Tag: A.J. Burnett

On the surface, it appeared the Pirates did a great job of keeping their rotation healthy this year. **Gerrit Cole pitched a career high 208 innings during the regular season, plus his Wild Card appearance. **Francisco Liriano pitched 186.2 innings, which fell just shy of his career best of 191.2 innings in 2010, while his […]

PITTSBURGH — When A.J. Burnett came to the Pirates, the organization was in much different shape. They were coming off a 72-90 season that saw them collapse in the second half after acting like pseudo-contenders in the first half. They weren’t able to attract any interesting free agents. If you said “Ray Searage can fix this […]

PITTSBURGH — It all comes down to Game #162. A week ago, it seemed highly unlikely that the final game of the season would carry any meaning. The Pirates were 4.5 games up on the Cubs for the top Wild Card position with six games left to play coming into the season’s final week. Instead, […]

PITTSBURGH — Despite last night’s disappointing loss, J.A. Happ’s performance continued to signify that the Pirates’ rotation is in a good place. It wasn’t long ago that there were legitimate questions about that starting rotation heading down the stretch. There were questions whether Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano were starting to wear down as their inning totals […]

CHICAGO — I’ve written about Jake Arrieta a lot this weekend. I wrote how the Pirates might be able to counter him and win against the Cubs in the Wild Card game. I wrote how Gregory Polanco could be a factor in beating him. I wrote about the potential advantage the Pirates could get from […]

PITTSBURGH — Tonight was a game that only September baseball could bring. In a chaotic, wacky, up-and-down affair, the Chicago Cubs defeated the Pirates in 12 innings 3-2 in a game that featured seven stolen bases, four errors, a controversial play at the plate and 43 different players used between the two teams. Despite the […]

Clint Hurdle announced the starting rotation for the upcoming Milwaukee Brewers series and A.J. Burnett will get the opener on Thursday. It was also announced that Gerrit Cole will be skipped the next time through the rotation to give him a rest and limit his innings. His next start will be during the doubleheader against […]

ST. LOUIS — A.J. Burnett threw a side session today, two days after throwing his latest sim game. On Friday, Burnett said that the next steps would be decided after today’s bullpen session. After the session, he met with Clint Hurdle and Neal Huntington to discuss the next steps. Huntington didn’t give an answer on […]

ST. LOUIS — A.J. Burnett threw his latest sim game this afternoon at Busch Stadium, going six innings and about 90 pitches against live batters. The sim game took place in the heat of the afternoon, with the temperature in the mid-90s. “I think it was a good test today, getting out here in the […]

PITTSBURGH – Before Sunday afternoon’s game between the Pirates and Rockies, A.J. Burnett took part in a simulated game in the Pirates’ bullpen. Burnett had Chris Stewart catching and calling balls and strikes, and Travis Ishikawa stood in as a batter on both the left and right side. In a very jovial mood following the session, Burnett […]