Weekly Notes: Pirates Pathetic; Horwitz, IKF Back & Others Close; Staff Changes

Donnie at the helm…

Pirates Stuff:

• The spinning wheel spins…Chris Truby and Gene Lamont have joined the Pirates staff. Truby, Indy’s manager, will serve as a coach on the Major League staff and Lamont will serve as Special Advisor to Don Kelly. In addition, Mike Rabelo will continue as 3B coach and expand his role on the bench while Shawn Bowman will take over as Indy’s manager. That doesn’t in any way clarify who is doing what, but at least Lamont and Truby are solid baseball guys.
• 1B Spencer Horwitz was activated off the IL after rehabbing at Altoona and Indy. It was made official on Saturday when Matt Gorski was optioned back to Indy.
• UT Nick Solak, who leads the International League in hitting, was called up to the big club on Friday; Ji-Hwan Bae was optioned back to Indy.
• SS Isaiah Kiner Falefa returned from the IL and IF Liover Peguero was optioned to Indy. IKF must be feeling his oats; he homered in his first at-bat back. The game was in New York and he got to meet for the first time his cousin’s (Ralph Kiner) side of the fam – Isaiah was raised in Hawaii, a world away from Cuz Swat’s folk.
• C/1B Endy Rodriguez began his rehab assignment at Indy on Wednesday; 2B Nick Gonzales reported for his rehab stint two days later.
• RHP Jared Jones suffered a setback in his throwing program and will have a reexamination of his elbow on Tuesday. Been a great coupla months for the club so far this season…

Jared getting a second opinion – 2025 image Sportsnet/Pgh.

• Indy LHP Hunter Barco was removed from Thursday’s game in the first inning after 23 pitches. A top prospect who dominated in AA, he was making his second start for the Tribe.
• OF Tommy Pham served his suspension on Monday, leaving the Pirates a player short in the opener against the Mets. The suspension was the result of an April 25th confrontation with a Los Angeles Angels fan.
• No surprise here, but Paul Skenes was selected as a member of 2026′s Team USA that will rep America during next year’s WBC tourney. To this point in his career, his line is 14-7/2.16 in 32 starts with 223 K in 188 IP. Paul was the No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 Draft, the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year and part of the 2022 USA Collegiate team.
• The Bucs claimed UT Michael Helman off waivers from the Cards and transferred IF Enmanuel Valdez from the 10- to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster; Valdez is seeking a second opinion on the cause of his shoulder inflammation. Helman satisfies the Cherington shake-n-bake fielding jones, playing middle infield and center. He played nine games for the Twins last year, going 3-for-10. Lotta work for nada – the FO DFA’d him a couple of days later to open a spot for Nick Solak.
• The team signed RHP Beau Burrows, 28, who was selected by the Detroit Tigers with the 22nd overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, to a minor league deal. He started off well, then battled injuries and the Covid layoff. He has some brief big league experience, but was in Mexico when the Bucs snagged him as low-risk bullpen depth.
• The Pirates have gone 23 straight games scoring four or fewer runs. 
• On Saturday, former pitcher Josh Sharpless, who appeared in 20 games for the Pirates in 2006-2007 after spending his prep and college careers at Freedom HS and Allegheny College, was inducted into the Beaver County Hall of Fame.
• The team announced Thursday that they’ll “Celebrate Mac Miller” on July 19 against the Chicago White Sox with a bobblehead of the rapper, who was a huge Bucco fan.

Game Stuff:

• Paul Skenes visited Citi Field for the first time on Monday. He was coming off two straight losses, and the Mets were 15-4 at home. He did his part, tossing six frames of one-run, six-K ball, but his 2-0 lead didn’t last long. Caleb Ferguson gave up a pair in the seventh to fall behind, the Bucs tied it in the ninth, and David Bednar lost it in the Mets half, 4-3.

Paul Skenes has given up two runs in 14 IP this week – and is 0-2 (image Pirates)

• Mitch Keller went seven innings on Tuesday, giving up two runs and K’ing eight. He lost, 2-1, as the Pirates went 0-for-13 with RISP. For Don Kelly, it was the fifth straight one-run game of his tenure.
• Matt Gorski gave the Pirates a quick 2-0 lead when he homered in the rain against ex-Burgher Clay Holmes, who the Mets transitioned from the pen to the rotation. Bailey Falter dodged the raindrops, but Donnie pulled him in the fourth after five walks. The bullpen was up to the task, Jared Triolo added a two-run bomb, and the Bucs salvaged a 4-0 dub.
• After a day off, it was off to Philly for a three-gamer. Andrew After an hour & 45 minute rain relay, Heaney gave the club five strong innings, yielding up a run on four hits. Alexander Canario banged a three-run blast for the lead, but the pen melted (four walks plus a bopped batter in the 7th) and the offense refused to add on as Pgh lost, 8-4.
• Carmen Mlodzinski wasn’t sharp, and it was 5-0, Phils, after four. The final was 5-2, and not even as close as it looked as Bryan Reynolds hit a two-run dinger in the ninth frame.
• On Sunday, Skenes went the distance (eight innings), giving up three hits and striking out nine. The run scored on an infield hit and bloop. And yah, he lost, 1-0.

MLB Stuff: 

• Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred removed Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and 15 other deceased players from MLB’s permanently ineligible list for the HoF. 
• RHP Chris Stratton was DFA’ed by KC; he spent four years (2019-22, 15-7-10/3.98) in Pgh. Since signing a 2-year/$8M contract with the Royals for 2024-25, he’s been injured and largely ineffective (4-3-4/6.09).

Chris Stratton – 2021 photo/Pirates

• The White Sox claimed IF Vinny Capra off waivers from the Brewers.
• The KC Royals signed 45-year-old former Pirates LHP Rich Hill (2023; 7-10/4.76) to a minor-league deal. 
• OF Jordan Luplow, 31,  has signed with the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League. The ex-Bucco (2017-18/.194) had put together a seven-year career with six teams as a platoon guy, but missed playing in the show last year after tearing his ACL. 
• LHP Rob Zastryzny was traded by the Yankees to the Brewers, Z tossed for the Bucs in 2023 (1-0/4.79) and has bounced around since.
• Well-traveled and injury-hexed relieved Nick Burdi was called up by the Red Sox.