Weekly Report: Weak Week, Kells & Bubba Sharp, O'Hearn BD Slam, More Fringe Moves, Top 5 Picks Signed, Rehab, Fringe Moves

2026 Season, Part II…

Pirates Stuff:

• C Shawn Ross was called up when Rafael Flores went on the 7-day concussion IL and got his first MLB start on Sunday (spoiler alert – he homered). Despite pitching well lately, RHL Jose Urquidy was DFA’ed to clear 40-man roster space and was traded to the White Sox for minor league RHP Felix Doroteo, a 21-year-old reliever in the Rookie League who’s a hi K/hi walk lotto ticket.
• The Bucs acquired RHP Ron Marinaccio from San Diego for International Signing Bonus Pool money; RHP Dennis Santana was DFA’d. It’s not much of an upgrade at first blush – Santana is 2-5-2/6.05 ERA with 37 strikeouts over 41-2/3 innings after posting a 2.18 ERA in ’25. Marinaccio was DFA’ed on Monday after posting a 1-0/4.79 line over 47 IP w/38K. But the Pirates are hoping he reverts: Marinaccio’s line is 7-5-2/3.50 in 141 career outings in five MLB seasons with the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres.   

Endy’s rehabbing at Indy – 2026 image Sportsnet.Pgh

• Rehabs: Endy (glute strain) has reported to Indy, Spencer Horwitz (hammy) is at Class A Bradenton as is RHP Chris Devenski (illness) and RHP Michael Darrell-Hicks (undisclosed) was sent to the FCL.
• The Pirates were off last Thursday before reporting for 17 straight games without a breather.
• The Bucs signed their top five picks: No. 1 choice (#5 overall) LSU CF Derek Curiel for $6.2 M (slot $8,336,500), second rounder (#44 overall) SS Aiden Ruiz from Stony Brook HS ($3.5M bonus/$2.28M slot – Vanderbilt commit); second round supplemental pick (#51 overall) 2B Chris Rembert from Auburn for $2.4M (slot $1.94M); third-round pick (#80 overall) UNC RHP Jason DeCaro for $1.3 M (slot value: $1,035,700) and fourth-round pick (#108 overall) OF Andruw Giles ($1M bonus/$725,900 slot – Oregon commit) of Basic Academy. Another HS player (TNXL Academy), 11th round pick LHP Spencer Evans signed for $300K ($150K slot). He was an LSU commit.

Game Stuff: 

• Braxton Ashcraft kicked off the series at Yankee Stadium. A error, a missed challenge of a 3-2 walk and a hung curve to Jazz Chisholm made it 4-0 NYY’s in a hurry. But those Buc bats…Esmerlyn Valdez homered to make it 5-4 Pirates in the top of the third. But Brax didn’t have it; he left after three, down 8-5 after another Jazz blow. And who woulda thunk it – the next six frames went by quietly except for a little mixer (Dennis Santana and José Caballero traded some verbs; both clubs met at the mound for more chat), and the Yanks took the opener 8-5.
• Tuesday’s Game #2 was Bubba Chandler’s start, but it was rained out and deja vu, made part of a split doubleheader Wednesday. The opener matched Mitch Keller against ol’ matey Gerrit Cole while Bubba faced Max Fried, fresh off the IL, in the nightcap.

Kells – July 2026 photo/Pirates

• Kells outgunned Cole Train, spinning five shutout innings, and Pittsburgh had a 3-0 lead in the seventh built on Jacob Gonzalez & Nick Gonzales homers until Carmen Mlodzinski gave up a three-run bomb. But no prob – Jared Triolo and Jake Mangum, the RBI twins, drove in 10th inning runs and Gregory Soto saved the 5-3 win for Mason Montgomery.
• In Game #2, Bubba was pulled with a shutout duel going on in the seventh; Brandon Eisert came in and got banged for two runs and 2-0 is how it ended. The Bucs got just three hits and fanned 12 times; the pitching held up against the Yanks even if the day ended in a split.
• The Friday night game drew 33,000+, but the Bucs went down to the Cubs in ten innings, 3-2. Yohan Ramirez had gone 19 scoreless innings before giving up a pair in extras, driven in by a two-out single and a bases-loaded walk. The Pirates had a couple of chances to take it in regulation, but left the bases loaded without scoring in the fifth with no outs and a run in, then Hank Davis was gunned down trying to score in the seventh on a nice throw by Ian Happ.
• 39,105 fans showed up Saturday night; unfortunately, the Pirates didnt and were blown out 11-0.

Ryan O’Hearn – 2026 photo Pirates

• Thankfully the Cubs didn’t have a third lefty to toss against us on Sunday. Ryan O’Hearn celebrated his BD with a grand slam; Esmerlyn Valdez and Shawn also homered (tho it wasn’t their party day) and it was 7-0 after three. Ashcraft got banged around for four runs, but gave the Bucs six frames and Carmen Mlodzinski with Mason Montgomery held the Cubs off from there as the Pirates salvaged the finale, 8-7.
• Busy week comin’ up – The Buccos have a three-gamer with Arizona, then go to Cincy for a four game set