Our Takeaways from a Series Win Over the Red Sox

What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the North Shore Nine podcast presented by FanDuel. This is Jim. This is the NS9 postgame show powered by Primanti Brothers. Doug, can you hear me now?

I can. I rebooted.

There we go. There we go. All right. So yeah, we were having some issues there. Sorry, guys, we're a little bit late. Doug couldn't hear me talk. But it sounds like we're good.

That would be a tragedy for me.

Yeah, like not being able to hear me, Doug.

All these golden nuggets coming forth.

I feel like you and I have got decent chemistry.

I think so, too.

Without any audio.

We speak each other's unspoken language, but I need volume.

Yeah, it could have been a little difficult, but yeah, this one took a while.

This game started five and a half hours ago, Doug, but the Pirates pull it off eight to three.

When they take the series against the Boston Red Sox, there's a two and a half hour rain delay built in there.

So, yeah, I guess your hashtag raise. It's in there.

But yeah, you're Pittsburgh Pirates winners of a series, Doug, for the first time in eight attempts.

I think they had lost seven straight series.

And, I looked at the schedule.

If they win every series the rest of the year, they'll finish with 85 wins.

So I ask you, Jim, is winning this series, winning three out of the last four games, is it a big deal, a little deal or no deal?

As they say, my favorite TV show.

I'm still to the point where it's no deal, Doug.

They've got a lot of making up to do.

85 wins isn't going to cut it, I don't believe.

So they've got to sweep some series going forward.

I think they need to win five or six this homestand.

They took two or three here.

That's an okay first start.

They've got to keep it going.

But yeah, you do have to start reeling off series wins.

So I guess this is a good start.

I'm not going to get excited about this team until they do this again and again and again and again.

But I guess you've got to start somewhere, right?

Right.

It's much like many of the conversations we have.

Is Ke'Bryan Hayes back?

No, he's not, right?

I get to the point where it's like, tell me after he's done it for a season and a half.

I don't want a good month anymore.

A good weekend doesn't matter anymore, right?

They need to do this the rest of the way out.

And when they do that, and when they're two weeks into that, we can start saying, well, maybe if they can keep this up, that thing.

But right now, it's okay.

Boston had won a whole lot of baseball games and then went on a little, yeah, I think they lost five or six in a row, won one, and then lost two out of three to us.

They were leveling out a little after an incredible stretch.

So I don't want to get too excited.

But all we can ask the team to do is win the game that they're playing today.

That's what they've done.

And it was a good win.

The Pirates' best formula, we discussed it a little earlier on Twitter.

When they roll out the terrible lineup and when they go with a bullpen game, they're invincible.

So I want to start with the lineup because, as soon as the lineup came out, I was like, oh, good God.

Jared Triolo leading off.

Everybody on Twitter is going to love this one.

But then I pointed out, like, I feel like every time people just have huge, like every time people hate the lineup, Doug, they just, they erupt.

And I think I actually tweeted before the game, I was like, every time people hate the lineup, we score eight runs.

Well, what'd they do today, Doug?

They scored eight.

They scored eight runs.

They won eight to three.

It was on point.

They won eight to three.

And it was, like, really straight, like, right from the get-go.

I got to give major credit to the two, three, four hitters in this lineup.

Esmeralde and Valdez, Bryan Reynolds, and Brandon Lowe.

They really made sure that this game got off to a really good start in the first inning.

Esmeralde and Valdez with a double to start things off.

Reynolds comes right after that with a double of his own.

And then Brandon Lowe off the lefty starter.

Again, we got to go back to that.

This was all off of a left-handed starting pitcher.

Brandon Lowe with the base hit puts the Pirates up 2-0 in the first inning.

Those three guys have been absent almost all week.

They did nothing in the Marlins series.

And I didn't do much in the first two games.

And, it was the bottom of the lineup.

It was Triolo and Jacob Gonzalez and Mangum and these guys doing stuff.

Pedro, Rafael Flores, that thing.

So, it was really nice to see the big guns be the big guns today.

And then get contributions from other people as well.

Yeah.

that's what they need.

This offense, when it was humming, it was the guys who needed to perform performing.

And you just haven't seen that, especially from, Reynolds is probably the main culprit here.

Brandon Lowe's been okay.

Valdez went through his stretch.

But he's been decent this last week or so.

But Reynolds has been the one where, really, ever since the All-Star break, he's been atrocious.

So, it was good to see Reynolds get those doubles today.

We'll get that first double today.

But then, on top of that, they weren't done.

They came back in the third inning.

Same formula, right?

Third inning, Jared Triolo leads off with an infield base hit.

Valdez with another double.

Almost hit that one out.

It would have been out of, I think, most ballparks.

Like, 17 or 19 ballparks, but not PNC.

Then, Reynolds base hit.

Brandon Lowe base hit.

Now, you're up 4-0.

And it's really, yeah.

It was those three guys.

It was Valdez, Reynolds, Brandon Lowe.

Pretty much all got you up 4-0 right there early on.

And then, what can we say about Nick Yorke?

Nick Yorke gets called up today.

We haven't seen him in a while.

Since, like, May 68.

Nick Yorke revenge game against the Boston Red Sox.

So, the good little ball player comes through.

He gets a base hit with the bases loaded to expand that lead to 6-0.

Henry Davis adds on a sacrifice fly.

And then, it's 7-0 in the third inning.

I think you may have missed the most significant at-bat of the game.

That's true.

We didn't even talk about this yet.

Billy Cook.

Billy Cook, right?

Like, how do first walk in his career, in his major league career.

Billy Cook.

It took him 87 games and 102 plate appearances, Doug.

But he finally drew a walk.

And he drew a walk to load the bases for Henry Davis, who was able to lift a ball deep enough to get a sacrifice fly and score a run.

And so, yeah, just a great job by the offense, jumping on the lefty starter.

That's been their Achilles heel all season long.

And they were able to get to Sandoval quite easily today.

Nine hits, three walks.

They were all over the base paths.

Runners in scoring position, Doug, they were 7 for 13.

I think at one point they were even, like, 7 for 11.

Like, they were getting the job done at the opportune times.

Not only were they getting guys on base, but they were getting those guys in.

This was, again, an odd phrase to use, but this was the vintage offense of what we, when things were flying high, where the entire lineup was contributing.

They were hitting well with runners in scoring position.

They weren't making dumb base running mistakes.

They were taking the extra base.

It's just playing really smart, baseball and, everybody having good at bats.

Yeah.

it was the whole lineup.

They brought 10 batters to the plate that inning in the third.

So, yeah, anytime you can do that, you're going to have a pretty high probability of winning a ball game.

Paul Skenes was supposed to start today, Doug.

Yes.

Last night we found out that he was going to get pushed back to Wednesday.

They didn't really give a reason other than basically just extra rest, you know.

But because of that, it turned out, it was a bullpen game.

Pirates called up Hunter Barco before the game, sent down Wilber Dotel.

But Lake Bachar was going to get the start today.

And I don't think that could have worked out any better.

He goes three innings, gives up two hits, one walk, strikes out four, doesn't give up a run.

Just a great start to the game for Lake Bachar.

Yeah.

so often, in a bullpen game, you get one or two innings out of the opening guy.

and then you go to somebody else for bulk, and he gave three great innings.

you're going into the fourth inning when he's done, and they haven't scored a run yet.

So, outstanding job by him.

Yeah, you couldn't ask for anything more.

Yeah, lots of curveballs, lots of sliders.

he threw 52 pitches today.

36 of them, like 40 of them were breaking balls.

He only threw 12 fastballs, between his four-seamer and his sinker.

So, yeah, heavy breaking stuff from Lake Bachar today.

But got the job done.

He's been inconsistent, I guess, since acquiring him.

He's looked good at times.

He's, given up some runs at times.

He's been asked to pitch a lot of innings since being acquired.

I do feel like, the Pirates have asked him to pitch quite a bit.

two innings, two innings, three innings, three innings.

Like, it's multi-inning, outings every single time.

But, yeah, three scoreless innings today.

That was exactly what they needed to start this one.

They turned the ball over to Hunter Barco in the fourth, who hasn't really looked great at the major league level this season.

And he pitches an outstanding fourth inning.

Just like a 1-2-3 quick 11-pitch scoreless fourth.

But then runs into some trouble in the fifth.

Gives up a three-run homer.

And at that point, you still felt comfortable.

Because I actually, I'm confident in this bullpen now.

Like, I'm actually, like, okay.

Four-run lead.

Five innings to, four innings to go.

I think this bullpen can hold that.

Yeah, the new and improved bullpen, right?

A couple weeks ago, it would have been scared.

But, yeah, I still felt pretty good, given who we had out in the bullpen now.

Yeah.

But, like, not a great outing for Barco.

He does give you three innings.

But, and I guess if you combine the two, right?

If you look at Bachar, Barco, it's a quality start.

I guess that's how you have to look at it whenever you do these bullpen games.

Yeah, Barco, it would be so good if Barco could, we could use a left-handed guy that could go multiple innings.

Maybe start, you know?

We really could.

And you see flashes, you know?

You see the good first, or, the fourth inning, the sixth inning.

Man, he just has those, loses his control.

maybe it's youth.

Maybe it's nerves.

I don't know.

But, man, it'd be great for the Pirates if he could work it out.

Yeah, he definitely, this stuff is not anything that's, like, overly exciting by any means.

Like, he, 47 pitches today, he only generated two swings and misses.

So, it's not like he's missing bats.

But I do feel like he's got, like, some sneakiness to him,.

Where, especially the fastball, it may be hard to pick up at times.

Because you did see quite a few hitters just watch the fastball and his sinker.

between his fastball and his sinker, he had 11 called strikes on those pitches.

So, it was interesting to see, like, he got hit hard.

The homer was obviously hit hard.

But there is something there, right?

Like, there's something to Barco.

Or, like, if they could just figure out how to tap into that, I think it's too early to completely give up on the guy.

But, yeah, you would like to at least have some confidence whenever you go to him.

Because right now, I don't really – I'm not confident in 100 points.

No.

You don't know what you're going to get.

And a clean first inning does not make you feel any better.

You're like, well, okay, he can do that.

But it doesn't always follow it up.

So, yeah, it's – right.

You can't – again, in a bullpen game, you're up seven.

I think you can – as a good – that was a good place to use him, right?

You know?

Yeah.

Instead of that, like, that opening weekend brought in the 10th inning, you know?

Like, what?

You know?

So, this was the place to use him.

You could, manage, suffer through his bad inning and still get the win.

Yeah, like I said, it'd be great.

It'd be great to have a crafty lefty.

It really would.

And, we'll see.

He's got – you don't know the way they're bouncing pitchers up and down right now.

But he should get some more opportunity this year, I would expect.

Yeah.

they're going to need people to pitch innings.

plain and simple.

And he gave them nine outs today.

Like I said, it wasn't exactly the most effective outing for Hunter Barco.

But he gave them nine outs when they needed to get nine outs.

So, I guess you'll take it.

But, yeah, eventually you'd like to see him put up a little bit more effective outings.

This season, ERA, up to 7.64 on the season.

I think this was his fourth stint with the major league team.

So, like, he's been up and down.

But, yeah.

I want to see him just put it all together.

Right.

It would be nice to see multiple appearances that, are scoreless or one run, that thing.

And not these big innings and hard hit type things.

Yeah.

So, it's 7-3 after 6.

And, Doug, that's when the rain starts.

At this point, are you surprised that they waited this out?

it was a getaway day.

It was 7-3.

I am.

I thought, right.

I just thought, call this game.

The Red Sox want to get on their plane.

We want to get on our plane.

The umpires want to, nobody wants to be here.

Right?

Yeah.

the Red Sox are probably not going to want to make the argument, hey, we can still come back.

like, let's just, let's call it a day.

I was surprised.

And, more and more surprised the longer it went on.

Yeah.

it ended up being about a two-and-a-half-hour rain delay, all in all.

And, yeah, I guess I'm a little surprised.

I feel like if maybe Boston hadn't scored those three runs to make it 7-3, like, if it was 7-0 when that delay started, maybe you just go, all right, let's just go home, everybody.

At 7-3.

Another strike against Hunter Barco.

He kept us around an extra hour and a half.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Let's blame Barco.

Yeah, he kept us around for, like, three-and-a-half hours longer than we needed to, probably.

But, yeah, two-and-a-half-hour rain delay.

We tried doing a sicko sound off during it, so I don't know how many people tuned into that.

But I know DiNardo had some audio issues.

That's going to end up being really cool once he gets that figured out.

Like, you're going to be able to call into the show from the app that we have.

So stay tuned for the next one.

The next one will work.

But this one had a few technical difficulties.

But once he came back.

I get the feeling that these guys will have things to say.

They have things to say, right?

this is your opportunity.

jump on.

it's much more than hoping that one of us will click on your little tweet here.

your little text.

So, yeah, get on sicko sound off and let it rip.

Yep.

So, again, put your hashtag raise it in the comments if you haven't yet for your chance to win some Primanti brothers.

But, yeah, after two-and-a-half hours, the rain subsides.

Isaac Mattson was going to come into the game before the delay.

The delay happens.

Pirates change their mind.

Kirby Yates comes in instead.

And I think this was the best Kirby Yates has looked since trading for him.

He was just blowing his fastball by.

That was zip.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just quick, easy.

One, two, three.

Two strikeouts.

14 pitches.

retired Boston in order was super efficient, super effective.

So, yeah, that was good to see.

And then what was even better to see, Doug, was, like, I feel like after a long delay like that, like, you never know how the game is going to go.

Like, the Pirates had the game under control.

Like, they were up by four, nine outs to go.

But, like, it could go either way still.

Like, stuff happens.

You just, two-and-a-half hours where you're not playing and then you're asked to play again.

You never know how you're going to respond to that.

And so, the Pirates putting up a zero there was big.

And then I thought even bigger than that was putting up a run in that bottom half of the inning to say, okay, you know what?

Yeah, we're up seven to three.

Now we're going to be up eight to three.

And that was with Flores getting a base hit.

Nick Yorke hitting him in.

A big day for the York dorks, Doug.

I told you.

Two for four, three RBIs.

He was struggling quite a bit down in Indianapolis.

And then he got injured.

And he came back from his rehab.

And he's been raking down there the past week.

A week or so.

So, you were wondering, like, maybe he's just been dinged up for a while.

But, yeah, today, called up.

That surprised me.

I was not expecting to see Nick Yorke on this team any time soon again.

And, yeah, they give him a shot.

They give him a start.

They put him at third base, the seven hole.

And, yeah, two-hit game, three RBIs.

Can't ask him more than that.

Right.

Again, his opportunities are probably going to be somewhat limited.

So, he needs to make the best of them.

He certainly did today.

Right.

he's earned another start.

Right.

He should get another shot.

he doesn't need to be sent right down.

So, yeah.

It was good.

Is he a better third baseman than Nick Gonzales?

Doug, I think he might be a better.

Yeah.

Right now, exactly.

I feel like, you know.

I don't think that's much of an argument.

Yeah.

Yes.

He's absolutely a better third baseman than Nick Gonzales.

I think.

I love Nick Gonzales.

But I think he's probably the worst defensive third baseman in baseball.

Because he's not a third baseman.

He's not a third baseman.

Right.

Once again, Pirates playing out of position.

So, yeah.

Big game for Nick Yorke.

So, that was cool to see.

Then Camilo Doval comes in.

He gives up a couple base runners.

But pitches a scoreless eighth inning.

not a whole lot happening there.

I was surprised the Red Sox didn't change pitchers after that delay.

They stuck with Raymond Burgos.

he had pitched two innings before the delay.

Then two and a half hour wait.

And then pitched another two innings.

You just don't see that.

Never.

Never.

In today's baseball.

you haven't seen that in 20 years.

It's not just, this decade.

It's this century.

You've not seen.

I can't ever remember.

And on any team, in any game that I, like, watch where a guy came back after two and a half hours.

they just don't do that anymore.

Yeah.

I can't remember the last time I saw somebody do that.

a two and a half hour delay.

And he comes back out.

We didn't even bring back the guy that we had warmed up.

Isaac Mattson hadn't even pitched yet, but he had warmed up enough that we said, nope, we got to go with somebody else.

So, yeah, it's that it was a unusual and a rare move there.

Yeah.

And then in the ninth inning, it's a five run lead at this point.

But, man, Mason Montgomery, Doug, is just lights out.

Lights out.

Something happened in, like, the last two months where he's just throwing more strikes.

And the stuff is so good where if he's just in or around the zone, he's practically unhittable.

And today he showcased that.

one, two, three, ninth inning, struck out to 11 pitches, nine of those for strikes.

He has been just on a whole other level, I feel like.

I give the Pirates credit on this.

I think they've, because I started noticing it a while ago.

It's like suddenly Soto's coming in the seventh.

Now it's guys on.

It's a delicate situation.

But they started putting him.

It was in the ninth inning, not necessarily protecting a one run lead.

It might be in the ninth inning when we're up, but you could see that they saw something there.

That they saw that he had, ironed out his control or whatever it was.

But and then eased him into the role.

But, yeah, he looks like just a dominant type closer right now.

And, oh, what a lift.

What a thing.

Of course, this gives Ben Cherington the opportunity to say, see, we told you it was here.

We just needed to wait.

It was just we had to sort it out a little.

that's why I don't ever make moves in a timely fashion.

I believe it's here on the lineup, in the lineup, on the roster.

Doug, since June 6th, so we're talking to almost two and a half months.

He's pitched in 26 games, 24 and two thirds innings.

He struck out 46 batters in those 24 and two thirds innings.

It's almost two batters in it.

and he's only walked 10.

So 46 strikeouts to 10 walks.

he's given up six runs in that time period to 2.19 earned run average.

He's just.

Yeah, he's overpowering hitters right now.

And I said, you're always going to have some walks with him.

Like, it's just going to be part of his game.

But like, if he's like Valdez is going to have some strikeouts, right?

You can put up with some stuff if the other part, it's our, elite and that thing.

yeah.

And for all of you guys that want Cherington fired and I am amongst them, I believe today is a good day to fire Ben Cherington.

He's not getting fired because it trades like this, because of the injuries and stuff like that.

He'll be able to know it.

It's Bob nutting, man.

Come on.

Anybody else?

Like he'd be gone by now, but it's Bob nutting.

He's not going anywhere.

Yeah.

We'll see about that.

but yeah, man, I hope I'm wrong.

His strikeout rate is approaching 40%, which is, which means you can bring him in on with men on base.

You know what I'm saying?

And get you out of it type thing, which is such a nice thing to have.

we don't really do that.

They put Evan Sisk in and he just lets all the run.

That's true.

I forgot Evan Sisk is the only one to pitch with runners in scoring position.

but yeah, pirates, like I said, big win.

Like I said, they, I, they are going to have to win a lot of games for me to get excited again.

they're, they put themselves in a hole, but two out of three against the Red Sox is a good start.

You've got a real off.

You've got a real off multiple series wins in a row now, to climb.

And mixing some sweeps, as you said, right.

Like I said, just winning the series, get you eight to five games means you miss out by two or three games more than likely.

yeah, you said there's no reason to make any, proclamations now or anything.

they have to pay, play better the rest of the way, better than they have all season long.

They have to do things they haven't done all year long.

And I, for months I've been saying, I believe this team can, and the chat has shouted me down and like, well, why Doug?

It's not.

And I agree that they haven't shown it.

It doesn't seem, but, I think it was Jim Leyland that said the playoff run starts and there, the pennant run or whatever starts like August 15th.

Well, here we are, it's time.

So if they're going to turn it on, turn it up, they have to, they have to, they muddle along playing 500 there, obviously they're not going anywhere.

Not going to work.

shout out to Silas TV, $5 super chat.

He says, let's say we sweep the tigers.

All right.

like we need to do, how many would you think we need to take in the following road trip to stay afloat?

They got at a Los Angeles at San Diego and at St. Louis.

I'm, I think the angels or the Dodgers.

I think that's the angels.

No, that's the Dodgers.

That's the angels giants later on.

Yeah.

this is where I'm at.

On Bucco Brew on the 10th, last week, I said, you have to win every series going forward.

And if you lose a series, it means you need to sweep someone else.

Yep.

They lost the Marlins series, which means you need a sweep to make up for that.

And then you need to win every other series.

Right.

So they've got to sweep the tigers and then they've got to win.

They're going to go like seven and three.

That's all.

Those are all three games.

Right.

Yeah.

Two or three against the, like, you've got to, I'd say you almost need to go seven and two, right?

You can't just win the series.

You got to sweep somebody in there.

So, yeah, you somehow need to win.

Like you got to sweep the tigers and you got to win six of nine on this road trip.

Yep.

So, and even then to the point where then you've got to go do the same thing with the next three series.

Right.

You got to keep doing it.

Yep.

Yeah.

They are about, let's say if Konnor Griffin gets activated the day that he's eligible, they are roughly three weeks away from that.

So they, but they've got to, they've got to play their way to the point where that matters.

And that starts, right.

It started this weekend.

It, this, like I said, this helps, but they've got to, they've got to keep it going.

So, all right, you're ready to give away some sandwiches, Doug.

Absolutely.

Let's do it.

This was a long day.

So let's give away some sandwiches.

we've got 100 entries.

So best of luck to everybody.

I'll give you two more seconds.

Hashtag raise it in the comments.

Also make sure you like the video.

Remember, if you don't like the video, it's bad karma and you're probably not going to win.

Probably not going to win.

So make sure you like the video, subscribe to the page, all that good stuff.

So watch off tomorrow, watch Bucco Brew tomorrow.

Check out our app.

Get ready for sicko sound off.

All that good stuff.

Yep.

Thursday.

I'm sure we'll have a show that Wednesday or Thursday night.

All right.

First winner.

Congratulations to Gary Landefeld, Gary Landefeld.

you're our first winner.

Email us at North shore nine at gmail.com.

It's all one word.

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No numbers.

It's not the number nine.

It's North shore nine.

N I N E.

Make sure you email us your email address.

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all right.

Winner number two is Oh, John Hooper.

Congratulations, John West coast out there.

There you go.

Yeah.

Congrats, Sean.

Congrats.

I know Sean's excited for this West coast trip coming up.

I think he's going to all of the games.

So yeah, he, and they play the angels later too.

Right.

In is the angels series.

I think they play angels or later.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yep.

So he, but he should be busy out there bringing a good karma.

Yep.

The Hooper non curse.

Yeah.

I won't be out there to curse them this time.

I am done going to pirates away games, I think for the rest of the year.

So there's the pirates have no excuses.

It's all on them at this point right now, 100% on them.

the pirates play the tigers tomorrow at seven Oh five.

Doug, I don't think they have announced a starting pitcher for that yet.

I don't see it still TBA.

It is Carmen Mlodzinski's turn through the rotation.

So I'll be curious to see if they start Carmen or if they have an opener for him.

but the pirates will be facing from Burr Valdez and the tigers.

and they are even money plus 100 to win that game tomorrow.

So on FanDuel, Braston Ashcraft on Tuesday, looking forward to his follow-up of that outstanding performance the other night.

Yeah.

Ashcraft Tuesday, Skeen's Wednesday.

Do you got to win all three?

Yeah.

Yeah, you're right.

So sweep our geographic rivals.

Yes.

Detroit has long been league geographic rival.

Yeah.

Our American league rivals, the Detroit tigers.

We got, I guess, paired up with them because neither of us have a real rival.

Right.

Right.

Cause they couldn't give us Cleveland like they should have, cause they gave that to Cincinnati, but whatever.

They got a battle for Ohio.

Right.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, I appreciate all of you guys for sticking this out.

Let's say it was a long day.

seven 30.

Now it's game started six hours ago.

So appreciate all of you, again, like subscribe, all that good stuff.

we'll be back tomorrow morning with offbeat and a new episode of Bucco Brew.

See you then.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Let's Go Bucs.

Let's Go Bucs.

All right.

That wraps up this episode of North shore nine.

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