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Pirates

Pitching bails on Bucs in loss to Arizona

By Wes Crosby The Associated Press PITTSBURGH — Josh Bell homered from both sides of the plate in his Arizona debut, Ketel Marte also hit two home runs and the Diamondbacks beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-8 on Friday night after blowing a five-run lead. Acquired Tuesday from the Miami Marlins for cash considerations, Bell had the last of Arizona’s three straight homers in the first inning, then tied it at 7 with two outs in the seventh. On the second, he hammered Aroldis Chapman’s 102.9 mph sinker 370 feet to right — the fastest pitch hit for a homer since ball tracking ...

Cutch is the heart of the Pirates

By John Hartsock jhartsock@altoonamirror.com PITTSBURGH — More than any other single player, Andrew McCutchen has been responsible for the renaissance of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball. Selected by the Pirates in the first round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft as the 11th ...

Errors kill Bucs shot at a sweep

The Associated Press HOUSTON — Mauricio Dubon hit a two-run homer, Framber Valdez struck out 10 in six innings and the Houston Astros came from behind to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 on Wednesday night. Dubon came in to pinch hit in the sixth inning with the Astros trailing 4-3. He ...

Falter, Taylor key Pirates win

The Associated Press HOUSTON — Michael Taylor homered for the second straight game, Bailey Falter returned to the rotation and threw one-run ball into the sixth inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros 6-2 on Tuesday night. Taylor hit a 403-foot, two-run homer off Astros starter Hunter Brown (9-7) in the sixth inning. Taylor hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning on Monday night in the Pirates’ 5-3 victory. His fourth homer of the season also marked the first back-to-back homer games for the 33-year-old outfielder since August with Minnesota. Falter (5-7), ...

Bucs GM spends day getting help

From Mirror reports PITTSBURGH— It was a busy day in Pittsburgh for the Pirates and general manager Ben Cherington as his team made a playoff push in the National League. The Pirates were involved in several moves on the day before the 6 p.m. deadline on Tuesday. The biggest move involved getting outfielder Bryan De La Cruz from the Marlins. De La Cruz, 27, is batting .245/.289/.417 with 19 doubles, 18 home runs and 51 RBIs with 118 strikeouts and 25 walks in 105 games this season. He has played played left field (47 starts) and has also been a designated hitter (50 starts), with ...

Pitching-hungry teams get what they wanted

The Associated Press PHOENIX — The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, San Diego added All-Star closer Tanner Scott, and Arizona, Baltimore and Pittsburgh made significant deals for the stretch run ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline. Many top stars mentioned as trade targets stayed with their teams, including Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., San Francisco pitcher Blake Snell and Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet. Still, there were 30 trades finalized Tuesday, according to Major League Baseball. San Diego got Scott from Miami, Cleveland ...