Weekly Notes: Bats? What Are They?; Endy Maybe Out All Year; Mlod Back; Cutch Drills #241 As A Bucco

Split Week…

Pirates Stuff:

• Pittsburgh recalled RHP Carmen Mlodzinski and optioned RHP Kyle Nicolas to  Indy. They plan, at least in the early slog, to use Lod as a long man.
• C Joey Bart (concussion) began his rehab assignment on Wednesday. 

Bart on the way back? (image – Pirates)

• Waived LHP Joey Wentz was claimed by the Minnesota Twins.
• The Pirates resigned recently released RHP Tanner Rainey and sent him to Indy. 
• Pittsburgh claimed RHP Michael Darrell-Hicks off waivers from the LA Angels and optioned him to Indy. He’s a young-ish reliever with better stuff than numbers. C Endy Rodgiruez was transferred to the 60-day DL as his year continues to be one big MASH unit tour. The latest is that he’s due for a PRP shot next week and then will be shut down for a month.
• OF Tommy Pham, who has garnered Austin Hedges levels of love here, celebrated his 10th year of MLB service on Saturday. 
• In his 12th year here, Andrew McCutchen hit his 241st home run as a Pirate on Wednesday against Miami at PNC Park, jumping ahead of Roberto Clemente for third place in team history. Cutch trails just Ralph Kiner (301) and Willie Stargell (475) among Bucco bombers. 

Game Stuff:

• The Miami series kicked off Monday with more rain and another delay at PNC to greet the return of Marlin uber-pup Eury Perez, back after a 21-month TJ rehab. It wasn’t triumphal, and Mike Burrows outlasted Eury, tho by not much, working four innings and leaving up 4-2 thx mainly to a Bryan Reynolds bases-juiced triple. Some mushy Marlin play in the sixth gifted the Bucs an 8-2 lead to go with a 15-hit attack. It finished as a 10-3 dub, led by OG guys Cutch & Fraze, with three hits, and B-Rey’s three ribbies.
• Hey! No rain for the Tuesday Mitch Keller – Sandy Alcantara matchup. Still, the Bucs were back to their usual bating mode and down 3-0 when the starters left after six innings. Ke’Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz banged solo shots in the eighth to cut the lead to a run. The Pirates put runners at second and third with an out in the ninth, but a short fly and a swinging K left it 3-2, Fish.

Bailey Falter – 2025 image/SportsNet Pittsburgh

• The Bucs took the Marlin series with a 5-2 win as Cutch’s three-run homer, his 241st as a Bucco, good for third among Pirates batsmen, and a strong start by Barney Falter ( he went into the sixth with a 4-2 lead) proved tough enough. They travel to Chicago for a four-game set against the Cubbies that began Thursday.
• Same ol’ script in the Windy City opener – they fell behind 3-0 after six, then rallied for a pair of runs but again fell short, 3-2.
• Paul Skenes lasted five innings Friday – he was at 95 pitches – and of course, it was scoreless. But the pitching remained rock solid as the Bucs took a 2-1, 10-inning decision from the Cubbies, with Dennis Santana getting the win and The Renegade claiming the save. All the runs were the result of productive outs – Oneil Cruz’s chopper and IKF’s sac fly plated runs for the Bucs.
• It’s a broken record – for the 8th time in 14 June games, the Pirates scored two or fewer runs. They wasted a strong Mike Burrows start and dropped a 2-1 decision on Saturday afternoon.
• And they were walked off in 10th of the finale, 3-2; Kell may never win again.

MLB Stuff:

• Derek Shelton will be on the Draft Combine team for the MLB Network next week.
• The White Sox DFA’ed righty Bryce Wilson, who posted a 4-13/5.37 line primarily as a starter for the Pirates in 2021-22.
• RHP Chris Stratton, recently DFA’ed by the Dodgers, declared for free agency.
• St. Louis DFA’ed OF Ryan Vilade, who the Pirates stashed at Indy as depth insurance during the 2023 campaign.
• OF Joshua Palacios was DFA’ed by the White Sox. In 2023-24, Josh’s Pirates line was .236/12 HR for the Bucs, with a couple of dramatic swats in the mix.