Weekly Report: Another Meh Week, Tri & Jared Begin Rehab, Super Skenes, HBD Konnor & Rando Stuff

Will they fill in the pieces…?

Pirates Stuff:

• The Pirates placed Braxton Ashcraft on the Bereavement/Family Medical Emergency List on Saturday and recalled Cam Sanders.
• On Tuesday, Don Kelly said that 2B Brandon Lowe is dealing with some left knee discomfort after missing a pair of starts. 1B Spencer Horwitz was also scratched with neck pain. Both were considered day-to-day and were back in the starting lineup on Wednesday for the middle match v Texas. 
• IF Jared Triolo began a rehab assignment on Friday at Bradenton. He’s been out since April 5 with a patella tendon injury. Jared Jones will join him in Bradenton to begin his rehab on Wednesday
• Bryan Reynolds reached the 500 RBI milestone on Wednesday night in the win v the Rangers. a couple of days later, he drove in #501, making him the top switch-hitting Pirates run producer past Bobby Bo.

Bryan Reynolds – 2026 image/Pirates

• The Pirates ended last week as #5 in MLB.com’s Power Ratings.
• Pirates pitchers have at least six strikeouts in 65 straight games since August of last year. That’s the fifth-longest MLB K-streak since 1901.
• In a bit of a deep dive, Konnor Griffin’s first homer Friday night was the first MLB 20th b-day bomb hit since Aramis Ramirez popped one in 1998 against KC; that one was on the road, too. It was also the first time he had three hits or drove in three runs in a game, so it was HBD with lots of presents.
• Small ballin’ – Jake Mangum, Billy Cook and Konnor Griffin each dropped a bunt single in Pittsburgh’s 6-3 win last week v Tampa Bay. Per Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time the Pirates laid down three bunt hits in a game since September 20, 1998 vs. Houston at TRS (Jason Schmidt/Tony Womack/Abraham Nunez).
• LH swingman Connor Oliver was selected as the Sally League Pitcher of the Week after pitching five frames of no-hit ball with five K last week for Greensboro. Overall, he’s 2-0/1.54 averaging ten punchouts per nine innings.

Game Stuff:

• Carmen Mlodzinski didn’t have his top stuff on Tuesday and a case of the third-time-around blues, leaving in the fifth down 5-1; it didn’t help that Oneil Cruz’s three-run HR bid was snatched away by a blantant bit of robbery by RF Evan Carter. It stayed that way with the Rangers taking the Globe Life opener 5-1.
• Braxton Ashcraft gave the bullpen a break and the lead, going seven innings of four-hit ball and leaving up by a 4-2 count. It wasn’t quite good enough, though, as Gregory Soto had a rare off day and allowed Texas to tie in the eighth. But the Bucs had an answer, capped by Oneil Cruz’s three-run homer, before Dennis Santana put it to bed with a 1-2-3 ninth as the rally cone worked its magic, 8-4.
• Bubba Chandler struggled through the first couple of innings, then the roof caved in; he left down 6-0 after pitching just four frames. Cruz bopped another big fly, and that was it in a 6-1 Rangers win.

Paul Skenes – 2026 photo/Pirates

• Paul Skenes kicked off the Brewer weekend series that began a stretch of ten division matches. Paul was brilliant as he retired the first 20 batters he faced in Milwaukee and gave up one hit over seven frames while fanning seven without a walk. It ended up a 6-0 Buc win, with Konnor Griffin collecting three hits and three RBI, including a dinger. Ryan O’Hearn added two knocks and scored twice. It was a big day for Konnor – he hit his first major-league homer on his 20th birthday.  Billy Cook crowned him with the welders mask after his trot around the sacks, then the dugout shoe-gazed KG, giving him the time-honored silent treatment for a bit before thumping him with props.
• The Pirates see-sawed the lead at Milwaukee, but a three-spot in the tenth was more than than the Suds City Boys could overcome and the Bucs took home a 6-3 win. Nick Gonzales had three hits and two RBI’s while Spencer Horwitz also plated a pair; Bryan Reynolds scored twice and Konnor Griffin had a pair of hits. Gregory Soto got the dub with Yohan Ramirez closing out for the save. 
• The Bucs were going for the sweep, but Carmen Mlodzinski had a fourth inning meltdown while Pittsburgh couldn’t dent Kyle Harrison. He fanned 12 Buccos over six frames and it finished as an 18-K outing for Pirate batters. The score was 5-0 when Carmen left and that ended up being the final count.
• The Pirates will return to PNC Park for a seven game homestand v St. Louis (Monday-Thursday) and Cincy (May 1-3).

MLB Stuff: 

• RHP Burch Smith, who was a FA the Bucs stashed at Indy last year and released in July (7.08 ERA), has been called up by the Tigers.
• The Angels RHP José Soriano is the first pitcher since at least 1893 with a run or less allowed (he’s given up one run in five starts) through his first six starts of a season (15 IP>). The Pirates had him as a Rule 5 pick from the LAA in 2021 and returned him following a stint on the 60-day IL that led to TJ surgery.
• The Cubs swapped a couple of ol’ Bucco RHPs, calling up Yacksel Rios and DFA’ing Vince Velasquez. Yacksel had a 1-0/6.28 line with Pittsburgh in 2019-20 and then did some bouncing around among organizations while Vince was 4-4/3.86 in ’23 for the Pirates before UCL surgery.
• The NY Mets called up Tommy Pham last week; they DFA’ed him for Austin Slater this week.