Jr, Eric Lauer, Kyle Nicolas, Wily Peralta, Michael Plassmeyer, Quinn Priester, Paul Skenes IF: Jake Lamb, Liover Peguero; OF: Gilberto Celestino, Matt Gorski, Billy McKinney, Josh Palacios. Reassigned to Altoona: Pitchers: Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler, Anthony Solometo; IF: Tsung-Che Cheng.
Games That Count: Mitch Keller made his second consecutive Opening Day start. It's worrisome that his velo is still down, but after 12 innings and three bombs (Bryan Reynolds, Edward Olivares & Oneil Cruz), the Pirates had win #1 in the books, 6-5, over Miami. Luis Ortiz claimed the dub with Jose Hernandez posting his first MLB save. They took game two, 7-2, as Martin Perez danced through the raindrops. The relief corps put together 4-2/3 more scoreless innings; Ryder Ryan got his first MLB win and Josh Fleming earned his second save in the bigs. Jared Jones made his MLB debut Saturday. He K'ed 10 in 5-2/3 innings, left with a 5-3 lead and got the win as the Buccaneers added on late for a 9-3 runaway. They swept the Fish on Sunday in a shootout - Rowdy Tellez's three-run homer put them up in the seventh, a Miami dinger off David Bednar tied it in the ninth, then Pittsburgh small-balled it, turning a couple bunts and bases-loaded walk into a 9-7 win for the Renegade, with Hunter Stratton nailing it down for his first MLB save. Now on to Washington for a three-gamer...
Games That Don't: The Bucs won their last spring game on Monday, 4-3, over the Toronto Blue Jays and finished their Florida campaign at 13-16. At Indy, Paul Skenes made his debut on Saturday: he went three perfect innings with five strikeouts and tossed 46 pitches, 29 for strikes while hitting 100+ several times. Didn't help, though - Louisville scored in the ninth to take a 4-3 decision.
Notes:
- Seven Opening Days, seven Opening Day CF'ers: Michael Taylor (2024), Jack Suwinski (2023), Bryan Reynolds (2022), Anthony Alford (2021), Jarrod Dyson (2020), JB Shuck (2019) and Starling Marte (2018).
- 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes has a four-game multi-hit streak to open the season. He's first Pirate to do that since Barry Bonds in 1988.
- Since saves became an official stat in 1969, the Pirates are the only team to have a pitcher earn his first MLB win (Ryan, Jones) or save (Hernandez, Stratton) in each of the first four games of a season. José Hernández is the only Pirate to earn his first career save on Opening Day, per Joe Block.
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| Jared Jones - 2023 photo Julio Aguilar/Getty |
- Aroldis Chapman hit 101 Sunday. It's now 15 consecutive seasons that he's registered 101+; no one else has done it in more than six straight seasons.
- The Pirates turned seven DPs in their first two outings v the Fish, a team record for starting the season.
- RHP Domingo German, who the Bucs are trying to rehab, hasn't seen the light yet according to an article by Randy Miller of NJ.com. (Paywall).
- The injury-plagued Nick Burdi made the Yankee cut; here's hoping he can put together a season while staying in one piece.
- Kevin Newman opted out of his minor league deal with Arizona and is now an FA.
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