My first year covering the Pirates was filled with some absolute dud performances at PNC Park, as the team slogged through rain delays and hitters barely lifting their bats off their shoulders.
We saw plenty of negative moments: A fan falling over the Clemente Wall, a Surfside advertisement replacing a RobertoClemente logo, running out of Paul Skenes bobbleheads — a situation that prompted Bob Nutting to personally intervene — the Bucco Bricks fiasco, airplanes flying banners demanding Nutting to sell the team, and Derek Shelton being fired less than two months into the season while his 'accountable together' partner, Ben Cherington, was retained.
In this line of work, if you focus too much on the negative, you’ll miss the special athletes and their moments. And while the team lost 91 games, there were more than enough positives to go about 20 deep. Here are my top five moments of the season:
No. 5: Kelly’s first game
The Pirates fired Shelton on May 8 after the team had just been swept by the Cardinals on the road for a seventh loss in a row, a stretch in which they were outscored 36-9. The team was staring at a 12-26 record, nowhere near the expected next step the franchise had hoped during the offseason.
The following day, Don Kelly made his debut as the team’s manager, beating the Braves, 3-2, at PNC Park. There wasn’t anything special about the offense that day as the team had five hits, two of which were solo home runs by Alexander Canario in the third inning and Jared Triolo in the sixth inning.
Kelly had to sweat it out in the ninth. Dennis Santana,pitching with a 3-0 lead, allowed a leadoff triple and two singles to cut the lead down to one with two outs before he retired Ozzie Albies on a lineout to deep center.
The team finished 59-65 under Kelly, and after the season he was signed to a new contract and officially named manager.
No. 4: A 122.9 MPH missile
Oneil Cruz continued to show, in spurts, that his raw power, generated by leverage and bat speed, could crush some prodigious home runs.
It's amazing that this list isn’t highlighted by his 463-foot home run at Angel Stadium in April or the incredible first round at the MLB Home Run Derby that featured a 513-foot blast out of the ballpark with assistant coach Stephen Morales pitching the gopher balls.
Instead, it was this May 25 missile at PNC Park that takes the cake for me. As I’m writing down a note covering the game, all I heard was the crack of the bat and before I could fully recognize the moment while looking up, the ball was already out of the ballpark on its way into the Allegheny River. It remains the hardest hit ball in the Statcast era.
No. 3: Mets and Cardinals sweeps
In one of the oddest stretches of the season, the Pirates were struggling with a 32-50 record, having just lost another road series to the Brewers and watched Skenes struggle in four innings while Jacob Misiorowski dazzled in their matchup for five innings, striking out eight Pirates hitters.
What followed was a bizarre six-game stretch at PNC Park where the Pirates swept both the Mets and Cardinals by a combined score of 43-4, with three shutouts versus St. Louis. What was even more impressive to me was the fact that they outhit both teams 63-14. No team has ever scored more runs over a six-game span while allowing fewer than five runs in the history of Major League Baseball.
It was an unfathomable historical moment considering this team flirted with some rather unforgettably bad Pirates teams from the 1880s and 1950s.
The excitement didn’t last long as the moment’s star faded on Independence Day in Seattle, losing 6-0, then twice again by 1-0 scores. They made more history in becoming the first team to sweep an opponent via shutout and then be shut out the following three games.
No. 2: Bubba’s final start
I could have easily said Bubba Chandler becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to record a scoreless four-inning save in his major-league debut was a pretty important moment for the team’s future. I wouldn’t have begrudged anyone if they said his second start against the Nationals where he was almost perfect, allowing two hits and no walks in six scoreless innings that featured seven strikeouts.
Instead, I look to his final start in Atlanta, pitching on the mound against his hometown team in front of family and friends. With all that pressure, he delivered 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run and four hits, while striking out six. He finished the season with a 4-1 record, 4.02 ERA, 0.926 WHIP, and 31 1/3 innings pitched.
No. 1: Skenes Day
Every Skenes start this season felt like an event. The reigning National League Rookie of the Year threw seven different pitches this year to keep hitters off balance to the tune of 1.97 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 216 strikeouts over 187 2/3 innings to win the National League Cy Young Award.
The numbers were outrageous: • 5 or less hits in 25 of 32 starts • 3 or less hits in 13 starts • 0 earned runs in 14 starts • 1 earned run in 6 starts • 2 earned runs in 6 starts • 20 quality starts
Skenes’ most dominant start of the season was an eight-inning complete game loss to the Phillies on the road, allowing just one earned run on one walk and three hits to go with nine strikeouts.
In 12 no-decision starts, he allowed two or fewer earned runs in 11, and in the 10 losses, he allowed three or fewer earned runs in seven games. He could have easily won another 10 games if the Pirates had even an average offense.
And finally, one of the more hyped pitching matchups of the entire baseball season was his April 25 start against Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the road against the Dodgers. Yamamoto tossed five innings, allowing one earned run on five hits and four walks. Skenes was the more dominant starter on this night, lasting 6 1/3 innings and allowing five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.
THE ASYLUM
Memorable moments from 2025
My first year covering the Pirates was filled with some absolute dud performances at PNC Park, as the team slogged through rain delays and hitters barely lifting their bats off their shoulders.
We saw plenty of negative moments: A fan falling over the Clemente Wall, a Surfside advertisement replacing a Roberto Clemente logo, running out of Paul Skenes bobbleheads — a situation that prompted Bob Nutting to personally intervene — the Bucco Bricks fiasco, airplanes flying banners demanding Nutting to sell the team, and Derek Shelton being fired less than two months into the season while his 'accountable together' partner, Ben Cherington, was retained.
In this line of work, if you focus too much on the negative, you’ll miss the special athletes and their moments. And while the team lost 91 games, there were more than enough positives to go about 20 deep. Here are my top five moments of the season:
No. 5: Kelly’s first game
The Pirates fired Shelton on May 8 after the team had just been swept by the Cardinals on the road for a seventh loss in a row, a stretch in which they were outscored 36-9. The team was staring at a 12-26 record, nowhere near the expected next step the franchise had hoped during the offseason.
The following day, Don Kelly made his debut as the team’s manager, beating the Braves, 3-2, at PNC Park. There wasn’t anything special about the offense that day as the team had five hits, two of which were solo home runs by Alexander Canario in the third inning and Jared Triolo in the sixth inning.
Kelly had to sweat it out in the ninth. Dennis Santana, pitching with a 3-0 lead, allowed a leadoff triple and two singles to cut the lead down to one with two outs before he retired Ozzie Albies on a lineout to deep center.
The team finished 59-65 under Kelly, and after the season he was signed to a new contract and officially named manager.
No. 4: A 122.9 MPH missile
Oneil Cruz continued to show, in spurts, that his raw power, generated by leverage and bat speed, could crush some prodigious home runs.
It's amazing that this list isn’t highlighted by his 463-foot home run at Angel Stadium in April or the incredible first round at the MLB Home Run Derby that featured a 513-foot blast out of the ballpark with assistant coach Stephen Morales pitching the gopher balls.
Instead, it was this May 25 missile at PNC Park that takes the cake for me. As I’m writing down a note covering the game, all I heard was the crack of the bat and before I could fully recognize the moment while looking up, the ball was already out of the ballpark on its way into the Allegheny River. It remains the hardest hit ball in the Statcast era.
No. 3: Mets and Cardinals sweeps
In one of the oddest stretches of the season, the Pirates were struggling with a 32-50 record, having just lost another road series to the Brewers and watched Skenes struggle in four innings while Jacob Misiorowski dazzled in their matchup for five innings, striking out eight Pirates hitters.
What followed was a bizarre six-game stretch at PNC Park where the Pirates swept both the Mets and Cardinals by a combined score of 43-4, with three shutouts versus St. Louis. What was even more impressive to me was the fact that they outhit both teams 63-14. No team has ever scored more runs over a six-game span while allowing fewer than five runs in the history of Major League Baseball.
It was an unfathomable historical moment considering this team flirted with some rather unforgettably bad Pirates teams from the 1880s and 1950s.
The excitement didn’t last long as the moment’s star faded on Independence Day in Seattle, losing 6-0, then twice again by 1-0 scores. They made more history in becoming the first team to sweep an opponent via shutout and then be shut out the following three games.
No. 2: Bubba’s final start
I could have easily said Bubba Chandler becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to record a scoreless four-inning save in his major-league debut was a pretty important moment for the team’s future. I wouldn’t have begrudged anyone if they said his second start against the Nationals where he was almost perfect, allowing two hits and no walks in six scoreless innings that featured seven strikeouts.
Instead, I look to his final start in Atlanta, pitching on the mound against his hometown team in front of family and friends. With all that pressure, he delivered 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run and four hits, while striking out six. He finished the season with a 4-1 record, 4.02 ERA, 0.926 WHIP, and 31 1/3 innings pitched.
No. 1: Skenes Day
Every Skenes start this season felt like an event. The reigning National League Rookie of the Year threw seven different pitches this year to keep hitters off balance to the tune of 1.97 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 216 strikeouts over 187 2/3 innings to win the National League Cy Young Award.
The numbers were outrageous:
• 5 or less hits in 25 of 32 starts
• 3 or less hits in 13 starts
• 0 earned runs in 14 starts
• 1 earned run in 6 starts
• 2 earned runs in 6 starts
• 20 quality starts
Skenes’ most dominant start of the season was an eight-inning complete game loss to the Phillies on the road, allowing just one earned run on one walk and three hits to go with nine strikeouts.
In 12 no-decision starts, he allowed two or fewer earned runs in 11, and in the 10 losses, he allowed three or fewer earned runs in seven games. He could have easily won another 10 games if the Pirates had even an average offense.
And finally, one of the more hyped pitching matchups of the entire baseball season was his April 25 start against Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the road against the Dodgers. Yamamoto tossed five innings, allowing one earned run on five hits and four walks. Skenes was the more dominant starter on this night, lasting 6 1/3 innings and allowing five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.
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