• Haggerty grounder to Hayes, Langford grounder to IKF, and Seager strikes out on foul tip.
• End of sixth inning: Cruz fly out to center, Cutch pop out to second, and Reynolds with his third hit of the game, a single, to center. Gonzales flies out to Garcia in right to finish the sixth.
• Duran is caught-looking to close out the top of the sixth.
• RUN: Hayes fields the ball, falls backwards throwing to second to get the force play, Garcia scores from third. Pirates, 7-3.
• Falter tied a season high 89 pitches.
• Smith flies out to Reynolds in right center, Garcia tags and moves to third. That'll do it for Falter as Kelly comes out and calls on Caleb Ferguson.
• Heim lines a single to center, Garcia holds at second.
• Garcia walks and out comes Oscar Marin for a visit.
• End of fifth inning: Soft line out to short by IKF.
• RUN: Pham hammers the ball to center for RBI double. Pirates, 7-2.
• RUN: Hayes joins the RBI action with single to RF. Pirates, 6-2.
• RUN: Horwitz hits a playable fly to Garcia, who had a good series defensively, misplays it and both runners score. Pirates, 5-2.
• Bart fielder's choice 6-4 at second base, runners on the corner for Horwitz.
• RUN: Gonzales follows with his own single the other way driving in Cruz. Pirates, 3-2.
• Reynolds goes the other way with the ball just getting by Jung at third, Cruz had to hold up and can only go to 3B.
• Cutch ground out to third base to advance Cruz to second base. Fundamental baseball.
• Leiter's day is over as righty Caleb Boushley will face Cutch.
• Cruz walks.
• Impressive. Saw Falter flying open twice with that walk, thought he might be done. Nope. Turned to the offspeed to get back down in the zone.
• Semien with a sharp grounder up the middle to Gonzales to end that threat.
• Seager down swinging.
• Haggerty walks, Falter's command continues to be a problem... but he gets Langford to foul out to 1B
• Duran with an infield single, Hayes barehanded the ball and tried to get him but the ball was too far in.
• End fourth inning: IKF fly out to left.
• RUN: Pham lifts one to center for a sacrifice fly. Tied, 2-2
• RUN: Hayes goes the other way down the first base line to drive in Bart. Rangers, 2-1
• Horwitz singles to center, Gonzales moves to second.
• Gonzales strikes out, Bart lines a single to left-center.
• Heim grounder to short, Smith with a high fly out to center, and Jung is retired by IKF on easy grounder to end the inning.
• End third inning. Reynolds with a dad-strength ... lineout to center.
• Cutch 5-3.
• Cruz one-hops to second, barely trots to first.
• Can't say enough for that slider action Falter had to get Garcia. First slider of the count. Nose-dived under the fists. Beautiful pitch.
• Hayes saves a run fielding a hard hit by Garcia and Falter escapes the inning.
• Falter losing his control today, a wild pitch allows Haggerty to move to third base.
• Semien shallow fly out to Cruz in center.
• Seager pops up to Hayes.
• Haggerty ropes a double down the LF line, followed by another walk to Langford.
• End second inning. Kiner-Falefa whiffs. Strands two.
• Pham drops a single into left-center.
• Hayes lines out to right. Two down.
• Horwitz flies out to left. He's been quite the find.
• Bart opens the Pittsburgh second with a walk.
• Duran with a 5-4-3 double play, beautifully begun by Hayes. No idea how he twists his torso like that.
• RUN: Smith's weird bunt attempt morphs into a soft single into left. Rangers, 1-0
• Imagine if everyone just got up and left right now. Absolutely everyone.
• RUN: Smith's weird bunt attempt morphs into a soft single into left. Rangers, 1-0
• Heim lines out to left. Pham had difficulty with it.
• As does Garcia. Trouble.
• Semien walks to open the Texas second.
• End first inning. Gonzales pops out to first.
• Reynolds, after a decent at-bat, doubles into the right field corner. Seriously, I really liked his swings throughout and was sharing that with Eric. That ends a streak of 25 innings without an extra-base hit. Parade down Grant Street tomorrow.
• Cutch pops out to third.
• Cruz one-hops to short.
• Seager 3-6-6, all cleaned up
• Langford pops out to left
• Haggerty drops one into right, this after Bart takes a foul off the mask and takes a brief trip to the dugout
• First pitch: Pirates vs. Rangers, Falter to Haggerty, 1:35 p.m., 87 degrees, sunny, sweltering
• For Don Kelly’s Pirates:
1. Oneil Cruz, CF 2. Andrew McCutchen, DH 3. Bryan Reynolds, RF 4. Nick Gonzales, 2B 5. Joey Bart, C 6. Spencer Horwitz, 1B 7. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B 8. Tommy Pham, LF 9. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS
• For Bruce Bochy's Rangers:
1. Sam Haggerty, LF 2. Wyatt Langford, CF 3. Corey Seager, SS 4. Marcus Semien, 2B 5. Adolis Garcia, RF 6. Jonah Heim, C 7. Josh Smith, DH 8. Josh Jung, 3B 9. Ezequiel Duran, 1B
• Hey, everyone! Happy Sunday!
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THE ASYLUM
Dejan Kovacevic
11:38 pm - 06.21.2025North ShoreFinal: Pirates 8, Rangers 3
• Who: Pirates (30-48) vs. Rangers (38-39)
• What: MLB regular season, Game 79
• When: 1:38 p.m.
• Where: PNC Park
• Weather: 91°, dangerously hot
• Pitchers: LHP Bailey Falter (5-3, 3.49 ERA) vs. RHP Jack Leiter (4-4, 4.40)
• TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
• Radio: Pirates Radio Network
• Streaming: SNP360, MLB.TV
• Satellite: SiriusXM 181/861
• Boxscore: MLB.com
• Media notes: Pirates | Rangers
► FOLLOW ALONG
• Final: Duran strikes out. Pirates, 8-3
• Jung strikes out.
• Smith with a slow bouncer to Horwitz for the first out.
• David Bednar enters to Renegade, score is 8-3.
• Big day for Hayes, by the way:
• End of eighth inning: Bart grounds into an inning ending double play, 6-4-3.
• Gonzales hits a single to center, bases loaded for Bart.
• Reynolds walked.
• Cruz strikes out looking and Cutch singles to left.
• Semien pops out in foul territory to Hayes, Garcia strikes out swinging, and Heim lines out.
• Dennis Santana into the game after Ferguson's 1 2/3 IP.
• End of seventh inning: IKF retired 4-3 by second baseman Semien. 0-4 today.
• RUN: Pham RBI double to right field wall. Pirates, 8-3.
• Hayes pulls a high fly ball to left, Horwitz stays at second.
• Horwitz doubles to center.
• A: 20,341
• Bart retired on a dribbler to Jung on third
• Haggerty grounder to Hayes, Langford grounder to IKF, and Seager strikes out on foul tip.
• End of sixth inning: Cruz fly out to center, Cutch pop out to second, and Reynolds with his third hit of the game, a single, to center. Gonzales flies out to Garcia in right to finish the sixth.
• Duran is caught-looking to close out the top of the sixth.
• RUN: Hayes fields the ball, falls backwards throwing to second to get the force play, Garcia scores from third. Pirates, 7-3.
• Falter tied a season high 89 pitches.
• Smith flies out to Reynolds in right center, Garcia tags and moves to third. That'll do it for Falter as Kelly comes out and calls on Caleb Ferguson.
• Heim lines a single to center, Garcia holds at second.
• Garcia walks and out comes Oscar Marin for a visit.
• End of fifth inning: Soft line out to short by IKF.
• RUN: Pham hammers the ball to center for RBI double. Pirates, 7-2.
• RUN: Hayes joins the RBI action with single to RF. Pirates, 6-2.
• RUN: Horwitz hits a playable fly to Garcia, who had a good series defensively, misplays it and both runners score. Pirates, 5-2.
• Bart fielder's choice 6-4 at second base, runners on the corner for Horwitz.
• RUN: Gonzales follows with his own single the other way driving in Cruz. Pirates, 3-2.
• Reynolds goes the other way with the ball just getting by Jung at third, Cruz had to hold up and can only go to 3B.
• Cutch ground out to third base to advance Cruz to second base. Fundamental baseball.
• Leiter's day is over as righty Caleb Boushley will face Cutch.
• Cruz walks.
• Impressive. Saw Falter flying open twice with that walk, thought he might be done. Nope. Turned to the offspeed to get back down in the zone.
• Semien with a sharp grounder up the middle to Gonzales to end that threat.
• Seager down swinging.
• Haggerty walks, Falter's command continues to be a problem... but he gets Langford to foul out to 1B
• Duran with an infield single, Hayes barehanded the ball and tried to get him but the ball was too far in.
• End fourth inning: IKF fly out to left.
• RUN: Pham lifts one to center for a sacrifice fly. Tied, 2-2
• RUN: Hayes goes the other way down the first base line to drive in Bart. Rangers, 2-1
• Horwitz singles to center, Gonzales moves to second.
• Gonzales strikes out, Bart lines a single to left-center.
• Heim grounder to short, Smith with a high fly out to center, and Jung is retired by IKF on easy grounder to end the inning.
• End third inning. Reynolds with a dad-strength ... lineout to center.
• Cutch 5-3.
• Cruz one-hops to second, barely trots to first.
• Can't say enough for that slider action Falter had to get Garcia. First slider of the count. Nose-dived under the fists. Beautiful pitch.
• Hayes saves a run fielding a hard hit by Garcia and Falter escapes the inning.
• Falter losing his control today, a wild pitch allows Haggerty to move to third base.
• Semien shallow fly out to Cruz in center.
• Seager pops up to Hayes.
• Haggerty ropes a double down the LF line, followed by another walk to Langford.
• End second inning. Kiner-Falefa whiffs. Strands two.
• Pham drops a single into left-center.
• Hayes lines out to right. Two down.
• Horwitz flies out to left. He's been quite the find.
• Bart opens the Pittsburgh second with a walk.
• Duran with a 5-4-3 double play, beautifully begun by Hayes. No idea how he twists his torso like that.
• RUN: Smith's weird bunt attempt morphs into a soft single into left. Rangers, 1-0
• Imagine if everyone just got up and left right now. Absolutely everyone.
• RUN: Smith's weird bunt attempt morphs into a soft single into left. Rangers, 1-0
• Heim lines out to left. Pham had difficulty with it.
• As does Garcia. Trouble.
• Semien walks to open the Texas second.
• End first inning. Gonzales pops out to first.
• Reynolds, after a decent at-bat, doubles into the right field corner. Seriously, I really liked his swings throughout and was sharing that with Eric. That ends a streak of 25 innings without an extra-base hit. Parade down Grant Street tomorrow.
• Cutch pops out to third.
• Cruz one-hops to short.
• Seager 3-6-6, all cleaned up
• Langford pops out to left
• Haggerty drops one into right, this after Bart takes a foul off the mask and takes a brief trip to the dugout
• First pitch: Pirates vs. Rangers, Falter to Haggerty, 1:35 p.m., 87 degrees, sunny, sweltering
• For Don Kelly’s Pirates:
1. Oneil Cruz, CF
2. Andrew McCutchen, DH
3. Bryan Reynolds, RF
4. Nick Gonzales, 2B
5. Joey Bart, C
6. Spencer Horwitz, 1B
7. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
8. Tommy Pham, LF
9. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS
• For Bruce Bochy's Rangers:
1. Sam Haggerty, LF
2. Wyatt Langford, CF
3. Corey Seager, SS
4. Marcus Semien, 2B
5. Adolis Garcia, RF
6. Jonah Heim, C
7. Josh Smith, DH
8. Josh Jung, 3B
9. Ezequiel Duran, 1B
• Hey, everyone! Happy Sunday!
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