The Pirates fell a game under .500 when they lost on Monday in San Francisco. But with they won on Tuesday and yesterday had the chance to finish May with a winning record. They did just that. Here’s Joe Block.
After entering the month of May 12 games over .500 the Bucs enter June just one game over, and they are in second place in the National League Central, a game behind Milwaukee. Next up is a nine-game homestand starting tomorrow night against St. Louis. After playing the Cardinals for three games, the worst team in baseball, the 12-46 Oakland A’s, come to PNC Park, to be followed by the New York Mets.
Major League All-Star Game voting began yesterday. Phase One is an online fan vote running through noon on June 22nd on MLB.com, the MLB app, and each team’s website (pirates.com). Phase Two is June 26th through the 29th, with fans voting again but this time on players who moved on from Phase One. The winners will be announced June 29th. The Pirates have nine players on the All-Star ballot: Andrew McCutchen, Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Carlos Santana, Connor Joe, Jack Suwinski, Ji Hwan Bae, Rodolfo Castro, and Austin Hedges. Pitchers will be determined by MLB and a player vote.
In his weekly injury update, Pirates Director of Sports Medicine Todd Tomczyk said shortstop Oneil Cruz is ready to transition out of his walking boot. That will happen next week and Cruz will begin work on strengthening his lower half. Santana, a first baseman, worked out yesterday but did not play. He has a stiff lower back.
Others:
- Tomczyk said it’s too early to tell if Vince Velasquez will pitch again this season after experiencing elbow pain again.
- Pitcher Wil Crowe has begun a throwing program from 75 feet off of flat ground.
ALTOONA CURVE
Placed runner Matt Gorski stole third base and scored the game-winning run on Connor Scott’s sacrifice fly in a 4-3 Curve win over Binghampton. Gorski and Mason Martin homered for the Curve and Jacob Gonzalez and Lolo Sanchez each had two hits. Kyle Nicolas threw six scoreless innings of two-hit ball and Oliver Garcia earned the win with a scoreless 10th inning.
The Curve have not explained why, but infielder Drew Maggi has been suspended for three games. He was out of the lineup last night and they could have used him, as second baseman Domingo Leyba left the game with an injury, prompting the move of Matt Gorski from center field to second, a position he had not played since high school. Leyba just returned from the injured list yesterday.
Righthander Matt Eckelman starts for the Curve tonight in a bullpen game.
