Weekly Notes: Meh Week, Bats Warm Up A Bit, Cruz On Tear, Fraze On Fire, Mighty Mitch, Jones Has UCL Surgery Mlodzinski Sent Down

Limpin’ home… 

Pirates Stuff:

• And yes, RHP Jared Jones did end up with UCL surgery. He’s out for an estimated 10-12 months, as the procedure was not the usual TJ surgery but an internal brace fix. He wasn’t alone; IF Enmanuel Valdez had surgery to repair a shoulder tear and he’s expected to miss the next six months. RHP Justin Lawrence got a plasma-rich platelet injection in his injured elbow with three weeks of no throwing. 

Jared Jones – 2025 Sportsnet Pgh image

• Pittsburgh recalled RHP Mike Burrows from Indy and optioned RHP Carmen Mlodzinski to AAA. When you decide to try and fix something that wasn’t broke…
• The Pirates placed RHP Colin Holderman on the 15-day IL (right thumb inflammation). Indy RHP Isaac Mattson (2-0-4/2.50 in 16  outings) got the call. Mattson, a Pitt grad, got a brief intro here last year when he got into three games (5.06 ERA, 6 K in 5-1/3 IP). To open a 40-man spot, 2B Nick Gonzales was flipped from the 10-day to the 60-day IL. He was rehabbing  at Indy with an expected return date of May 27, now in the air after being hit in the hand by a pitch. 
• A bullet dodged: LHP Hunter Barco, who was pulled from his last start with arm soreness with a mild muscle strain in his left shoulder, has resumed throwing. He’s day-to-day and expected back by the end of the month.
• The Rangers claimed UT Michael Helman, who the Bucs DFA’ed a couple of days after they inexplicably claimed him from the Cards.
• The Pirates went 26 straight games scoring four or fewer runs, tying a MLB record before putting up a five-spot on Thursday. They join the 1969 California Angels, 1918-19 & 1931 Boston Braves and 1906 Boston Nationals as futility kings. Pittsburgh scored five or more runs three times v the Brewers – and lost twice. Ya gotta pitch, too. 

Game Stuff:

• The Bucs sent Mitch Keller out Monday v the Reds to open a seven game home stand. Kells did his part, going six frames and giving up two runs (one earned). He left down, 2-1, before David Bednar and Colin Holderman were lit up as the Reds took the opener, 7-1.

Mitch Keller – 2025 Pirates image

• The weather was shaky, but Bailey Falter wasn’t. He spun seven shutout innings under threatening and sometimes drizzly clouds and had a 1-0 lead thx to Bryan Reynolds single that plated Oneil Cruz in the sixth following a walk and swiped sack. Dennis Santana tossed a clean eighth, and after a leadoff rap in the ninth, Bednar came back with a 4-6-3 DP and fly that Alexander Canario corralled with a nice sliding catch to Raise the Roger.
• The getaway day was again dismal outside, but Andrew Heaney kept the strong starting work going and the Bucs took the series, 3-1. Bryan Reynolds, Henry Davis and Adam Frazier had the RBI, The bottom of the order – Fraze, Davis and Tommy Pham – has six hits and Dennis Santana got the save, his fifth. 
• Mike Burrows got his first MLB start, replacing Carmen Mlodzinski in the rotation, and Christian Yelich introduced himself by banging a three-run first-inning bomb off the righty. The Brew Crew lead held up through a two-hour rain delay as they took an 8-5 victory on a day the Bucs finally broke through the four-run ceiling only to watch the pitching fizzle. Spencer Horwitz swatted his first Bucco bomb.  
• Paul Skenes went six innings, giving up a run on four hits with eight Ks and up, 2-1. And yah, Tanner Rainey blew the lead an inning later. Pittsburgh tied in the eighth thx to Cutch and B-Rey, then the teams exchanged homers in the ninth, with Oneil Cruz swatting his second bomb, his first career multi-HR game, to negate William Contreras’ blast off David Bednar. Milwaukee’s ghost runner scored in the 10th. So did the Pirates when Alexander Canario’s single tied it. With two away and Fraze on third, a wild pitch gave the Buccos had a 6-5 dub.

Oneil Cruz – 2025 Pirates image

• Kell gave the Pirate yet another strong start, and it was enough to eke out a 2-1 win. Chase Shugart got the dub and The Renegade took the save; offensively, Horwitz drove in the first run and who else but smokin’ hot Oneil chased home the seventh-inning game winner?
• It was a series split for the Bucs. Falter gave up three runs in the first frame thanks to a pair of walks and an overthrow. But he settled in, Cruz hit another bomb (a river-shot 122.9 MPH missile, the highest velo on a HR of the Statcast era) and Fraze had a three hit/three RBI day. Ryan Borucki was given a two-run lead in the eighth but lost it and the game, 6-5.

MLB Stuff:

• C Ali Sanchez was called up by Toronto for what is expected to be a short stay while Tyler Heineman is on the IL. The Bucs DFA’ed him out of camp in 2024, and he elected free agency rather than an assignment to Indy.
•  IF Diego Castillo, who spent 2022 with the Pirates (.206 BA), had his contract sold by the Mets to KC and will report to AAA. 
• C Luke Maile, who spent 2020 as a Bucco in name (he was signed as a FA, broke his finger in camp, had surgery and sat out the season) was DFA’ed by KC. 
• OF Billy McKinney, who was strong at Indy last year after coming over from the Yankees but was never given much love in Pgh (10 games, 5-for-25) was granted free agency by the Mets.