Weekly Notes: RIP Cobra; Mets Swept; Ke Hot; Mitch Wins

Summertime, summertime…

Pirates Stuff:

• The Pirates announced on Saturday that Dave Parker, 74, passed away. With the Pirates from 1973 to 1983, Parker earned one National League MVP award, two batting titles, three Gold Gloves, and a World Series Championship in 1979. The Cobra was part of the first Pirates Hall of Fame class in 2022 and will join the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on July 27.

Cobra remembered – 6/28/2025 photo/Pirates

• OF Oneil Cruz was pulled (story ESPN) in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s game for not running out a DP ball. His defense was that he had lost tracks of the outs, but he said that he understood where Don Kelly was coming from and took it as a learning moment.
• 3B KeBryan Hayed ended the week with three knocks on Sunday and an eight-game hitting streak.
• RHP Dennis Santana got a day shaved off his suspension earned during the Motown series and began serving a three-game sit-down on Sunday.
• The Pirates called RHP Michael Darrell-Hicks up to the big club. He was claimed from the Angels earlier this month. RHP Hunter Stratton was optioned back to Indy, then shortly thereafter DFA’ed when the Bucs signed LHP Génesis Cabrera after the Cubs DFA’ed him. That also ended Darrell-Hicks stay as he was optioned back to Indy. Genesis is a 28-year-old and Pittsburgh will be his fifth MLB club (17-14-5/4.03 career). 
• RHP Colin Holderman (thumb inflammation) began a rehab assignment at Low-A Bradenton on Friday. He’s been on the IL since May 20; before that, he missed three weeks in April with a knee injury and has been scored on in nine of his 14 outings this year.

Game Stuff:

• Nick Gonzales went 5-for-5 with two RBI, Tommy Pham swatted a two-run bomb and Isiah Kiner-Falena tripled home the winning run as the Bucs, mixing 14 hits with 16 strikeouts, took the opener from Milwaukee on Monday, 5-4. Brent Ashcraft was sharp in his opener role, and except for Hunter Stratton getting banged, the bullpen was sturdy enough. Chase Shugart got the dub and The Renegade finished for the save.
• Andrew Heaney was hammered on Tuesday as the Bucs fell, 9-3. The Brew Crew’s 8-9 hitters each homered and drove in seven runs to power their bottom-up attack; Nicky G’s three-run shot in the sixth frame was it for the Pirates attack.
• Wednesday was Paul Skenes vs. Jacob Misiorowski day. But it was a bad day for Paul – he gave up four runs in four frames, with a couple of plays his mateys couldn’t pull off hurting the cause, while the Pirates bats were limited to four hits in a 4-2 loss to the Crew. Pittsburgh has an off day and then opened a homestand against the Mets on Friday. 

Kells – image SportsNet Pittsburgh

• And holy moly! With Mitch Keller on the hill, the Bucs actually scored some runs to give Kells his first win since March 28, whipping NY 9-1. B-Rey banged a three-run shot while Isaac Mattson shut down the Mets best comeback push in the sixth.
• And what’s a homestand without some thunder, lightning and rain? After a somber start – the announcement of the Cobra’s passing – the Bucs fell behind 1-0, then sat for 90 minutes before boppin’ in Parker-like fashion, taking a 9-2 win by scoring six times in the eighth frame. Brant Ashcraft got the win in what was basically a bullpen game. As for the Mets, the players held a closed-door postgame meeting to ponder…
• Well, meeting, schmeeting – Oneil Cruz (he hit two) and Tommy Pham went B-2-B to highlight a five-run first inning for the Pirates. B-Rey banged another, Henry Davis had four hits and the Bucs rock ‘n’ rolled, 12-1. Mike Burrows was strong (4-1/3 scoreless IP) to start and the win went to Carmen Mlodzinski, who put up zeroes over the final 3-2/3 frames.
• The Cards come in on Monday for a three-gamer before the Bucs hit the road; they won’t be back at PNC until after the All-Star break.

MLB Stuff: 

• The Orioles signed C Jake Stallings to a minor league deal after he had been released by the Rox earlier this month.