Breaking News

Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Central

Padres lock up Pirates

SAN DIEGO - Out with the tricks and back to basics for San Diego's Odrisamer Despaigne.Despaigne limited the Pittsburgh Pirates to one run in a career-high eight innings to lead the Padres to a 7-1 win Sunday night.Despaigne (3-3) held the Pirates scoreless through six innings before Gregory Polanco hit a solo homer off him in the seventh. Pittsburgh had won eight of nine games.The right-hander allowed seven hits, struck out four and walked one. Despaigne has allowed just three runs over 20 innings in his last three starts.Will Middlebrooks homered and drove in three runs as San Diego ...

Morton pitches 7 strong innings, drives in go-ahead run

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Charlie Morton isn't showing any signs of missing almost the first two months of the season while he rehabbed from right hip surgery.Morton pitched seven strong innings and combined with two relievers on a four-hitter, and drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-2 victory against the San Diego Padres on Saturday night.Morton (2-0) retired his last 11 batters in his second start of the season. He won his season debut 4-2 against Marlins on Monday after starting the year on the disabled list. He held San Diego to two runs, one ...

Norris’ grand slam lifts Padres to 6-2 win vs Pirates

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Derek Norris was wearing the golden sombrero - baseball talk for four strikeouts - when he stepped into the batter's box with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 2-2 game.Two pitches later, a slider from Rob Scahill caught too much of the plate and Norris drove it over the fence in left-center to give the San Diego Padres a 6-2 victory over Pittsburgh on Friday night, snapping the Pirates' season-high, seven-game winning streak.Norris' second career grand slam capped a wild ninth and led to a boisterous celebration at home plate. Before ...

Pittsburgh Pirates Minor League News and Notes

Indianapolis (28-19) - Alen Hanson is hitting .340 (34-for-100) with five doubles, four triples, two home runs, 12 RBI, 17 runs scored and a .912 OPS this month ... Hanson's 34 hits this month are tied for fourth in all of Triple-A baseball ... Hanson also ranks fourth among all International League players with 52 hits, tied for second in triples and tied for fourth in stolen bases (14) ... Steve Lombardozzi ranks seventh in the league in batting average (.328) and second in on-base percentage (.413) ... Gorkys Hernandez is tied for second in the league in runs scored and has hit safely ...

Pirates partner with Papa John’s to introduce new Summer Six-Pack ticket plans

Summer fun at PNC Park and a free pizza are now a part of the Pirates newest ticket package as the team announces the 2015 Summer Six-Packs, presented by Papa John's. The new ticket plans are available now at pirates.com/summer and are starting as low as $99. As a special bonus, each Summer Six-Pack plan purchased includes one voucher for one free large two-topping pizza from Papa John's.The plans offer the ultimate flexibility as fans are able to select games throughout the remainder of the 2015 season and build their own six-game package. Each package includes the choice of two Gold ...

Bucs bask in Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO - Andrew McCutchen was fed up. His batting average had dipped below .200 and he figured it was time to get going. He's going in a big way.McCutchen had four hits and drove in two runs, Pedro Alvarez drove in a pair and the Pittsburgh Pirates won for the 10th time in 12 games, beating the San Francisco Giants 7-4 Tuesday night."I was fed up," McCutchen said. "That's still how I feel and I'm not done yet. There is more where that came from."McCutchen improved to .398 (37-for-93) over his past 26 games, with 11 doubles, a triple, five homers, 21 RBIs and 17 runs scored.He's ...