<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-manager-don-kelly-brutally-honest-losing-streak');   ga('set', 'title', 'Pirates manager Don Kelly gets brutally honest on team’s losing streak');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Pirates-manager-Don-Kelly.jpg"><figcaption>© Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Pirates manager Don Kelly gets brutally honest on team’s losing streak</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-13T06:35:18-07:00">September 13th, 6:35am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-13T06:35:37-07:00">September 13th, 6:35am</time><address><a>Benjamin Adducchio</a>Benjamin Adducchio is a journalist and writer with more than a decade of experience in covering sports news. Ben is a passionate sports fan who loves college football, basketball, and the New York Yankees.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/baltimore-orioles/orioles-pitcher-gets-real-on-importance-of-close-wins-after-sweep-vs-pirates">Pittsburgh Pirates have had a rough season</a>, by any stretch of the imagination. The losses are piling up for Pittsburgh, as the club is now on a seven-game skid. Manager Don Kelly is being honest <a href="https://www.mlb.com/pirates/news/mitch-keller-solid-start-not-enough-in-pirates-loss-to-nationals" rel="noopener">about the team’s recent pains</a>.</p><p>“Going through a six-game losing streak, being down by three going into the ninth against their closer, the fight, the chance to score,” Kelly said, per MLB.com. “It’s frustrating when you’re losing seven in a row, and especially the last four by one run. I just like the fight in the guys to finish strong there.”</p><p>The Pirates are now 64-84 on the season, after dropping a contest to the Washington Nationals on Friday. Washington defeated Pittsburgh 6-5. It was the fourth game in a row that the Bucs lost by just one run.</p><p>Pittsburgh has now also dropped seven of the last 10 contests.</p><h2><b>Pirates have sailed through rough waters all season</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jul-20-2025-Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania-USA-Pittsburgh-Pirates-starting-pitcher-Andrew-Heaney-45-delivers-a-pitch.jpg"><figcaption>© Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Pittsburgh has been in the cellar of the National League Central division nearly all season. The Pirates fired their previous manager, Derek Shelton, following a rough start. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-don-kelly-umpire-ejection">Kelly is an interim manager</a> who has tried nearly all year to collect wins.</p><p>The Pirates have some bright spots, including their starting pitching. One of their best hurlers is Mitch Keller, who did fairly well on Friday against the Nationals. Keller allowed two runs and four hits through a little more than five innings of work.</p><p>“As a competitor, you want to stay out there, but a full lefty lineup like that and obviously the home run to lead off the inning didn’t help my case,” Keller said about his performance. “Obviously, I just want to be out there. I wish I could go nine every game.”</p><p>Pittsburgh has been woeful on offense this season. The club is at the bottom of Major League Baseball in nearly every offensive statistical category. Pittsburgh also traded away a lot of talent before the MLB trade deadline, including closer David Bednar.</p><p>The Pirates try to snap their losing streak when they play Washington again on Saturday afternoon. Washington is 61-86 on the campaign.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Pirates manager Don Kelly gets brutally honest on team’s losing streak

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-paul-skenes-pitching-gem-assessment');   ga('set', 'title', 'Pirates star Paul Skenes’ latest pitching gem draws honest assessment from ex-player');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Pirates-news-Why-Paul-Skenes-couldnt-pass-up-World-Baseball-Classic-honor.jpg"><figcaption>Brad Penner-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Pirates star Paul Skenes’ latest pitching gem draws honest assessment from ex-player</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-11T07:28:07-07:00">September 11th, 7:28am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-11T07:28:07-07:00">September 11th, 7:28am</time><address><a href="https://www.facebook.com/joey.mistretta/" rel="facebook">Joey Mistretta</a>Joey Mistretta is a Dallas Mavericks beat reporter, Dallas Wings beat reporter and lead MLB editor for ClutchPoints. He is originally from Lake Arrowhead, California. Mistretta graduated from Biola University with a degree in broadcast journalism.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the Baltimore Orioles by a final score of 2-1 on Wednesday. Nevertheless, Paul Skenes pitched well once again. The right-handed hurler struck out eight Orioles over five scoreless innings while allowing no walks. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-pittsburgh-manager-explains-paul-skenes-escapes-trouble">Skenes is in the middle of a tremendous season</a> to say the least.</p><p>Former MLB player Xavier Scruggs <a href="https://x.com/MLBNetworkRadio/status/1966139124022182080" rel="noopener">addressed</a> Skenes’ performance following Wednesday’s game, via MLB Network Radio.</p><p>“Just the dominance that we’ve seen with Paul Skenes, reaching now 200 strikeouts,” Scruggs said. “Only eight Pirates players in history, starters, have reached 200 strikeouts. I think to see that in his second full season just reminds us of the dominance, but also the understanding of what he’s doing from a pitching standpoint. The sequencing, the tunneling of his stuff, the adding of pitches, the ability to command the strike zone with such high velocity.”</p><p>Paul Skenes has established himself as a true National League Cy Young candidate. The 23-year-old has pitched to a league leading 1.92 ERA across 30 starts. Skenes also leads the league with 203 strikeouts.</p><p>After winning the Rookie of the Year and finishing third in NL Cy Young voting a season ago, Skenes seems like a legitimate candidate to win the Cy Young this year.</p><p>“I know we talk a lot about his ability, but I think a lot of it, too, is the mental capacity in which… We walked to him early on in spring training about wanting to get incrementally better each start,” Scruggs continued. “I know he didn’t go deep in this one, they’re trying to hold him back a little bit, save some of those bullets. But what we’ve seen from him this season is another example of what the Pirates have to look forward to with arguably the best arm in all of Major League Baseball.”</p><p>The Pirates are out of postseason contention. Pittsburgh is hoping to build a contending roster around Paul Skenes sooner rather than later. At the moment, the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-paul-skenes-drops-truth-bomb-after-dodgers-sweep-we-got-nothing-to-lose">Pirates will try to play the role of spoiler</a> against contending ball clubs.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Pirates star Paul Skenes’ latest pitching gem draws honest assessment from ex-player

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-paul-skenes-threw-64-pitches-dominant-outing');   ga('set', 'title', 'Why Pirates’ Paul Skenes only threw 64 pitches despite dominant outing');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Pirates-ace-Paul-Skenes-pitches-at-ASG.jpg"><figcaption>Brett Davis-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Why Pirates’ Paul Skenes only threw 64 pitches despite dominant outing</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-11T07:26:12-07:00">September 11th, 7:26am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-11T07:26:12-07:00">September 11th, 7:26am</time><address><a>Christopher Hennessy</a>Christopher Hennessy is a Senior Editor at ClutchPoints, with expertise in MLB, NHL and golf. Chris graduated with a journalism degree from Fordham University in 2022. He has also worked at Spectrum News One in Albany, New York and with The Hockey Writers as a New York Islanders writer. Chris is originally from Connecticut and is a lifelong New York Yankees, Islanders, and Jets fan.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 in ten innings on Wednesday night. The Buccos picked up their 82nd loss on the same night their ace put together another dominant outing. But the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-paul-skenes-drops-truth-bomb-after-dodgers-sweep-we-got-nothing-to-lose">Pirates had Paul Skenes on a pitch count</a>, stopping him at 64 pitches despite allowing two hits and no runs in five innings. Skenes spoke with Ian Nicholas Quillen of the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/paul-skenes-strikeouts-pirates-orioles-557bd52c847cec94569ce0c122b4d701" rel="noopener">about the pitch count.</a></p><p>“The main goal that I’ve had coming into the past two years is making every start,” Skenes said. “There are opportunities to give and take throughout the season, and tonight was kind of one of those. I probably needed it, to be honest.”</p><p>The Pirates ace continued, “I pitched in September last year, but it was different. Throwing 160 innings with 27 of them in the minors, it’s not the same as throwing 160 innings all in the big leagues.”</p><p>The Pirates limited Skenes’ pitch count last September as well. He threw 73 pitches in his penultimate start and 23 in just two innings in his final start. Now,<a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-paul-skenes-pick-nl-cy-young-award"> with the National League Cy Young award on the line</a>, they are limiting his pitches once again. Skenes took his 64 pitches and dominated the Orioles on Wednesday night.</p><p>The Pirates have 16 games left in the season, so Skenes could get four more starts if they keep the rotation in order. He has 22 innings to go until reaching 200 on the season, and already has 200 strikeouts and a sub-2.00 ERA. Even with a limited September, Skenes could put together a jaw-dropping stat line in just his second season.</p><p>The Pirates have been walked-off by the Orioles in both games to start the three-game set. They look to salvage the final game on Thursday afternoon at Camden Yards. Skenes’ next start is slated for Monday at home against the Chicago Cubs.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Why Pirates’ Paul Skenes only threw 64 pitches despite dominant outing

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/brewers-news-quinn-priester-breaks-record-11th-straight-win');   ga('set', 'title', 'Brewers’ Quinn Priester breaks franchise record with 11th-straight win');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Milwaukee-Brewers-starting-pitcher-Quinn-Priester.jpg"><figcaption>Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Brewers’ Quinn Priester breaks franchise record with 11th-straight win</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-05T19:54:06-07:00">September 5th, 7:54pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-05T19:54:06-07:00">September 5th, 7:54pm</time><address><a>Abdullah Imran</a>Abdullah Imran works as an Associate Editor for All Sports at ClutchPoints. He’s been a sports fan his entire life and enjoys writing about every sport. He has spent three years in sports journalism and loves analyzing games. In his free time, he very much enjoys binge-watching shows and playing video games.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Milwaukee Brewers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Milwaukee Brewers continued their dominant season on Friday, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 at PNC Park behind a seven-inning performance from <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/brewers-news-quinn-priester-2025-first-shutting-down-dodgers">Quinn Priester, who set a franchise record</a> with his 11th consecutive winning decision.</p><p>Priester (12-2) allowed two runs on six hits, striking out six and walking one, rallying from a shaky start to retire the final 11 batters he faced in a 96-pitch outing. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/brewers-news-real-reason-milwaukee-trade-quinn-priester">Priester, acquired from the Boston Red Sox</a> on April 7, was originally the Pirates’ first-round pick in 2019. Since joining Milwaukee, he has posted a 3.25 ERA across 26 games, 21 starts.</p><p>The Brewers have now won each of the last 17 games in which Priester has pitched, including 14 starts and three bulk relief appearances dating back to May 30. This surpasses the previous franchise mark <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/quinn-priester-wins-11th-straight-decision-with-brewers" rel="noopener">of 10 consecutive wins</a> in a season, held jointly by Chris Bosio and Cal Eldred in 1992, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.</p><p>Friday’s win was far from easy. Milwaukee went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position through most of the night but overcame the deficit with timely hitting.</p><p>Jake Bauers delivered the game’s decisive blow with a two-run single off Carmen Mlodzinski in the sixth, snapping a streak of 22 hitless at-bats with RISP that stretched back to the Brewers’ win over Philadelphia.</p><p>Brice Turang added an RBI single in the eighth, and a combination of Pirates errors and Andrew Vaughn’s contribution in the ninth accounted for the fifth run. Abner Uribe closed the game with a perfect ninth for his fifth save of the season.</p><p>The Brewers achieved the victory despite <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/brewers-news-pat-murphy-christian-yelich-plan-injury-absence">missing star outfielder Christian Yelich</a> and facing injuries in the bullpen, which has seen multiple pitchers, including Trevor Megill, Shelby Miller, Grant Anderson, DL Hall, and <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/milwaukee-brewers/brewers-news-milwaukee-reliever-nick-mears-il-back-injury">Nick Mears, on the injured list</a>. Right-hander Carlos Rodriguez was recalled from AAA Nashville to bolster relief options.</p><p>Milwaukee’s offensive leaders on the night included Bauers, Turang, and William Contreras, each with two hits, while the Pirates’ Johan Oviedo allowed just one unearned run over five innings in his fifth start since returning from Tommy John surgery.</p><p>The Brewers have improved to 31-11 in their last 42 road games, ending the Pirates’ seven-game home winning streak and maintaining a 5½-game lead in the NL Central over the Chicago Cubs with 20 games remaining.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Brewers’ Quinn Priester breaks franchise record with 11th-straight win

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/2-free-agents-pirates-must-pursue-mlb-offseason');   ga('set', 'title', '2 free agents Pirates must pursue in offseason');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/780139523-bo-bichette.jpg"></figure><h1>2 free agents Pirates must pursue in offseason</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-05T12:30:36-07:00">September 5th, 12:30pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-05T12:30:36-07:00">September 5th, 12:30pm</time><address><a>Bailey Bassett</a>Bailey Bassett is a sports writer from Denver, Colorado, covering major sports events and athlete backgrounds at ClutchPoints. He has experience covering and writing on high school, collegiate, and professional sports.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Mini-Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/mlb-stories/ranking-50-best-mlb-players-2025-season">Pittsburgh Pirates have arguably the best player in baseball</a>. That is, of course, Paul Skenes. The former No. 1 overall pick has quickly taken over baseball. Unfortunately, it hasn’t led to many wins during his young career, as there is next to no notable talent around him on the Pirates roster.</p><p>The team can’t afford not to improve. Not only would future low-win seasons waste Skenes’ prime, but they would risk frustrating the star, which could lead to him jumping ship. Because of that, the Pirates need to be aggressive in free agency this upcoming offseason. So, which impending free agents should the Pirates sign to jumpstart their rebuild?</p><h2><b>Bo Bichette</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/780134533-bo-bichette-crossing-home.jpg"><figcaption>Katie Stratman-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>The entirety of the Pirates’ offense has been a disaster this season. Almost every position in the team’s lineup could use an upgrade. One of the weakest position groups on the team is shortstop. Isiah Kiner-Falefa started the most games at the position, but he has only been able to belt one home run all season long. Jared Triolo didn’t add much more offense production, as he has batted just .226 this season.</p><p>One of the best shortstops in MLB is set to hit the open market, so the Pirates should go all in on making Bo Bichette their franchise player on offense. Bichette has hit 18 home runs for the Toronto Blue Jays this year. He also leads the American League in hits (177) and doubles (42). Bichette has played a key part in turning the Blue Jays into one of the best teams in baseball. Their 81 wins thus far are tied for the second most in MLB.</p><p>Bichette also plays killer defense in the middle infield. The Blue Jays might not be able to afford him after giving <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/toronto-blue-jays/grading-vladimir-guerrero-jr-blue-jays-500-million-contract">huge contracts to Anthony Santander and Vladimir Guerrero Jr</a>. Considering Bichette is just 27 years old and regularly has a batting average above .300, he may end up as the top player on the open market this offseason, regardless of position. Signing him would be just the move that could immediately improve the Pirates’ win production while simultaneously alleviating any concerns Skenes could have about Pittsburgh’s willingness to improve.</p><h2><b>Ramon Laureano</b></h2><p>The addition of a superstar like Bichette would drastically help, but the Pirates need a lot more than just one addition on offense. The team’s 102 home runs are by far the <a href="https://www.mlb.com/stats/team" rel="noopener">fewest in</a> baseball, and their team batting average of .234 isn’t far from the bottom. Chasing two superstars in the same offseason might be unrealistic, but Ramon Laureano could be a realistic and beneficial get for the Pirates.</p><p>Laureano started the season with the Baltimore Orioles, and he was expected to serve as a bench bat. Instead, he ended up being one of the best players for the team during a down season. His production in Baltimore led to him being a coveted trade deadline target, and <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/mlb-stories/padres-orioles-trade-grades-for-blockbuster-ryan-ohearn-ramon-laureano">Laureano was eventually traded alongside Ryan O’Hearn</a> to the San Diego Padres.</p><p>Laureano has continued his hot streak with the new team. Laureano has batted .322 and has seven home runs in just 31 games with the Padres. He has arguably been one of the best players in baseball since being traded. The outfielder is likely a mere rental, though, and considering he is a long-time journeyman, he likely won’t be too expensive in free agency. Perhaps Laureano’s hot streak will continue into next season, though. He’d be an upgrade over Tommy Pham in left field, so the Pirates should sign him when free agency kicks off.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

2 free agents Pirates must pursue in offseason

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-paul-skenes-drops-truth-bomb-after-dodgers-sweep-we-got-nothing-to-lose');   ga('set', 'title', 'Pirates’ Paul Skenes drops truth bomb after Dodgers sweep: ‘We got nothing to lose’');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Pirates-starting-pitcher-Paul-Skenes-30-walks-in.jpg"><figcaption>© Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Pirates’ Paul Skenes drops truth bomb after Dodgers sweep: ‘We got nothing to lose’</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-04T21:17:02-07:00">September 4th, 9:17pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-04T21:17:02-07:00">September 4th, 9:17pm</time><address><a href="https://letterboxd.com/splooshpuhrty/films/by/your-rating/">Jedd Pagaduan</a>Jedd Pagaduan is a certified Clippers and Gunners fan, which means he's a very sports-traumatized individual. He now writes about sports instead as a form of therapy.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The 2025 season has long been lost for the Pittsburgh Pirates. But that doesn’t mean that the final stretch of the regular season is meaningless for them. In fact, the Pirates locker room cannot be any more fired up after their recently-concluded three-game set against the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, as they <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/dodgers-news-las-sweep-pirates-concerning-trend">finished off a sweep on Thursday</a> with a 5-3 win.</p><p>The Pirates have been bad all year, but as the old adage goes, it’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish. This Pittsburgh squad is playing with a chip on their shoulder, and with ace Paul Skenes on the mound on Thursday, there was plenty of reasons for them to be confident, especially when they were <a href="https://twitter.com/SNPittsburgh/status/1963790072303501703" rel="noopener">gunning for the sweep</a> in front of their home crowd.</p><p>“We’re playing good baseball. I don’t know what confidence comes from, individually or team-wise. I think, to an extent, it comes from success. We’ve shown ourselves that we can do it. That gives us confidence. We got nothing to lose. It’s time to go. We don’t want to leave anything out there on the field. Just got to keep going,” Skenes told reporters following the Pirates’ win, via SportsNet Pittsburgh.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">"We got nothing to lose. It's time to go… We don't want to leave anything out there on the field." 😤</p><p>Paul Skenes is AMPED to finish the season strong 👏 ⚡ <a href="https://t.co/6e7cj1QllJ">pic.twitter.com/6e7cj1QllJ</a></p><p>— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNPittsburgh/status/1963790072303501703?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>Since coming out of the All-Star break, the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/dodgers-news-fans-ruthlessly-clown-la-after-wild-pirates-sweep">Pirates have been playing winning baseball</a>, having won 25 of their 44 games during that span. And this win over the Dodgers is simply a continuation of the much-improved level of play the whole roster, top to bottom, has displayed over the past month or so.</p><p>“That’s the stuff you enjoy, going for a sweep at home against arguably the best team in baseball. Those are cool opportunities, you can’t take them for granted,” Skenes added.</p><h2><b>Paul Skenes, Pirates are on an upward trajectory</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Pirates-give-stern-answer-to-team-inquiring-about-Paul-Skenes-trade.jpg"><figcaption>Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Much has been made over the past few years of the Pirates ownership’s propensity for cheapening out. But for all the flak they’ve caught, their record of 64-77 following their win over the Dodgers on Thursday could be a lot, lot worse.</p><p>Skenes, in particular, provides so much hope for the Pirates’ future. Every five days, the Pirates have as good of a chance to win as any other team in baseball, with their 23-year-old ace showing no signs of slowing down in his sophomore campaign. After another excellent start on Thursday where he allowed zero runs across 6.0 innings of work while striking out eight, Skenes is now sporting an ERA of 1.98 on the year across 173.0 innings.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Pirates’ Paul Skenes drops truth bomb after Dodgers sweep: ‘We got nothing to lose’

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/dodgers-news-las-sweep-pirates-concerning-trend');   ga('set', 'title', 'Dodgers sweep vs. Pirates reinforces concerning trend');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Dave-Roberts-v1.jpg"><figcaption>Katie Stratman-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Dodgers sweep vs. Pirates reinforces concerning trend</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-04T20:32:19-07:00">September 4th, 8:32pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-04T20:32:19-07:00">September 4th, 8:32pm</time><address><a>Abdullah Imran</a>Abdullah Imran works as an Associate Editor for All Sports at ClutchPoints. He’s been a sports fan his entire life and enjoys writing about every sport. He has spent three years in sports journalism and loves analyzing games. In his free time, he very much enjoys binge-watching shows and playing video games.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Los Angeles Dodgers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Los Angeles Dodgers entered September with one of the easier schedules in the Majors, but their recent performance against weaker opponents has raised concerns. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/dodgers-news-fans-ruthlessly-clown-la-after-wild-pirates-sweep">The Dodgers were swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates</a> in a three-game series, losing 5-3 on Thursday night at PNC Park, who entered the series 13 games under .500 and last in the NL Central.</p><p>This sweep has pointed to <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/dodgers-swept-by-pirates-to-start-september" rel="noopener">a worrisome pattern</a> for the Dodgers over the past two months. Since August 1, L.A. has posted an 11-4 record against teams with .500 or better records but gone 4-12 against sub-.500 opponents, according to Sonja Chen of MLB.com, revealing inconsistency against weaker competition.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-paul-skenes-claims-he-would-strike-out-babe-ruth">The Pirates’ victory was powered by right-hander Paul Skenes</a>, who pitched six scoreless innings, allowing only two hits, walking one, and striking out eight. Skenes improved to 10-9 for the season, surpassing .500 for the first time in 2025 and lowering his ERA to a major league-best 1.98. The former NL Rookie of the Year has now won six of his last seven decisions.</p><p>Blake Snell started for the Dodgers but was hit hard, allowing five runs on nine hits over five innings, while Pittsburgh scored four runs in a decisive fifth inning following three consecutive singles. Tommy Pham’s third-inning single opened the scoring, and Nick Yorke’s two-run double contributed to the four-run rally that effectively sealed the game. Ben Rortvedt, called up to assist with catching duties, struck out to end the ninth as Colin Holderman recorded his first save of the season, despite entering with a 7.89 ERA.</p><p>Offensively, the Dodgers were limited to five hits, with Mookie Betts breaking up the shutout with a leadoff ninth-inning home run. RBI singles from Pedro Pages and Miguel Rojas trimmed the deficit to 5-3, but it was too late to mount a full comeback.</p><p>It’s the first time in a decade that Los Angeles has been swept by Pittsburgh. The loss was the Dodgers’ fifth defeat in six games, with the team scoring just 16 runs during that stretch. Overall, since the beginning of July, the Dodgers have gone 25-30, while the Pirates, after the sweep, stand at 28-27.</p><p>Still, Los Angeles remains atop the NL West, two games ahead of the second-place Padres, who lost eight of their past 10 games, including a sweep in San Diego by Baltimore. The Dodgers also sit three games behind the Phillies for a first-round postseason bye, leaving little room for error heading into the final month of the regular season.</p><p>The Dodgers’ road trip continues with a series against the Baltimore Orioles, followed by a home series against the Colorado Rockies, the worst team in MLB this season. For a team chasing a championship, the next few weeks are make-or-break, as they need to get their act together and make the most of games against teams they’re supposed to comfortably win.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Dodgers sweep vs. Pirates reinforces concerning trend

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-paul-skenes-claims-he-would-strike-out-babe-ruth');   ga('set', 'title', 'Pirates’ Paul Skenes claims he would strike out Babe Ruth');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Paul-Skenes_86684c.jpg"></figure><h1>Pirates’ Paul Skenes claims he would strike out Babe Ruth</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-04T10:18:31-07:00">September 4th, 10:18am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-04T10:18:31-07:00">September 4th, 10:18am</time><address><a>Gerard Angelo Samillano</a>Gerard Angelo Samillano is an Associate Editor for ClutchPoints, with his focus primarily on the NBA, NFL, MLB and NCAA Football. When he's not writing for CP, Gerard can often be seen playing VALORANT or playing pick-up basketball.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Paul Skenes is a force of nature. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-paul-skenes-continues-shine-impressive-showing-tigers">The Pittsburgh Pirates ace is currently one of the best</a>, if not the best, pitchers in the MLB now. Skenes’ ability to completely overwhelm batters makes him a devastating threat to every hitting lineup.</p><p>There’s one question that remains to be answered, though: how would Skenes fare against the greatest players of all time. The Pirates ace gets his opponents out on a regular basis, but what would happen if he faced someone like, say, Babe Ruth?</p><p>Well, Skenes himself attempted to answer that question when he went on Mookie Betts’ podcast. The Pirates pitcher said that <a href="https://x.com/BleacherReport/status/1963104732974563678" rel="noopener">he believes he’ll be able to strike out</a> Babe Ruth himself. His solution? Throw something that even hitters today rarely see: his signature “splinker”.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Pirates’ Paul Skenes claims he would strike out Babe Ruth

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/mlb-stories/mlb-news-fans-question-emmet-sheehan-cam-devanney-1st-hit');   ga('set', 'title', 'Fans question Emmet Sheehan gesture after Cam Devanney’s 1st hit');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Emmet-Sheehan.jpg"><figcaption>Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Fans question Emmet Sheehan gesture after Cam Devanney’s 1st hit</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-03T19:07:55-07:00">September 3rd, 7:07pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-03T19:38:43-07:00">September 3rd, 7:38pm</time><address><a>Mike Gianakos</a>Mike Gianakos is the former editor-in-chief of High Times magazine, where he also spearheaded the video department and event production. He is a longtime podcaster and even longer suffering NY Jets fan.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Los Angeles Dodgers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Shohei Ohtani was scheduled to take the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers as the team looked to bounce back from a 9-7 loss in the series opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates. But <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/dodgers-news-shohei-ohtani-scratched-starting-pitching-pirates">Ohtani was a last minute scratch</a>. Los Angeles gave the ball to Emmet Sheehan instead. And the second-year pitcher provided some controversy along with his spot start.</p><p>Pirates infielder Cam Devanney made his long-awaited MLB debut on August 31 and recorded his first major league hit on Wednesday. After Devanney reached on a single to left in the bottom of the second inning, <a href="https://x.com/BenVerlander/status/1963385854157885447" rel="noopener">cameras caught</a> Sheehan doing something… odd.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">It appears Emmet Sheehan just intentionally kept the first MLB hit ball for Cam Devanney. </p><p>The team asked for the ball. The umpire threw Sheehan a new ball and he clearly switched it in his glove. </p><p> <a href="https://t.co/juwAc0loEG">pic.twitter.com/juwAc0loEG</a></p><p>— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenVerlander/status/1963385854157885447?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>“It appears Emmet Sheehan just intentionally kept the first MLB hit ball for Cam Devanney,” Ben Verlander wrote on X. “The team asked for the ball. The umpire threw Sheehan a new ball and he clearly switched it in his glove.”</p><h2><b>Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan faces backlash after switcheroo</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Emmet-Sheehan2.jpg"><figcaption>Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>An on-air breakdown of the footage did appear to confirm that Sheehan swapped out Devanney’s memento. Was this an act of unmitigated cruelty or a simply a harmless accident?</p><p>Dodgers reporter Kristen Watson attempted to <a href="https://x.com/kirsten_watson/status/1963415042440716612" rel="noopener">clear things up</a> after speaking with the pitcher. “Emmet Sheehan said it was not intentional,” Watson wrote. “He didn’t realize that the ball was being called for and shared he would personally apologize to Cam Devanney for the misunderstanding.”</p><p>That explanation failed to satisfy some fans. And many took to social media to share their thoughts.</p><p><a href="https://x.com/PlatinumKey13/status/1963391932035371465" rel="noopener">Platinum Key</a> wrote:<br>“Going to post every clip of Emmet Sheehan getting shelled in the postseason. This guy SUCKS”</p><p><a href="https://x.com/KyleBroughton4/status/1963398917418274850">Kyle Broughton</a> added:<br>“Emmet Sheehan is a complete dickhole. What if this justifiably curses the Dodgers for the next 100 years?”</p><p><a href="https://x.com/bennybumNEPAL/status/1963385397498839235" rel="noopener">Benedict Bumford</a> noted:<br>“Absolute scumbag behavior from Emmet Sheehan of the @Dodgers not saving Devanney’s first hit ball. You can’t take someone getting a hit off you, get off the mound you pigeon. @MLB fine this guy.”</p><p><a href="https://x.com/trotterman3/status/1963408794085724191" rel="noopener">@trotterman3</a> contemplated:<br>“If he had the ball in his hand that was the kid’s first hit and then caught the new ball in his glove why reach into his glove at all? He could have just thrown the ball in his hand towards the dugout. He didn’t and clearly switched the balls. That’s a scummy thing to do.”</p><p>And <a href="https://x.com/tybuttrey_/status/1963387396403363946" rel="noopener">Ty Buttrey</a> reasoned:<br>“The pitcher looks in the zone, probably had no clue it was this kids first at bat. He reacted from the umpire look at which ball was better and threw the bad ball in… You all love drama”</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Fans question Emmet Sheehan gesture after Cam Devanney’s 1st hit

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-paul-skenes-reveals-truth-behind-roy-moment-livvy-dunne');   ga('set', 'title', 'Pirates’ Paul Skenes reveals truth behind viral ROY moment with Livvy Dunne');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Pittsburgh-Pirates-starting-pitcher-Paul-Skenes-and-former-LSU-gymnast-Livvy-Dunne.jpg"><figcaption>Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Pirates’ Paul Skenes reveals truth behind viral ROY moment with Livvy Dunne</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-03T13:32:30-07:00">September 3rd, 1:32pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-03T13:46:39-07:00">September 3rd, 1:46pm</time><address><a>Zachary Howell</a>Zachary Howell is an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints focusing on creating premier MLB content. He is a big fan of the Yankees, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Syracuse Orange. In his free time, he likes to be outside or read.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Pittsburgh Pirates Paul Skenes is off to a legendary start to his Major League Baseball career. The second-year pro won the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-paul-skenes-beats-jackson-merrill-nl-rookie-of-the-year">National League Rookie of the Year award last season</a>. However, the reaction from Skenes and his girlfriend, Livvy Dunne, turned heads. The All-Star starter broke the reaction down for Mookie Betts, saying that his partner helps him with his feelings.</p><p>Skenes and Dunne have been together since their days at LSU. Over the last few years, both have risen to become one of professional sports’ premier celebrity couples. Now, each of them lead successful careers that have them both in the national spotlight, whether it be on the pitcher’s mound or on the balance beam. Despite the success, Skenes has trouble showing his joy.</p><p>After dealing with trade rumors swirling around Pittsburgh, Skenes has been able to focus on his pitching. He is just a few starts away from winning the NL Cy Young Award in his second season in MLB. He appeared on Bett’s podcast, On Base, to explain how Dunne <a href="https://youtu.be/H529S50W4PU?t=2828" rel="noopener">helps him understand</a> the significance of his achievements and help him celebrate.</p><p>“I joke with Liv because it’s like she is my emotion,” Skenes said. “Or she shows the emotion for me. I didn’t go into the year wanting to win, or it’s not a successful year if I win Rookie of the Year. Whether I won that or not it was a successful year. And so I’m sitting there and they call my name and it’s like, what does this change for me, it’s November at this point. I don’t know I probably think about it a little different. Maybe the next time I’ll show a little more emotion.”</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/dodgers-news-shohei-ohtani-scratched-starting-pitching-pirates">Skenes might have a date with Shohei Ohtani</a> standing between him and a Cy Young award. Regardless of how his season ends, the pitcher and Dunne will continue to support one another’s accomplishment, even if one is better at it than the other.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Pirates’ Paul Skenes reveals truth behind viral ROY moment with Livvy Dunne

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/dodgers-news-shohei-ohtani-scratched-starting-pitching-pirates');   ga('set', 'title', 'Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani scratched from starting pitching role vs. Pirates');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/shohei-ohtani.jpg"><figcaption>Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani scratched from starting pitching role vs. Pirates</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-03T12:47:32-07:00">September 3rd, 12:47pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-03T13:01:48-07:00">September 3rd, 1:01pm</time><address><a>Christopher Hennessy</a>Christopher Hennessy is a Senior Editor at ClutchPoints, with expertise in MLB, NHL and golf. Chris graduated with a journalism degree from Fordham University in 2022. He has also worked at Spectrum News One in Albany, New York and with The Hockey Writers as a New York Islanders writer. Chris is originally from Connecticut and is a lifelong New York Yankees, Islanders, and Jets fan.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Los Angeles Dodgers</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Los Angeles Dodgers lost the<a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/dodgers-news-mookie-betts-admits-no-secret-formula-after-pirates-loss"> first game of a three-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates</a> on Tuesday. They came into Tuesday’s game with high hopes because of the pitching matchup. But the Dodgers have scratched Shohei Ohtani from the pitching role on Wednesday, per multiple reports. But it <a href="https://x.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1963318629333897549" rel="noopener">could lead to a matchup</a> against Paul Skenes.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Shohei Ohtani was initially listed as tonight's Dodgers starting pitcher, but now he's listed as the DH instead</p><p>If the Dodgers are simply pushing him off a day, he would be lined up to face Paul Skenes tomorrow night <a href="https://t.co/dVsOWXy4uM">pic.twitter.com/dVsOWXy4uM</a></p><p>— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) <a href="https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1963318629333897549?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>Ohtani is still ramping up as he recovers from a UCL injury that knocked him off the mound for all of 2024. His most recent appearance was five innings, his longest with the Dodgers. But now, they have scratched him from the pitching role. He will still DH, which is promising on the injury front.</p><p>The Pirates have Braxton Ashcraft on the mound Wednesday afternoon against Emmet Sheehan, who will get the spot start. In Sheehan’s last appearance with the Dodgers, he threw seven innings of two-hit, shutout ball against the Cincinnati Reds. They need a big start to avoid a series loss to the Pirates amid a division race.</p><p>The Dodgers may get Ohtani back on the hill as soon as Thursday if they are trying to set up the historic matchup. If they are not, Skenes will go against multi-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell instead. Despite their 2024 championship and solid 2025 so far, LA has had issues keeping pitchers healthy. They hope Ohtani does not join that group.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/dodgers-news-how-shohei-ohtani-la-record-pirates">Ohtani hit a home run ball 120 miles per hour on Tuesday night, the hardest hit ball in Dodgers’</a> history. He will be leading off as the designated hitter on Wednesday, which could lead to more history. But nothing would get the eyeballs that an Ohtani vs Skenes pitching matchup would bring.</p><p>The Dodgers and Pirates finish their three-game set on Thursday at 3:40 p.m. Pacific. Skenes will be on the hill, but will Ohtani join him?</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani scratched from starting pitching role vs. Pirates

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-pittsburgh-makes-2-roster-moves-before-dodgers-clash');   ga('set', 'title', 'Pirates make 2 roster moves before Dodgers clash');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Pirates-P-Cam-Sanders.jpg?w=1024"><figcaption>Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Pirates make 2 roster moves before Dodgers clash</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-02T15:53:35-07:00">September 2nd, 3:53pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-02T16:08:59-07:00">September 2nd, 4:08pm</time><address><a href="https://linktr.ee/jordan.llanes">Jordan Llanes</a>Jordan Llanes is a sports writer and reporter based in Florida. In addition to ClutchPoints, he writes for a few other publications covering the NFL, college sports and Tottenham Hotspur. When he's not writing, Jordan enjoys spending time with his fiancée, cats, family and friends, as well as catching the latest TV shows and movies, and traveling.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>While the 2025 season has not gone according to plan <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/1-disappointing-player-pirates-must-trade-in-offseason">for the Pittsburgh Pirates,</a> finishing strong would certainly be a great way to boost the team heading into the offseason. Even though the Pirates are 23.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the NL Central lead, third place is certainly feasible. If Pittsburgh hopes to get there, then starting off their midweek series against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a win would certainly be a great way to start. Ahead of the matchup, the Pirates’ official X, formerly Twitter, announced <a href="https://x.com/Pirates/status/1962992493252800986" rel="noopener">the team had promoted</a> utilityman Nick Yorke and reliever Cam Sanders from Triple-A.</p><p>“We have recalled RHP Cam Sanders and INF/OF Nick Yorke from Triple-A Indianapolis,” posted the team’s account on Tuesday.</p><p>After rosters expanded yesterday, the promotion of Sanders and Yorke is a solid move by GM Ben Cherington and his staff. The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-pittsburgh-places-ex-yankees-infielder-on-outright-waivers">Pirates need to find contributors</a> for not only the 2026 roster, but beyond that point as well. Another under-.500, non-playoff season is already disappointing enough. However, if Yorke and Sanders can improve on their previous big-league stints, can they lock in a roster spot for next season, if not longer?</p><h2><b>Pirates look to finish 2025 season off on high note</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Pirates-INF-OF-Nick-Yorke.jpg"><figcaption>Mandatory Credit: © Christine Tannous/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Over the season’s last month, it should be the focus of Cherington and interim manager Don Kelly to get their younger players as many at bats as possible. After releasing veteran contributors Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Andrew Heaney, it looks as if Yorke and Sanders are their replacements, at least for now. If both players show promise, then it will give them a head start <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-oneil-cruz-takes-big-step-injury-return">towards the Pirates’ 2026 roster.</a></p><p>While hopes could be higher for Yorke, it’s likely Sanders who will receive more opportunities as the season draws to a close. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/new-york-yankees/yankees-news-bizarre-david-bednar-pirates-trade">The Pirates traded away</a> a few bullpen contributors before the deadline and just lost Heaney as well. Braxton Ashcraft looks set to replace him in the rotation. Can these young guns prove to be long-term contributors for Pittsburgh over the next few weeks? If so, then a brighter 2026 should be in store at PNC Park.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Pirates make 2 roster moves before Dodgers clash

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/1-disappointing-player-pirates-must-trade-in-offseason');   ga('set', 'title', '1 disappointing player Pirates must trade in offseason');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Pirates-right-fielder-Jack-Suwinski.jpg"><figcaption>Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>1 disappointing player Pirates must trade in offseason</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-09-02T10:17:25-07:00">September 2nd, 10:17am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-09-02T10:17:25-07:00">September 2nd, 10:17am</time><address><a>Yasmin Edañol</a>Yasmin D.G. Edañol is a PhD candidate in Chemistry at the University of the Philippines Diliman, with a background in scientific research and publishing. He brings a data-driven perspective to sports storytelling as an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints, with a focus on the NBA. Whether it's breaking down a clutch play or a stat line, he believes every great moment has a deeper layer waiting to be uncovered.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Mini-Editorials</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Pittsburgh Pirates season has <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-don-kelly-umpire-ejection">been a roller coaster of promise and frustration</a>. Despite flashes of competitiveness, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-fans-lose-minds-blowing-9-run-lead-vs-rockies">inconsistency ultimately derailed their playoff hopes</a>. With the door to the offseason now wide open, the Pirates faces pivotal roster decisions, and one player has emerged as the clear trade candidate: Jack Suwinski.</p><p><b>High Hopes That Never Materialized</b></p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-rookie-jack-suwinski-achieves-feat-never-done-before-in-mlb-with-home-run-ambush">When the Pirates acquired Jack Suwinski</a>, expectations were high. He was viewed as a potential power bat who could anchor the lineup and grow into a key piece of the rebuild. Early in his career, he offered glimpses of promise with clutch home runs, highlight-reel catches, and a few game-changing moments. However, those flashes proved unsustainable.</p><p>In the 2025 season, Suwinski’s production fell sharply. He hit just .132 over 121 at-bats, managing only 3 home runs, 8 RBIs, and a .525 OPS. Opposing pitchers quickly learned to exploit his weaknesses, forcing him into prolonged slumps and exposing his lack of adjustment at the plate.</p><p><b>Numbers That Tell the Story</b></p><p>Baseball is a results-driven game, and Suwinski’s 2025 numbers leave little room for optimism. In fact, his .132 batting average this season ranks among the lowest for Pirates hitters with significant at-bats, and his .525 OPS sits far below league-average production. Furthermore, his -0.1 WAR shows that his on-field contributions have actually hurt the team more than they’ve helped.</p><p>While Suwinski’s raw power remains intriguing, his declining plate discipline and inability to make consistent contact expose deeper developmental issues. Ultimately, for a team striving to become competitive again, his struggles have simply become too costly to overlook.</p><p><b>Why a Trade Makes Sense Now</b></p><p>The Pirates offseason presents the perfect opportunity for the team to reset and maximize Suwinski’s remaining value. Therefore, trading him now would allow the Pirates to free up roster space for promising young outfield prospects. Moreover, these players are ready to contribute at the major league level.</p><p>At the same time, teams with deeper lineups and less immediate pressure to produce, such as the Mariners or Guardians, might view Suwinski as a low-cost reclamation project. By doing so, the Pirates could target controllable pitching or versatile bench players. These additions, in turn, can provide more immediate and consistent value. Ultimately, while the return may not be blockbuster-level, making a move now strengthens the roster and aligns with the organization’s long-term vision</p><p><b>A Message to the Fanbase</b></p><p>Trading Suwinski would also send a strong message to the fanbase after another up-and-down Pirates season. Fans have endured years of rebuilding promises, and their patience is wearing thin. Making this move would demonstrate that mediocrity is no longer acceptable and that management is fully committed to constructing a competitive roster. It would also signal accountability, a willingness to make tough decisions, and a clear commitment to building a team capable of contending in the National League Central.</p><p><b>The Bigger Picture</b></p><p>The Pirates are entering a pivotal phase in their rebuild. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-pittsburgh-to-promote-top-pitching-prospect">With young pitching talent emerging</a> and several top prospects pushing for MLB roles, the organization can no longer afford to waste valuable opportunities on players who are failing to progress. While Suwinski’s potential might still appeal to other teams, Pittsburgh’s priorities have shifted. The focus is now on developing consistent contributors who can stabilize the lineup and accelerate the rebuilding process. It is time to prioritize reliability over untapped potential.</p><p><b>Final Thoughts</b></p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-mlb-history-rockies">The 2025 Pirates season revealed both promise and lingering shortcomings</a>. Trading Jack Suwinski this offseason isn’t just about the Pirates moving on from one disappointing player. It’s about redefining the team’s identity and setting a new tone for the future. By addressing their roster weaknesses and acting decisively, the Pirates can start building momentum and position themselves for meaningful progress in the years ahead.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

1 disappointing player Pirates must trade in offseason

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-oneil-cruz-home-run-over-green-monster');   ga('set', 'title', 'Oneil Cruz launches home run over the Green Monster');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Oneil-Cruz-1.jpg"><figcaption>Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Oneil Cruz launches home run over the Green Monster</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-08-30T16:36:15-07:00">August 30th, 4:36pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-08-30T16:55:02-07:00">August 30th, 4:55pm</time><address><a>Mike Gianakos</a>Mike Gianakos is the former editor-in-chief of High Times magazine, where he also spearheaded the video department and event production. He is a longtime podcaster and even longer suffering NY Jets fan.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Boston Red Sox</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Pittsburgh Pirates lost <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-oneil-cruz-exits-brewers-game-head-injury-collision">Oneil Cruz to a frightening head injury</a> earlier this month. The center fielder returned to the lineup on Tuesday but he’s struggled since rejoining the team. Cruz entered Saturday’s matchup against the Boston Red Sox with just one hit in his last 15 plate appearances.</p><p>But the Pirates’ slugger busted out of his cold streak with a <a href="https://x.com/i/status/1961908330038743171" rel="noopener">massive bomb</a> against Boston. Cruz led off the sixth inning with a tape-measure solo shot off Dustin May. The Red Sox’s hurler left a 94 mph four-seamer over the middle of the plate and Cruz hammered it 426 feet to dead center.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Oneil Cruz with a 426-foot BOMB for Pittsburgh 🚀</p><p> <a href="https://t.co/UIeQKljQlV">pic.twitter.com/UIeQKljQlV</a></p><p>— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClutchPoints/status/1961912816610553910?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>The blast put the Pirates up 5-2 but Pittsburgh was just getting started. The team chased May from the game with one out in the top of the sixth. Aided by a Ceddanne Rafaela throwing error, the Pirates plated five runs in the inning, taking a 9-2 lead.</p><h2><b>Oneil Cruz crushes first HR since IL return</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Oneil-Cruz-2_894864.jpg"><figcaption>Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/red-sox-news-boston-fans-are-regretting-dustin-may-trade">May endured a brutal start</a> against Pittsburgh, allowing seven runs (six earned) on eight hits and four walks while striking out five in 5.1 innings. He earned his 11th loss of the season as the Pirates won 10-3.</p><p>Despite falling out of playoff contention and getting buried in the highly competitive NL Central, Pittsburgh has been heating up. The Pirates are 8-3 over their last 11 contests. The team has now taken two straight games off the Red Sox in Boston.</p><p>In the series opener, Pirates ace Paul Skenes out-dueled Payton Tolle, who made a <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/red-sox-news-payton-tolle-boston-history-debut">historic debut for the Red Sox</a>. Skenes allowed just one run over six innings en route to his ninth win of the season. But Pittsburgh also got a strong start from Johan Oviedo on Saturday. The veteran held Boston to two runs over five innings while striking out six.</p><p>Outside of his mammoth blast Cruz was quiet, finishing the day 1-5. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-oneil-cruz-lands-on-injured-list-after-scary-collision">Cruz landed on the IL</a> after colliding with left fielder Jack Suwinski in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on August 12.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Oneil Cruz was removed from the game with a head injury likely from this play <a href="https://t.co/37Cc6rnMfP">pic.twitter.com/37Cc6rnMfP</a></p><p>— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) <a href="https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1955441819023708420?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-oneil-cruz-takes-big-step-injury-return">Cruz was cleared for a rehab assignment</a> last week and returned to the lineup on August 26. However, the fifth-year outfielder had been slumping prior to the injury. Entering Saturday’s matchup, Cruz was slashing .134/.237/.224 with one home run, 10 RBI, seven runs scored and one steal in his last 19 games.</p><p>On the season, the former shortstop is batting .203 with a .698 OPS. He has 19 home runs and 53 RBI as well as a National League-leading 35 stolen bases.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Oneil Cruz launches home run over the Green Monster

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/boston-red-sox/red-sox-news-payton-tolle-boston-history-debut');   ga('set', 'title', 'Red Sox’ Payton Tolle makes Boston history not seen since 1991 in brilliant debut');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Boston-Red-Sox-starting-pitcher-Payton-Tolle-pitches.jpg"><figcaption>Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Red Sox’ Payton Tolle makes Boston history not seen since 1991 in brilliant debut</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-08-29T20:23:37-07:00">August 29th, 8:23pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-08-29T20:25:32-07:00">August 29th, 8:25pm</time><address><a>Abdullah Imran</a>Abdullah Imran works as an Associate Editor for All Sports at ClutchPoints. He’s been a sports fan his entire life and enjoys writing about every sport. He has spent three years in sports journalism and loves analyzing games. In his free time, he very much enjoys binge-watching shows and playing video games.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Boston Red Sox</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/red-sox-news-buster-olneys-high-upside-comp-for-payton-tolle">Boston Red Sox witnessed a historic debut</a> Friday night at Fenway Park as Payton Tolle took the mound. The 22-year-old left-hander, called up just over a year after being selected 50th overall in the 2024 MLB Draft, became the first Red Sox southpaw since Kevin Morton in 1991 to record at least <a href="https://x.com/jayhaykid/status/1961591932955889788" rel="noopener">eight strikeouts in his debut</a>. He also joined Daisuke Matsuzaka (2007) as the only Boston pitchers since then to accomplish the feat.</p><p>Tolle, the club’s No. 2 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/red-sox-news-payton-toole-mlb-debut-against-paul-skenes">faced Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes</a> in a highly anticipated matchup. From his very first pitch, a 96.9 mph strike, Tolle looked composed. He struck out Jared Triolo three pitches later with a 98.3 mph heater, setting the tone for an outing that drew repeated ovations from a packed Fenway Park.</p><p>Across 5 1/3 innings, Tolle allowed three hits, two earned runs, and two walks while striking out eight. He threw 84 pitches, 53 for strikes, and generated nine whiffs on 50 four-seam fastballs, an 18% swinging strike rate. His cutter and changeup added further effectiveness, each producing two swinging strikes. Notably, Tolle didn’t face a single left-handed batter, making his dominance over a right-handed-heavy Pirates lineup even more impressive.</p><p>His debut nearly ended in storybook fashion. He left the game in the sixth with runners on first and second and Boston ahead 2-0 after a solo homer from rookie Roman Anthony and an earlier unearned run. However, reliever Greg Weissert immediately surrendered back-to-back doubles to Tommy Pham and Andrew McCutchen, erasing Tolle’s chance at a win. The Red Sox ultimately fell 4-2, ending a four-game win streak.</p><p>Still, Tolle’s performance overshadowed the final score. He became just the third pitcher in Red Sox history to debut with at least eight strikeouts, showing velocity that topped 98 mph five times in the opening inning and maintaining mid-90s heat throughout. His command was sharp, as 13 of his first 15 pitches went for strikes, and his composure was evident as he escaped a second-inning jam by striking out two and inducing a fly ball after a walk and a ground-rule double.</p><p>Tolle’s rapid ascent through the minors underscored how quickly Boston believed he could contribute. He began the 2025 season at High-A Greenville, moved to Double-A Portland on June 24, then Triple-A Worcester on Aug. 6, where he logged six starts with a 3.60 ERA and 133 strikeouts across 91 2/3 innings this year.</p><p>His debut also came in context of Boston’s postseason push. Entering the night 75-61 and chasing their first playoff berth since 2021, the Red Sox turned to Tolle after moving $21.05 million free-agent signing Walker Buehler to the bullpen following a 5.45 ERA in 22 starts.</p><p>For a franchise searching for both rotation stability and October momentum, Tolle’s historic debut has provided a glimpse of a potential ace, and a moment Boston hadn’t seen in 34 years.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Red Sox’ Payton Tolle makes Boston history not seen since 1991 in brilliant debut

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-pittsburgh-places-ex-yankees-infielder-on-outright-waivers');   ga('set', 'title', 'Pirates place ex-Yankees infielder on outright waivers');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Pirates-INF-Isiah-Kiner-Falefa.jpg?w=1024"><figcaption>Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Pirates place ex-Yankees infielder on outright waivers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-08-29T10:59:56-07:00">August 29th, 10:59am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-08-29T15:43:42-07:00">August 29th, 3:43pm</time><address><a href="https://linktr.ee/jordan.llanes">Jordan Llanes</a>Jordan Llanes is a sports writer and reporter based in Florida. In addition to ClutchPoints, he writes for a few other publications covering the NFL, college sports and Tottenham Hotspur. When he's not writing, Jordan enjoys spending time with his fiancée, cats, family and friends, as well as catching the latest TV shows and movies, and traveling.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>2025 has been another lost year <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-bubba-chandler-exclusive-club-electric-start-mlb-career">for the Pittsburgh Pirates.</a> At 59-76, they are in the basement of the NL Central, 24 games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.</p><p>However, the Pirates have been on one of their best stretches of the season lately, winning six of their past eight games. With a weekend series against the Boston Red Sox looming, the Pirates decided <a href="https://x.com/_NoahHiles/status/1961469619006271561" rel="noopener">to make a roster move,</a> according to Pirates beat writer Noah Hiles on Friday on X, formerly Twitter. As the team fades from contention, they’re giving veteran infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa a chance to play for a contender.</p><p>“Sources: The Pirates have placed Isiah Kiner-Falefa on outright waivers,” reported Hiles on Friday.</p><p>The 30-year-old is playing on his fourth major-league team in Pittsburgh. While the team looked for potential deals involving <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/insider-douses-cold-water-on-pirates-oneil-cruz-trade-talks">Kiner-Falefa at the trade deadline,</a> nothing came to pass. Now as he’s approaching a bonus for plate appearances, it appears that the Pirates are looking to cut some costs moving forward. If Kiner-Falefa is claimed by another team, where could he end up?</p><h2><b>Will Isiah Kiner-Falefa be claimed soon by a contender?</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Pirates-INF-Isiah-Kiner-Falefa-with-Yankees.jpg"><figcaption>Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure><p>There’s a solid chance that the man also known as <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/mlb-stories/mlb-rumors-yankees-pirates-regular-contact-potential-trade">“IKF” remains with the Pirates</a> until the end of the season. However, don’t be surprised to see a contender try and bring him aboard. Teams like the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays (both former employers of Kiner-Falefa) could use him to bolster their bench. Luckily, according to Hiles, if a contender does claim him before the end of this weekend, <a href="https://x.com/_NoahHiles/status/1961470358164320652" rel="noopener">he’ll be postseason eligible.</a></p><p>“To be clear: Kiner-Falefa can continue playing for the Pirates throughout this process,” elaborated Hiles. “Playoff teams have until the rest of the weekend to claim IKF if they want him for the postseason.”</p><p>There’s a number of things that the versatile infielder can bring to a contender, just like he brings to the Pirates. He can play all over the diamond, even at catcher if needed. He’s a strong base runner, notching double-digit steals in five of his eight major-league seasons. Also, he’s a solid contact hitter. All of these things could lead to a <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/3-pirates-trade-block-ahead-2025-deadline">new home for Kiner-Falefa</a> within the next few days. Will it be with a contender? Or will he remain with Pittsburgh?</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Pirates place ex-Yankees infielder on outright waivers

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/boston-red-sox/red-sox-news-payton-toole-mlb-debut-against-paul-skenes');   ga('set', 'title', 'Red Sox’ Payton Tolle to make MLB debut against Paul Skenes');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Boston-Red-Sox-starting-pitcher-Payton-Tolle.jpg"><figcaption>© WooSox Photo/Ashley Green / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Red Sox’ Payton Tolle to make MLB debut against Paul Skenes</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-08-28T16:47:27-07:00">August 28th, 4:47pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-08-28T18:30:32-07:00">August 28th, 6:30pm</time><address><a>Abdullah Imran</a>Abdullah Imran works as an Associate Editor for All Sports at ClutchPoints. He’s been a sports fan his entire life and enjoys writing about every sport. He has spent three years in sports journalism and loves analyzing games. In his free time, he very much enjoys binge-watching shows and playing video games.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Boston Red Sox</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/3-prospects-red-sox-must-promote-as-rosters-expand-for-2025-stretch-run">Boston Red Sox will reportedly turn to one of their fastest-rising prospects</a> on Friday night at Fenway Park. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Left-hander Payton Tolle <a href="https://x.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1961197787216830813" rel="noopener">will make his Major League Baseball debut</a> against the Pittsburgh Pirates, squaring off with Paul Skenes, one of the most dominant pitchers in the game.</p><p>Tolle, drafted 50th overall in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft, has quickly ascended through Boston’s system in his first professional season. Signed for a $2 million bonus, the 6-foot-6, 250-pound pitcher entered 2025 with no professional experience, but has forced his way onto the big-league roster after an impressive rise across three minor-league levels.</p><p>Beginning the year at High-A Greenville, Tolle earned promotions to Double-A Portland in June and then Triple-A Worcester in early August. Across all three levels, the 22-year-old has logged 91.2 innings with a 3.04 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP, striking out hitters at a 36.5 percent rate.</p><p>In Triple-A alone, he posted a 3.60 ERA with 17 strikeouts and just two walks in three starts. His most recent outing was a five-inning, one-run performance with nine strikeouts, though he has yet to throw more than 72 pitches in a game as the Red Sox carefully monitor his workload.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/red-sox-news-bostons-talented-arm-call-up-update">The debut comes with Boston needing rotation help</a>. Richard Fitts sits out with right arm neuritis, and the Red Sox pushed back Dustin May’s start to Saturday, leaving a gap in Friday’s rotation. The Red Sox will likely clear a 40-man roster spot for Tolle by transferring Marcelo Mayer to the 60-day injured list following wrist surgery.</p><p>Tolle’s rise is not only quick but historic. At Texas Christian University in 2024, he was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and became the only player in conference history to win both Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer of the Year in the same season.</p><p>He finished his college career with a 7-4 record, 3.21 ERA, and 125 strikeouts, tying for 11th in the nation, before the Red Sox committed to developing him solely as a pitcher.</p><p>On the mound, Tolle relies heavily on a fastball that averages 90–92 mph and tops at 96, complemented by a slider, changeup, cutter, and sweeping curveball. His fastball, graded 55 on MLB.com’s 20–80 scale, is one of the best among minor-league arms, aided by his size and ability to stride downhill toward hitters.</p><p>Friday’s matchup offers both an opportunity and a challenge. Even though the Pirates own the lowest OPS in baseball (.657) and rank last in runs per game, Tolle will face Skenes, renowned as one of MLB’s premier pitchers. The Red Sox, meanwhile, enter the series on a 7-1 road trip and hold the top AL Wild Card spot, sitting 3.5 games back of the Blue Jays in the AL East.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Red Sox’ Payton Tolle to make MLB debut against Paul Skenes

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-bubba-chandler-exclusive-club-electric-start-mlb-career');   ga('set', 'title', 'Pirates’ Bubba Chandler joins exclusive club with ‘electric’ start to MLB career');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Bubba-Chandler-with-Pittsburgh-Pirates.jpg"><figcaption>Jeff Curry-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Pirates’ Bubba Chandler joins exclusive club with ‘electric’ start to MLB career</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-08-28T06:53:50-07:00">August 28th, 6:53am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-08-28T06:53:50-07:00">August 28th, 6:53am</time><address><a>Christopher Hennessy</a>Christopher Hennessy is a Senior Editor at ClutchPoints, with expertise in MLB, NHL and golf. Chris graduated with a journalism degree from Fordham University in 2022. He has also worked at Spectrum News One in Albany, New York and with The Hockey Writers as a New York Islanders writer. Chris is originally from Connecticut and is a lifelong New York Yankees, Islanders, and Jets fan.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Pittsburgh Pirates are playing out the string of another lost season this September. But that does not mean there is no reason to be excited. The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-pittsburgh-to-promote-top-pitching-prospect">Pirates called up Bubba Chandler for the stretch run</a>, and he joined rare air in his first two appearances, impressing interim manager Don Kelly. ESPN has more from a Pittsburgh <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46091853/pirates-prospect-bubba-chandler-gets-first-mlb-win-relief" rel="noopener">win in St Louis on</a> Wednesday.</p><p>“The 22-year-old Chandler picked up the save in his MLB debut on Friday night, also working four scoreless innings in relief. He became the fifth pitcher to earn a save and a win in his first two major league games since saves became an official stat in 1969,” per ESPN.</p><p>“You see the stuff,” Kelly said. “It’s electric. It’s elite. He’s checking off boxes quickly. Going four innings for the save, four innings tonight. He did a great job.”</p><p>Chandler also spoke about his first two appearances in the majors. “The game gets easy when you’re not trying to do a whole lot,” Chandler said. “There’s been instances where I’ve tried to make a pitch really good and it hasn’t been, so having a batterymate like Henry (Davis) makes it easy, just makes you calm. Just trying to fill up the strike zone.”</p><p>The Pirates have won both games Chandler has pitched in. He picked up a <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-pirates-bubba-chandler-blows-100-mph-strikeout-rockies-batter">four-inning save on August 22 against the Colorado Rockies</a>, which they won 9-0. He allowed only two hits, allowing no runs in front of the Pittsburgh fans. On Wednesday, he came in for the fourth inning against the Cardinals and threw four more scoreless innings.</p><p>Chandler is the second-ranked prospect in the Pirates’ system, behind only outfielder Konnor Griffin. He will be a key member of their rotation next year behind Paul Skenes, and his first outings have fans pumped up for the future.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Pirates’ Bubba Chandler joins exclusive club with ‘electric’ start to MLB career

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-oneil-cruz-takes-big-step-injury-return');   ga('set', 'title', 'Pirates’ Oneil Cruz takes big step toward injury return');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Pirates-outfielder-Oneil-Cruz.jpg"><figcaption>Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Pirates’ Oneil Cruz takes big step toward injury return</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-08-23T12:32:23-07:00">August 23rd, 12:32pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-08-23T12:32:23-07:00">August 23rd, 12:32pm</time><address><a>Josue Pavon</a>Josue Pavon is an Associate Editor and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat writer for ClutchPoints. He started his career as a credentialed media member writing about the Boston Celtics for WEEI.com in Boston, where he grew into a local on-camera NBA reporter and podcast host for CLNS Media. Alongside the Celtics radio broadcaster and two-time NBA champion Cedric Maxwell, Josue is the co-host of the Cedric Maxwell podcast.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-oneil-cruz-lands-on-injured-list-after-scary-collision">Oneil Cruz suffered an injury in a collision</a> with left fielder Jack Suwinski that resulted in a concussion. Less than two week removed from the head injury, Cruz will return to the baseball diamond in a minor league assignment.</p><p>Cruz <a href="https://x.com/AlexJStumpf/status/1959300920186921323" rel="noopener">will rehab</a> with Double-A, according to Pirates reporter Alex Stumpf.</p><p>Oneil Cruz will start a rehab assignment with Double-A Altoona tonight</p><p>The Pirates centerfielder is one of the rising stars of the game. Nobody in the league, even Aaron Judge &amp; Shohei Ohtani, hits the ball harder than Cruz can. He proved it in the MLB Home Run Derby earlier this year. Cruz has 18 home runs and 51 RBIs and is batting .207 on the season. He carries a .702 OPS with 34 stolen bases.</p><p>Cruz will begin his minor league rehab start on Saturday.</p><h2><b>Oneil Cruz lands on Pirates’ injured list</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Pirates-outfielder-Oneil-Cruz-2.jpg"><figcaption>Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Pirates outfielder <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-oneil-cruz-exits-brewers-game-head-injury-collision">Oneil Cruz suffered a scary head injury</a> when he collided with left fielder Jack Sunwinski and sustained a concussion. Fortunately, Cruz is on the path to making a recovery in light of his minor league start to get him headed into the right direction of making his return.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Oneil Cruz was removed from the game with a head injury likely from this play <a href="https://t.co/37Cc6rnMfP">pic.twitter.com/37Cc6rnMfP</a></p><p>— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) <a href="https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1955441819023708420?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>With the second-worst record in the National League, the Pirates have found some momentum over the past few games but are still 4-6 in their last 10 games. However, Cruz has undoubtedly been a silver lining throughout the 2025 MLB season. After beating the Blue Jays 2-1 in Cruz’s absence, the Pirates shutout the Rockies 9-0 on Friday.</p><p>In his Major League debut, starting pitcher Bubba Chandler threw a 100 mph fastball while making history. He is the first Pirates pitcher ever to record a four-inning save in his debut and just the fourth player in MLB history to do so since the save became an official stat in 1969.</p><p>The PNC Park crowd serenaded him with chants of “Bubba!” during his postgame interview, an emphatic welcome for a player they’ve been waiting to see.</p><p>“I don’t think it could have gone much better,” Chandler said afterward, reflecting on the moment.</p><p>Designated hitter Andrew McCutchen knocked in four RBIs while first baseman Spencer Horwitz and left fielder Tommy Pham finished with two RBIs in the win. The Pirates finished with a whopping 14 hits that they converted into nine runs in the shutout victory on Friday night.</p><p>The Priates will host the Rockies on Saturday and Sunday to finish out their three-game series this weekend.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Pirates’ Oneil Cruz takes big step toward injury return

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-bubba-chandler-teammate-gives-flowers');   ga('set', 'title', 'Bubba Chandler’s Pirates teammate gives him his flowers');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Pirates-Bubba-Chandler.jpg"><figcaption>© Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Bubba Chandler’s Pirates teammate gives him his flowers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-08-23T09:51:42-07:00">August 23rd, 9:51am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-08-23T09:52:05-07:00">August 23rd, 9:52am</time><address><a>Benjamin Adducchio</a>Benjamin Adducchio is a journalist and writer with more than a decade of experience in covering sports news. Ben is a passionate sports fan who loves college football, basketball, and the New York Yankees.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Pittsburgh Pirates got <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-pirates-bubba-chandler-blows-100-mph-strikeout-rockies-batter">an excellent performance out of rookie reliever Bubba Chandler</a>, in his MLB debut on Friday. Chandler earned the save for the Bucs, who went on to defeat the Colorado Rockies 9-0. Chandler clocked more than 100 miles an hour on some of his pitches, and seemed in command for his four innings of work.</p><p>Pirates starting pitcher Braxton Ashcraft, who picked up the victory, <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/bubba-chandler-earns-four-inning-save-in-mlb-debut" rel="noopener">was quite impressed</a> with his rookie teammate.</p><p>“He’s an unbelievable talent,” Ashcraft said, per MLB.com. “One of the best arms I’ve ever seen.”</p><p>Chandler’s family filled the outfield stands at PNC Park, to watch the rookie pitch. He finished his night with two hits allowed and three strikeouts, in four innings of work. Chandler was called up in recent days from Triple-A Indianapolis.</p><p>Ashcraft was also very effective on the mound. He struck out six while allowing just one hit through five innings.</p><h2><b>Pirates are trying to salvage a lost season</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Bubba-Chandler.jpg"><figcaption>Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Pittsburgh is dead last this season in the National League Central. The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/cubs-news-chicago-makes-history-win-pirates">Pirates are just 55-74 on the campaign</a>, with the worst offense in MLB.</p><p>While the hitting has been awful, the pitching for Pittsburgh has been quite solid this year. The Pirates <a href="https://www.mlb.com/stats/team/pitching/era?sortState=asc" rel="noopener">are 16th</a> in MLB in team ERA, per league stats. The Pirates hurlers have a 3.99 mark collectively in earned run average.</p><p>The Bucs brought in Chandler to help keep the pitching up to snuff. Pittsburgh dealt some of their pitchers at the MLB trade deadline, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/pirates-news-david-bednar-pens-pittsburgh-farewell-after-trade-yankees">including team closer David Bednar</a>. Chandler is working in relief to help out, with the anticipation that he will be added to the Pirates starting rotation next season.</p><p>Chandler truly relished his first moments on the mound at PNC Park.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

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