Weekly Report: Slow Start But Solid Finish At PNC; Guys Movin'; Skenes Top Dog; Minors Playoffs & All-Stars; Exes & MLB News

 Last home stand in the books…

Pirates Stuff: 

• RHP Yohan Ramirez returned from paternity leave on Wednesday and RHP Cam Sanders was optioned back to AAA.
• C/1B Rafael Flores was brought up from Indy on Tuesday and IF Liover Peguero was sent down. Flores hit .281 with six homers in 36 games at Indy since being acquired from the NYY as the main piece of the David Bednar deal. He took his MLB bow on Wednesday and doubled in the third for his first hit.
• OF Jack Suwinski’s Indy IL rehab stint is done; he was called up on Monday and OF Ji Hwan Bae was optioned back to AAA.
• Paul Skenes was selected as both the Pirates’ MVP/Best Pitcher by the local BBWAA . He was also the winner of this year’s Roberto Clemente Award, given for character and community involvement. David Bednar was the team’s rep last year; Cutch was the Bucs last MLB Award winner back in 2015. 

Paul Skenes – 2025 Finest Creators

• The Pirates lead the majors with 19 shutouts and geez, do they love cookin’ at home: 15 of the whitewashes were at PNC Park.
•  Bryan Reynolds tied Billy Maz for the 10th spot in all-time Bucco homers when he whacked #138 on Saturday. B-Rey moved within a hair of Jason Bay, next on the list with 139 long balls.
• You can go home again: Former Pitt pitcher Isaac Mattson stopped in for a meet, greet and life-in-the-bigs session with the current Panther hurlers at the Petersen Sports Complex on Thursday, the off day between the Cubs and A’s series.
• Esmerlyn Valdez homered and had five RBI for Altoona as they took the opening Eastern League playoff match against Erie, 11-5. Konnor Griffin posted three hits and a walk. The next game was a 180 spin as the Curve dropped a 6-1 decision. Their season ended Friday with a winner-take-all, 3-1 loss to the Seawolves
• The Greensboro Grasshoppers were eliminated from the Sally League playoffs by the Brooklyn Cyclones, losing the first two games of the best-of-three series by 4-3 and 4-1 scores. 1B Callan Moss (he came over from KC as part of the Bailey Falter package) shined in defeat, going 4-for-7 with a homer, two RBI and two runs.
• The Eastern League Player of the Week was Altoona IF Duce Gourson (mostly 3B/2B), who batted .417 with four two-baggers and five RBI.

Konnor Griffin – 2025 Pirates image

• Greensboro had two players make the Sally League All-Star squad: SS Konnor Griffin (.325, 7 HR) and OF Esmerlyn Valdez (.303, 20 HR). Valdez also won the ultimate honor – he was selected as the SAL’s MVP while Griffin was picked as the Top MLB Prospect. Their boss man, skipper Blake Butler, was named the league’s Manager of the Year.
• Three Bradenton pups were selected to the Florida State League All-Star team: OF Edward Florentino (.262, 10 HR), SS Sammy Stafura (.260, 4 HR), who came over in the Ke’Bryan Hayes trade, and LHP Inmer Lobo (2-0/1.17/13 outings).
• Aussie RHP Brandan Bidois, 24, had his streak of 64 consecutive batters retired, stretching over 18 innings dating back to July 29 (w/Altoona), ended on Monday. He quickly climbed back on the bike by serving up a DP ball. He’s 8-0-6/0.77 in 38 games over four minor league levels this year. 
• The Pirates prospect pole star, 19-year-old SS Konnor Griffin, finished his first regular-season pro campaign with a .333/.415/.527 slash with 21 HRs, 117 runs, 94 RBI and 65 stolen bases, with stints at Bradenton, Greensboro and Altoona. 

Game Stuff:

• New v old: Monday’s opener v the Cubs at PNC featured Braxton Ashcraft and Jameson Taillon. JT had a jolly homecoming; the Bucs managed three hits and lost, 4-0. The best burst was in the ninth when they loaded the bases with two gone for Jason Triolo. He fanned. The defeat mathematically eliminated Pittsburgh from the post season.
• Wash, rinse, repeat – they lost this time by a 4-1 final as Paul Skenes had a rare rough night while the Pirates supported him with four hits. It was their 87th loss of the campaign, guaranteeing a worse record than in the past two years. 
• Johan Oviedo took a shellacking in the getaway day game, falling behind 4-0 before the Bucs even batted. But Joey Bart quickly answered with a three-run homer and we had us a ball game, at last until the sixth, when a couple of misthrows and three Chi-town hits made it 7-4; the final was 8-4 as Chicago swept the Pirates on the road to the playoffs.
• After a day off, the A’s came callin’ to close out the Pirates ’25 home schedule. Jack Wilson threw out the first pitch to son Jacob, Oakland’s SS (Full circle: on Sept. 16, 2006, 4-year-old Jacob threw out the first pitch to his dad), and they played ball. Kells continued his post-ASG blahs – The Bucs spotted him three first-inning runs playing small ball, but Mitch left after five frames, down 4-3 after giving up a pair of homers. The Bucs outhit Oakland 10-4, but stranded 11 runners and were 2-for-13 w/RISP. It was that kinda night: in the ninth, with an out and Buccos on the corners needing just 90 more feet to tie the game, the usually clutch Tommy Pham grounded into a game-ending DP.

Bubba Chandler – 2025 MLB image

• Bubba Chandler got his turn on Saturday and was dazzling – five IP, no runs, one hit and six K. He left with a 2-0 lead (Nick Yorke & Bryan Reynolds banged solo shots). And that’s how it ended; for once, five hits were enough to win as Braxton Ashcraft added six more strikeouts and Dennis Santana posted his 14th save to bring it home.
• With two away in the first, four straight Buccos reached base to make it 2-0, and the next frame featured a two-run, two-down homer by Jared Triolo. They added on in the fourth to make it 7-0, but Mike Burrows wasn’t around for the decision; he was at 74 pitches and replaced by Carmen Mlodzinski, who was credited with the W. After scoring 10 runs in the pat five games, the Bucs closed out Fan Appreciation Day with an 11-0 dub.

MLB Stuff:

• The Phillies clinched their second consecutive NL East crown while the Brewers claimed the NL Central for the third straight campaign. The Dodgers and Cubs have locked up playoff spots.
• LA ace Clayton Kershaw, 37, announced that the 2025 season will be his last. He’s spent all 18 years of his career with the Dodgers, and as of Saturday, he’s compiled a 222-96/2.54 lifetime line over 450 starts for da Bums (10-2/3.55).
• Former Bucco RHP Joe Musgrove was selected as the San Diego Padre’s Roberto Clemente Award nominee. It’s even more of an honor considering Musgrove has been on the IL all season after undergoing TJ surgery in 2024.
• In a double ol’ Bucco flip, the Tigers DFA’ed Charlie Morton and called up Tanner Rainey to take his place. Charlie, 41, was ineffective for Motown (2-3/7.09) since being picked up at the deadline while Rainey, who started the season as a Bucco and was smacked around, was claimed off the wire by Detroit in July.
• LHP Ryan Borucki was DFA’ed by Toronto after the Jays signed him late last month. He was due to become a free agent after the season. He cleared the wire and the Blue Jays assigned him to AAA as postseason depth insurance.
• RHP Wil Crowe, who spent three of his four MLB campaigns in Pittsburgh (10-19-5/5.03, 2021-23), another year tossing in Korea and this season in the Phil’s system, announced his retirement on Friday.