Breaking News

Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Central

Court upholds suspended term for Pirates’ Kang

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court on Thursday upheld a suspended prison sentence for Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang over a drunken driving conviction, a ruling that may complicate his plans to rejoin the National League baseball team this season. The Seoul Central District Court dismissed Kang’s appeal of a suspended two-year prison sentence over charges of fleeing the scene after crashing a car into the guardrail while driving drunk, a court official said. The court official didn’t want to be named, citing office rules. Kang had sought to lower the ...

Cole shuts down Nationals as Pirates roll to win

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Gerrit Cole spent the last six weeks stringing together dominant performance after dominant performance with little to show for it, thanks to a Pittsburgh Pirates offense that always seemed to sputter whenever their ace’s turn in the rotation came up. Yet Cole tried to stay upbeat, stressing that if he kept doing his job eventually the lineup would, too. Eventually turned into Wednesday night, when Cole shut down the best offense in the majors and the Pirates broke out late in a 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals. Cole (2-4) allowed one run on three hits ...

Greinke, D-Backs stifle Pirates

PHOENIX — Zack Greinke’s bid for his first career no-hitter was thwarted by Pittsburgh’s Gregory Polanco’s leadoff home run in the eighth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks held on to beat the Pirates 2-1 on Thursday night. Greinke (4-2), who dominated the Pirates with a vicious slider, allowed that one hit in eight innings. He struck out 11 and walked one. Fernando Rodney pitched a scoreless ninth for his ninth save in 11 tries. The game ended when Jeff Mathis threw out Josh Harrison trying to steal second. Greinke faced the minimum 21 batters through seven innings. Jordy ...

Cervelli homers, but Pirates fall in L.A.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kenta Maeda wished the longest outing of his major league career was just a little longer. Maeda pitched into the ninth inning, Cody Bellinger homered and made a tumbling catch in left field and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep. Maeda (3-2) got within two outs of his first career complete game. Francisco Cervelli hit a two-run homer in the ninth, though, and Maeda was pulled a batter later, going 8 1/3 innings while allowing two runs and five hits. He struck out five and left to a rousing ...

Taylor hits grand slam in first, Dodgers pound Pirates

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Taylor hit a grand slam during a six-run first inning, Alex Wood and a pair of Los Angeles relievers combined for 17 strikeouts and the Dodgers rolled over the Pittsburgh Pirates 12-1 on Monday night. Yasiel Puig added a solo homer in the first as the Dodgers jumped all over Trevor Williams (1-2), who was filling in for Jameson Taillon after he had surgery Monday for suspected testicular cancer. In his fourth start, Wood (3-0) threw five scoreless innings, holding the Pirates to two hits and a walk while striking out a season-high 11. Ross Stripling allowed ...

Pirates fall to Brew Crew

PITTSBURGH — Eric Thames was unable to get warm in his hotel room on a cold Saturday night. The next day, his bat heated up on a sunny afternoon. Thames broke out of his slump with a home run and three hits, sending the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. “It was just miserable, then to go extra innings on top of it,” Thames said about Milwaukee’s 10-inning loss Saturday night. “I woke up in the middle of the night and I felt under the weather. I was freezing. I had the sleeves on and was under the covers trying to warm up.” Travis ...