Notes: Cutch Gets #300, Bucs Go 3-3 For the Week; Marcos Gonzales On the IL, Holderman Back In Action; Moves & Stuff

Even-steven week…

Home For A Pair: The eclipse was a good omen for Mitch Keller, who had a solid if not quite lights out start – two runs and nine K in six frames – while Bryan Reynolds bopped homer #100 and five Bucs had a pair of hits on the way to a 7-4 win over Motown. They were lookin’ good on Tuesday, up 3-1 in the ninth after a pair of Edward Olivares bombs, with David Bednar on the hill. But he was toasted, and the Tigers scored four times to snatch a 5-3 win from the jaws of defeat. The Renegade was boo’ed and vet teammate Rowdy Tellez came to his verbal rescue after the game, but it was Bednar’s third blown save, surely enough to make one suspect that he’s nowhere near 100%, especially after a sleepy spring. 

On The Road: Back in action on Thursday, the Bucs dropped a 5-1 decision to the Phils. Jared Jones took it into the seventh, giving up a three-spot (two homers) and whiffing eight but the Buc bats went quiet. Bailey Falter was solid against his old club and the Pirates took the second match, 5-2. Not much hitting again, tho Henry Davis perked up with a pair of knocks/RBIs, B-Rey made a couple of sliding grabs and much-discussed David Bednar got the save with a 1-2-3 ninth. The Phils walked off game three in the ninth against Jose Hernandez & Roansy Contreras; Oneil Cruz hit a two-run homer, but the bats didn’t do much else (10K, 0-for-7 w/RISP) in the 4-3 loss. Pittsburgh left with a split after getting a solid performance from Mitch Keller (his velo was back for a second straight game), a granny from Jack Suwinski and homer #300 from Cutch. He’s finally got that in his rear view mirror and now three dates with the Washington Nats is next up…

Moves:

• LHP Marco Gonzales went on the 15-day IL on Sunday with a left forearm muscle strain after he told them he had some soreness after his Saturday start. The extent of the injury isn’t known yet, but Bucs want to be cautious as Gonzales had surgery on a forearm nerve in August that cost him most of the season. They recalled Ryan Ryder, so for the time being, they may go with the opener strategy, much as they did last summer. No Paul Skenes sightings are in the near future; GM Ben squelched that move quickly on his radio show,
• RHP Colin Holderman (flu) rejoined the club and RHP Ryder Ryan was optioned to clear roster space, just to be recalled a couple of days later to replace Gonzales.
• RHP Carmen Mlodzinski’s rehab stint (elbow) ended and he was optioned to Indy.
• UT Ji Hwan Bae (hip) has had his rehab bumped up from Bradenton to Indy.
• C Yasmani Grandal (foot) is running and playing sim games so he’s slowly coming along. The report on C Jason Delay (knee) is that he’s been shut down.

Notes:

• Cutch became the 19th player in MLB history with a career line of 300 home runs, 200 steals, and 2000 hits.
• Mitch Keller has a streak of 35 straight starts of working at least five innings in a game, the longest active streak in MLB. 

• Jared Jones has recorded seven+ punch outs in each of the first three games of his career. The only other Pirate to debut with three straight appearances with seven+ strikeouts since 1893 was Jose DeLeon in 1983. 
• Paul Skenes went 3-1/3 scoreless IP with eight K for Indy on Friday (55 pitches). In three Indy outings totaling 9-1/3 innings, he’s posted 19 strikeouts and allowed no runs on four hits with two walks.
• RHP Jameson Taillon, who is in the second season of a four-year Cub contract, is about done with rehab – he had back and leg issues – and rejoin the rotation.
• The Angels signed the much-traveled UT Cole Tucker to a minor league pact.