Pirates Insider Podcast, Episode 8 (5/30 vs. Twins)

The Pirates had a big lead, lost it and came back. Funny what having a better offense can do. Pirates Insider Jason Mackey breaks down Jake Mangum's big game, as well as what has gone right for Spencer Horwitz and Oneil Cruz. Ryan O'Hearn will return Sunday. What does that mean? And when can Pirates fans expect to see Carmen Mlodzinski? Those questions are answered and more.

Transcript

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What's going on, Pirates fans? Happy Sunday to you. This is the Pirates Insider podcast. I am Jason Mackey talking to you from PNC Park after an impressive Pirates victory tonight over the Minnesota Twins 10-9. They had them all the way, right? We knew how this one was going to end. Well, no, we didn't. And that's sort of the point of my story at Inside the Pirates. Offensive improvements have made wins like Saturdays possible for the Pirates. Want to zoom out and talk a little big picture. We'll talk narrower picture, smaller picture inside of the game, certainly. But think back to a year ago at this time, or any time during the 2025 season. The Pirates have a game where they score some runs early. Okay. The opposing pitcher then gets on the Pirates starter. Was Mitch Keller at his best today? No. He actually went more side to side, more slider, sweeper. He didn't really find anything. They were on his fastball quite a bit, and that eventually caught up to Mitch. So the Pirates jump out to a lead. It's 7-2 after three innings. And then the Twins score five runs in the fourth. They tie the game. The Pirates often lacked what I termed as a punchback. And it's basically a counter. It's basically, you know things aren't great. The other team had a good inning. Let's stop, let's recalibrate, and we have the wherewithal to just keep going, to find it again. And that's exactly what the Pirates did. They scored two times in the seventh inning. Impressive. They scored once in the fifth. I left that out. And Gregory Soto came in early to nail down a four-out save. Inside of that, as we sort of trend and talk a little bit more about the micro, one of the things that made that possible is Jake Maggum, the offensive force, of course, that is Jake Maggum. And I'm I'm smiling as I say that because he's about the last person on this planet that would call himself an offensive force. But this was easily the best game Jake Mangum has played in a Pirates uniform, probably the second best game Jake Mangum has played as a major leaguer. Finishes with three hits as a home run. A 410-foot shot, by the way. That was part of our post-game conversation. I mean, this wasn't something that just snuck over the fence. It was a darn good hit by Jake Mangum, showing a little power. He said he knew he got it. Teammates weren't so sure Brandon Lau was giving him a hard time said, I think that's the furthest ball he's ever hit. Whatever. I mean, Mangum's a contact guy. And I understand that Mangum has sort of frustrated the fan base to a point. I think Mangum has frustrated himself. He expected more out of himself. Understandably so. He said he's been annoying the Pirates hitting staff a lot lately with questions and tweaks and, you know, so badly wanting to figure out his swing. Well, whatever he's doing, and I don't see anything too drastically different, it looked pretty good. And by the way, I was going to get to some pregame news after we go through the game recap, but we might as well get through it there because I think this impacts Jake Mangum a little bit, or, you know, it at least maybe clarifies his role. Ryan O'Hearn's going to be back on Sunday, probably the world's worst kept secret. He's been running around like crazy, going stir crazy, wants to get back out there. I actually talked to O'Hearn about this uh sports bra thing he's been wearing, and he's making fun of himself for wearing it. Uh, but he's been wearing it because it allows the Pirates training staff, athletic training staff to track his movement. And he's really pushed the pace. He's been able to replicate what it would look like in the outfield, and his quad has healed up nicely. But O'Hearn's been chomping at the bit to get back out there. He wants to win, he wants to be a part of this group. It's a very healthy culture that the Pirates have going on. He's going to be back out there. So, what does that mean for the Pirates? Well, they're not going to remove O'Neill Cruz from the lineup. They're not going to remove Brian Reynolds from the lineup. Obviously, Ryan O'Hearn is going to play. The designated hitter spot intrigues me. Connor Griffin right now has been taking those reps. And I mean, if your choice is Connor Griffin or Marcelo Zuna, that's a pretty easy one. I don't think it'll bump Marcelo Zuna off the roster, but I mean it's certainly getting to a point where you can't afford to just give a guy reps because he's got a contract. They need to see production there. And right now, Connor Griffin is giving them that, and his elbow forearm is limiting his ability to play shortstop. So if you want to rest O'Neal Cruz, if you want to get Griffin some time there, maybe get Brian Reynolds off his feet once a week, the reps are going to get compromised a little bit for Marcelo Zuna. But I say all that to say I think the move to make here is probably sending Joe Stenson Garcia back to AAA. I just don't see how in the world you can get him regular reps. And it's nothing against password at all. I liked what I've seen. It's a nice cameo, just like as Marilyn Valdez. You just need you need to play for somebody that age. And I don't think he's going to be able to do that up here. Sort of restores Jake Mangum into that late inning defensive substitution. He finds his way into games a little bit more. That's something Ben Charrington has said to describe Jake Mangum, probably a little bit more of a steady roll. If he can get some confidence going at the plate, it all bubbles back to Jake Mangum can maybe be a little bit more of an offensive contributor than he's been to this point. Right now, hitting 267 with a 656 OPS. The biggest thing about Mangum from this game, at least for me, was his catch in the ninth inning. I thought that ball was trouble. I thought it was going into the north side notch. And Mangum brought up a good point post-game talking to us too. Just the sun at PNC Park in a four o'clock game. You know, it was obviously like kind of twilight at that point. It wasn't four o'clock, but that is not an easy ball to read. He said you put sunglasses on, it's too dark. You take them off, it's it's too bright. Like you just can't kind of get comfortable and get a good clean read on the ball. Well, some way, shape, or form, Jake did. He ran a long way for the ball, cut it off, kept things in check. If that ball gets over his head, I think there's probably a little bit of panic that sets in. Understandably so. The game's probably tied. Who knows what happens at that point? But a very, very big moment in that game for Jake Magum. Couple other things to highlight, two other home runs the Pirates hit that we're seeing some trends here moving in a very positive direction. I'm talking, of course, about Spencer Horwitz and O'Neil Cruz. Those guys both homeward. Horwitz, he opened the game with the home run. And the more I see this, the more I like him at the leadoff spot. I wouldn't be against them trying Connor Griffin there, but Horwitz has just hit so much that he's getting on base, he's working walks, he's finding more power. You want this guy and an impactful part of your lineup. I looked this up post-game. Over his past 22 games, Spencer Horwitz is hitting 356 with four doubles, four home runs, 13 RBIs, 11 walks, and an OPS over a thousand. That's pretty good. Sneaky good. Nobody has a higher batting average than Spencer Horwitz over the past 22 games. Hits a home run and the bat flip, by the way. My goodness, that was incredible. If you haven't seen that, I I made a joke on Twitter. I thought Statcast was gonna pick up the bat the way he flung it in front of the plate, but you have two different styles. Horowitz gets rid of it immediately, and O'Neill Cruz carries it halfway down the first baseline. Whatever they won, we can have a little bit of fun with it. But I like Spencer Horwitz at the leadoff spot. I like what he's been doing, instant jolt of offense. O'Neill Cruz has also had some better at bats. I asked O'Neil about this the other night. We're in Toronto, he's been struggling. Uh, but recently he has three home runs in his past seven games. I believe he had one over his past 22, something like that, one over his previous 21, something like that before that. But you're seeing much better at bats with Cruz. The strikeout levels, I understand. Don't love it. They have to come down. The Pirates are aware. He's aware. Some of the defensive misplays, I know, we all know it has to improve. But you're gonna offer that kind of power, that kind of swing, that sort of game-changing offensive production. You can live with the rest of the stuff. All right, a couple more points to make about this one. We saw after Mitch Keller, not great. Again, uh, Keller was the first to say it, but the relief work was very, very good. I was impressed with Johan Ramirez. It was a good version of Johan Ramirez tonight. Evan Sisk and Dennis Santana, they combined to deliver three scoreless innings. Mason Montgomery found a little bit of trouble, uh, but it didn't get too bad. Two-thirds of an inning gave up two earned runs. Gregory Soto, again, came in to seal the deal. And uh, I'm gonna talk about pitching right now because it's kind of hard to get away from that storyline. With Carmen Majinski, uh, we saw Wilbur Dotell on Friday night. And this is what the Pirates have by design. Right now, technically, their bullpen's been pretty stressed. Soto's pitch back-to-back days, a four-out save. Guys have worked, they've been cognizant of not running Mason Montgomery into the ground. Evan Sisk has pitched a lot. Dennis Santana has looked better, but he's still kind of on a get me right plan. They need somebody to give them some length tomorrow. Well, Braxton Ashcraft is starting. His innings total, it's high. We've talked about that. And they're going to be careful with Braxton. I would expect them to probably be careful tomorrow. Well, Carmen Majinski was held back in tonight's game. I know some people on Twitter were reacting to it saying they should put Carmen in the game, but it's part of a pre-prescribed plan. I would look for Braxton to be a little bit short on Sunday. Karma Majinski comes in, gives them some length. It's entirely possible that those two can finish the game going into the off day, offers a nice reset if you do this right. And that's the value of this role. And I talked on the pod yesterday. I mean, I completely understand Karma Majinski wanting to be a starter. I would want to be a starter too. I completely understand the cachet that goes with that, the financial implications, all that stuff. If I've learned anything about being around baseball, things can and will change. But right now for the team, this is what's required. And Carmen, if he goes to the bullpen and offers this kind of value and does it repeatedly and puts up some really good numbers, and then you look at the end of the year, what he's been able, people are going to take notice of that. That's going to matter. Now, it it's the pride thing. Understand, I would have it too. We all do. I'm not trying to take that away from Carmen, but I like so much, and this is why the Pirates are doing it. I think that it will eventually get to this spot. You're just kind of dealing with somebody who's frustrated because they they wanted to be a starter. They they saw a certain thing. It's not like he pitched so poorly that he deserved to be taken out of the rotation. It's just, it's one of those things, man. It's a tough decision. It's part of team sports. It's trying to fit 26 pieces in the exact right way. It's not always possible. You know, maybe you look at it and say, well, Bubba Chandler should go to the bullpen. I I would rather have Carmen Majinski in the bullpen than Bubba Chandler. I think it makes the team better. You could say Bubba Chandler, he should go to the minor leagues. Well, does that make the team better? Does that make the major league team better? I would argue that it does not. I would argue that Carmen Majinski in the bullpen makes the major league team better, which should be the focus. I also look at it and say Bubba Chandler, rather, has the highest ceiling of any of the Pirates starters. Why not try to achieve that? Why not try to achieve making the Major League team better and that ceiling for Bubba Chandler? And oh, by the way, if you're looking at Bubba Chandler and you're saying he needs to walk fewer people, he needs to be more aggressive in the strikes, all that stuff's fair. What about sort of seeing those footsteps of Karmen Majinski? You have a guy that who wants to start, he's made no bones about it, that's totally fine. And he's coming into games and giving repeated solid outings. If you're Bubba Chandler, it's kind of you're kind of unnoticed at that point. You have to be able to start, you have to be able to retain that spot. That's why I'm saying nothing is forever. But we'll see. Carvin Majinski's first outing out of the bullpen this season should come on Sunday. One last thing I thought was just kind of this didn't have a huge impact in the game, but just one of those silly things. I want to touch on it, the Brandon Lau ejection. Uh, Lau was ejected basically for saying I swung at strike three. It was a miscommunication with the umpires. Lau was surprised that he even got ejected. Um, why he he asked for a challenge. It was not granted. The umpire heard a noise from the Pirates dugout. You're not allowed to get assistance. That it's just kind of an unfortunate thing. I the umpire can't differentiate what somebody is reacting to. If they hear something that sounds like an assist in ABS, of course, they're going to make that ruling, which they did. I get it. Um, but just an unfortunate misunderstanding. I'm probably I'm glad that it didn't uh impact the game at all. Um, but nonetheless, that was just something. It was a storyline in this game, almost a little comical when you look back at it. But uh the Pirates tomorrow, they have a chance to end their homestand 5 2. Be very, very good. It would give them a 16 12 May, a lot of momentum as we fly to Houston on Sunday night. We'll see if they can do that. Braxton Ashcraft on the Hill, Carmen Majinski to follow. You've been listening to the Pirates Insider Podcast. I'm Jason Mackey. I'll talk to you tomorrow.