Pirates vs. Mets Tickets, First Pitch Time for Saturday, June 28
Pirates vs. Mets Tickets, First Pitch Time for Saturday, June 28
The Pittsburgh Pirates and Oneil Cruz will hit the field against the New York Mets and Pete Alonso at PNC Park on Saturday, June 28, with the first pitch at 4:05 p.m. ET (airing on SportsNet PT and SNY).
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Pirates vs. Mets Game Info
Game day: Saturday, June 28, 2025
Saturday, June 28, 2025 Game time: 4:05 p.m. ET
4:05 p.m. ET TV channel: SportsNet PT and SNY
SportsNet PT and SNY Live Stream: Watch LIVE with Fubo! (Regional restrictions may apply)
Watch LIVE with Fubo! Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Stadium: PNC Park
PNC Park Pirates Starter: TBA
TBA Mets Starter: TBA
Pirates vs. Mets Tickets For Sale
Pirates vs. Mets offensive insights
The Pirates rank 29th in Major League Baseball with just 43 home runs as a team.
Hitters for Pittsburgh have combined to rank 30th in MLB with a slugging percentage of only .337 this season.
The Pirates rank 26th in MLB with a team batting average of just .226.
The Mets are 10th in baseball with 69 total home runs.
So far this season, New York's .412 slugging percentage is seventh-best in baseball.
The Mets have the 16th-ranked batting average in the majors (.245).
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Pirates' top hitters
Cruz is batting .223 this year, with a .819 OPS (.351 on-base, .468 slugging). His strikeout rate is 32.9%, and his walk rate is 15.4%. He has 12 home runs and 26 RBI, plus 35 runs scored and 20 steals on 22 attempts.
So far this season, Bryan Reynolds' batting average is .234, to go along with a .302 on-base percentage and a .372 slugging percentage. His strikeout rate is 25.2%, and his walk rate is 8.5%. He has seven homers and 34 RBI, plus 21 runs scored and three stolen bases on five attempts.
Andrew McCutchen is batting .258, with five home runs and 18 RBI, plus 18 runs scored. He has a .361 on-base percentage and a .393 slugging percentage. His strikeout rate is 17.7%, and his walk rate is 12.9%.
The Pirates' Isiah Kiner-Falefa is batting .310, with a .356 on-base percentage and a .393 slugging percentage. His strikeout rate is 16%, and his walk rate is 5%. He has one home run and 13 RBI, plus 21 runs scored and nine steals on 12 attempts.
Mets' top hitters
Francisco Lindor has posted a .284 average with a .356 OBP and .498 SLG in 278 plate appearances this year. He's also swatted 14 home runs with 36 RBI and 41 runs, including 11 steals, while putting up a 17.3% K% and 8.3% BB%.
In 268 plate appearances, Alonso is hitting .286/.384/.537 this season with a walk rate of 11.6% and a K rate of 20.9%. In addition, he's swatted 12 home runs while driving in 48 runs and scoring 32 times.
This season, Juan Soto has crushed 11 bombs, driven in 30 runs, and scored 39 times while batting .233/.361/.438 in 269 plate appearances. He's also stolen seven bags on seven attempts. His strikeout rate is 16%, and his walk rate is 16.7%.
At the plate, Brandon Nimmo owns a .231 average with a .293 OBP and .413 SLG in 229 PAs. He's also swatted nine homers with 31 RBI and 24 runs scored while putting up a 19.2% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate.
Pirates' injuries
Colin Holderman: 15 Day IL (Thumb), Tim Mayza: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), Justin Lawrence: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Johan Oviedo: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Dauri Moreta: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Jared Jones: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Enmanuel Valdez: 60 Day IL (Shoulder), Joey Bart: 7 Day IL (Concussion)
Mets' injuries
Jose Siri: 10 Day IL (Shin), Mark Vientos: 10 Day IL (Hamstring), Jesse Winker: 10 Day IL (Side), Drew Smith: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Sean Manaea: 60 Day IL (Oblique), Frankie Montás: 60 Day IL (Lat), Christian Scott: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Brooks Raley: 60 Day IL (Elbow), A.J. Minter: 60 Day IL (Lat), Danny Young: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Nick Madrigal: 60 Day IL (Shoulder)
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New York Times
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- New York Times
Mets' Griffin Canning opens up on career revival in New York, struggles with Angels
LOS ANGELES — It was the very first day of the offseason — when players can finally exhale after a grueling eight months of non-stop baseball. That, however, was not the case for Griffin Canning. The then-Angels pitcher of six years, and lifelong Orange County, Calif., resident, found his life and career upended by a trade to the Braves just hours after the World Series ended. Advertisement 'It was a little shocking,' Canning said on Thursday. 'But I didn't have a great year last year, so I wasn't super surprised to see it.' To say he didn't have a great year in 2024 is an understatement. Canning allowed 99 runs, the most in the American League. His strikeout rate took a massive dip, from 9.9 per nine innings in 2023 to just 6.8 in 2024. It was a bad season. But he's more than made up for it with the Mets. After the Braves traded for the 29-year-old righty, he was non-tendered. New York subsequently signed Canning to a one-year, $4.25 million deal, taking a chance on a once-promising arm. He now has a 2.90 ERA over his first 12 starts and is one of the top starting pitchers in the National League, amid a full-scale turnaround of his career. Speaking in front of his locker inside the Mets clubhouse at Dodger Stadium — the morning after he shut out the defending champions over six innings — he reflected on why things have worked better for him in New York than they ever did in Anaheim. 'You see it with a lot of guys, just a change of scenery,' said Canning. 'I was in Southern California my whole life. It's nice to get out and experience something new.' It wasn't just the scenery that changed for Canning. It was the team culture, the strategic plan implemented by his new coaches, and the technology available to him. Most importantly, he changed his pitch sequencing. Canning's best pitch is his slider, but he didn't throw it as much in his final season with the Angels. Its usage has gone from 24.1 percent in 2024 to 32.9 percent this year. With that has come a dip in his four-seam fastball usage, which has gone from a primary option to a more strategic one. 'It was difficult. We had four or five different managers and four or five different pitching coaches with the Angels,' Canning said. 'Sometimes a new guy comes in and maybe doesn't necessarily know you as well. Or just different organizational philosophies when people come in and out.' Advertisement The results speak for themselves. His fastball is resulting in whiffs on 19.5 percent of swings, compared to 14.8 percent last year. The hard-hit percentage has decreased to 44.4 percent, compared to 51.4 percent in 2024. The batting average against and slugging percentage against have steeply declined. All while his slider effectiveness has increased across all the same metrics. Canning said there's nothing different about his slider. Just a few mechanical tweaks to his delivery, and, more importantly, he's changed what pitches he throws in what counts. 'It starts with him buying into what we offered him, and also giving credit to our pitching department that is able to not only provide the information, but get to know the player,' said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. 'We knew he had a good slider. … Last year, he threw his four-seamer a lot. I think it's more increasing this pitch, not so much of that one.' Canning also said the Mets utilize technology differently. For example, he said he utilizes a KinaTrax machine, which allows him to see his skeletal movements and subsequently improve them. Canning said the reliance on technology with the Mets is more than he was used to with the Angels. 'We had it, but I never saw it,' Canning said of the KinaTrax. 'I think the Angels have all the similar things. 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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
For Rockies lifer Warren Schaeffer, turning around the majors' worst team is personal
Welcome to Sliders, a weekly in-season MLB column that focuses on both the timely and timeless elements of baseball. When Jake Bird pitched in Triple A for the Colorado Rockies, his manager, Warren Schaeffer, noticed him playing chess on his phone. Schaeffer engaged him for a few games, and it wasn't close. Advertisement 'He's a lot better than me, and he took it to me,' said Bird, now a setup man for Schaeffer in the majors. 'He's just really smart. He's willing to see what guys like, willing to learn and communicate.' Schaeffer, 40, has spent 19 years in professional baseball, all with the Rockies, half a lifetime in checkmate. He replaced Bud Black as manager on May 12, and the Rockies lost 17 of their next 19 games. Winning baseball has always been elusive in Colorado, where — as Sports Illustrated's Steve Rushin once wrote — the team wears the colors of a bruise. For the folks who take pride in working there, this is the biggest challenge yet. 'This is extremely personal to me,' Schaeffer, a former minor league infielder, said before a game in New York last weekend. 'It's all I think about, day and night. I've only ever been a Rockie, and the Rockies have never won the West. The Rockies have never won the World Series. These are all things that are very, very important to me, and I think the opportunity is ripe at the moment to start building for that.' A few hours later, against the Mets, the Rockies led off by striking out on a pitch-clock violation. After a homer, the next 17 batters went down in order. The lopsided loss closed out May and clinched the team's 22nd losing series in a row, a major league record. The Rockies fell again the next day, becoming the first team ever to lose 50 games before winning 10. But that game was more competitive, the sixth out of seven losses decided by one or two runs. Losing is never acceptable, Schaeffer emphasized, but with actual victories in short supply, it helps to recognize moral ones. 'Well, we need to, because if you're just determined by the letter at the end of the game, we'd all be crushed,' said Clint Hurdle, who led the Rockies to their only pennant in 2007 and returned in April as a coach. Advertisement 'I mean, this is rare air. We were in an Uber the other day in Chicago and the driver had a White Sox hat on. We were having a conversation and he goes, 'By the way, will you guys start winning some games? Because it took us 60 years to beat the record last year, so people would actually talk about us for a little bit.'' The Rockies could still smash the 2024 White Sox's modern record of 121 losses in a season; they will greet the Mets at Coors Field on Friday with a 12-50 record, which works to a 131-loss pace. But things finally started turning this week in Miami, where the Rockies swept a three-game series from the Marlins. Schaeffer saw it coming. 'We're going through a gauntlet of a schedule right now,' he said. 'It's just — the difference is in the margins, the in-game execution on a more consistent level to take those one-run games and flip them. Honestly, I don't think we're far off from winning games because the past two weeks we've been playing good, solid baseball.' This is the Rockies' seventh losing season in a row since 2018, the last time they reached the playoffs. The last two years were the worst in franchise history, each with more than 100 losses, but there was reason to expect at least some improvement. Three veteran starters — Kyle Freeland, German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela, who make $38 million collectively — were all finally healthy. They've made all their starts but gone 4-25 with a 6.37 ERA. Some young position players offered hope; shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and center fielder Brenton Doyle won Gold Gloves last season and first baseman Michael Toglia slugged 25 home runs. 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Only one manager in the majors, the St. Louis Cardinals' Oli Marmol, 38, is younger than Schaeffer, who looks as if he could still play. 'He's just a super hard-working dude who gets the most out of players,' outfielder Sam Hilliard said. 'Guys want to play hard for him, guys want to work for him and win for him. And he always makes it clear, like: 'This is the standard we want to hold you to. I know we've lost a lot this year, but we can't get into that rhythm of, 'Oh, we lost again, it's OK.' It's never OK.'' Every team needs outside ideas to grow, Schaeffer said, but he'll fiercely defend the purple and black. He said he would always be grateful to owner Dick Monfort for paying the minor league staff in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the season's cancelation. And he's still a bit astonished that the Rockies hired him in the first place; Schaeffer hit just .214 in their system, then became a Class A hitting instructor. Advertisement 'He was a grinder,' said Schmidt, the Rockies' lead scout when the team drafted Schaeffer from Virginia Tech in 2007. 'His baseball IQ was real good. There are certain types of guys you identify: they're baseball people.' In Colorado, the baseball people are trying to avoid baseball infamy, celebrating subtle improvements in hopes of more winning weeks. 'It'll be a summer of coaching and teaching,' Hurdle said, 'and we're gonna have to have a lot of patience.' The Seattle Mariners announced this week that they will retire Randy Johnson's No. 51 in a ceremony during the 2026 season. It's a long overdue honor for Johnson, whose extraordinary pitching in 1995 helped save baseball in Seattle. Johnson, whose 4,875 strikeouts are the most ever by a lefty, shares 51 in Mariners lore with Ichiro Suzuki, who asked his permission to wear it when he signed with Seattle after the 2000 season. Johnson, by then, was pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team he represents in the Hall of Fame. 'He had written a nice letter asking if he could wear the number 51, knowing that I had worn it for 10 years, and I had no problem: 'Wear it and enjoy it,'' Johnson said on Monday. 'And then he went on to have a Hall of Fame career. But there really was never any significance to me wearing the number 51.' The Mariners will actually retire the number twice: first for Suzuki on Aug. 9, after his ceremony in Cooperstown. That's how Johnson wanted it. 'I know the significance of Ichiro and his accomplishments, and I didn't want to interfere with his Hall of Fame induction this year or his number retirement this year,' Johnson said. 'And so the one contingent factor that I had was that if this was going to happen, that I didn't want to take away anything from his deserving day, and it would have to be done a different day, a different year.' Advertisement Johnson, who wore 51 with Arizona, switched as a New York Yankee because Bernie Williams already had it; his children suggested 41, to match his age at the time. He also wore 57 briefly with the Montreal Expos and pitched two games for Seattle while not wearing 51. Mired in a five-start losing streak in July 1992, Johnson reversed his digits and wore 15 for a start at Yankee Stadium. He walked nine that day, lost again, and switched back to 51. The next season, he wore No. 34 for a start at the Kingdome on Sept. 26, when he reached 300 strikeouts in a season for the first time. Johnson wore 34 that day to honor Nolan Ryan, who had suffered a career-ending elbow injury on the same mound four days earlier and was instrumental in turning around Johnson's career. During that frustrating 1992 season, Texas Rangers pitching coach Tom House invited Johnson, a fellow USC alum, to watch Ryan throw in the bullpen before a game. Ryan demonstrated the proper way to land in a pitcher's delivery — on the ball of your foot, not your heel — and Johnson used the tip to streamline his momentum to the plate and finally harness his overpowering stuff. After leading the majors in walks in 1990, 1991 and 1992 (each time with at least 120), Johnson never walked 100 again. He went 75-20 over the next five seasons and was on his way to becoming the last pitcher to earn 300 victories — maybe ever. 'I think if someone's going to do it, it'll be Justin Verlander,' Johnson said. 'And then after that, I don't think you'll probably see that happen again.' Verlander, 42, is winless in 10 starts for the San Francisco Giants this season and is on the injured list with a strained pectoral muscle. He has 262 career victories. Wade Miley returned to the majors this week for the 15th season of a highly eventful career. Miley, who had Tommy John surgery in February 2024, rejoined the Cincinnati Reds when Hunter Greene landed on the injured list with a groin strain. Advertisement Miley, 38, was a rookie All-Star for the Diamondbacks in 2012. He's never made it back to that stage, but along the way — with Boston, Seattle, Baltimore, Milwaukee (twice), Houston, Cincinnati (twice) and the Chicago Cubs — he's done a whole lot of other stuff. That includes some things he can't really do anymore. Miley once homered in a game in San Francisco, long before the NL adopted the designated hitter. In 2018, he started consecutive games for the Brewers in the NLCS — the first as a surprise opener, when he faced just one hitter. That won't happen again because of MLB's three-batter minimum rule. Miley recently offered a memory of five different achievements — well, technically four, and another that wasn't memorable at all. Hitting a home run in 2013: 'What made that one really, really cool was that none of us had gotten a hit yet. And when I got off the bus, right when I got to the clubhouse, for whatever reason, I was like: 'I'm hitting a freaking homer today!' I don't know if I was calling my shot — I was just talking (smack), I probably did that before every game.' Giving up Adrián Beltré's 3,000th hit in 2017: 'There was pressure in that moment. I went 3-0 (in the count) and I was getting booed. I was like, I've gotta throw him a strike. And then he got me. But it was cool, it's a very special hit for him and I get goosebumps looking back. He signed some stuff for me, and I've always been a huge Beltré fan. So that was cool. Félix Hernández was upset with me, though, because they were coming in the next night and he was due to face him. They're like best friends and he had told him not to get it off me.' Starting as an opener in the 2018 NLCS: 'I knew the plan. I didn't necessarily love it, but that's what we thought would be the best. It was weird, being able to do that for a warm-up and get to a decent intensity, knowing I'm starting the next game as well. There was a fine line of how hard I went at it.' Throwing a no-hitter for the Reds in 2021: 'What stands out about that was the excitement it brought everybody, the way the team embraced me afterwards and how it was so special for them. I'll never forget turning around, watching Kyle Farmer throw across the diamond, Tucker (Barnhart) just being in my lap. I couldn't believe how soon they all got to me.' Advertisement Pitching an immaculate inning in Arizona on Oct. 1, 2012: 'I don't even remember doing that. Where was that?' You're excused, Wade. Nobody else seemed to notice, either. The broadcasters weren't even narrating the action: The Marlins have employed 114 first basemen in their 33-year history, from Jeff Conine (1,014 games) to Jack Winkler, who made his major-league debut last week. Only one earned a measure of infamy simply by catching a foul ball. That was Peter O'Brien, who played for seven teams as a pro but reached the majors with only Arizona and Miami, hitting .209 from 2015 to 2019. As the Marlins' first baseman on Sept. 29, 2018, O'Brien had the distinction of ending the career of the Mets' captain, David Wright. With his career effectively over because of spinal stenosis, the 35-year-old Wright returned to the Mets for two games at the end of the 2018 season. In the last, he was scheduled for two plate appearances and walked in his first. When he came to bat again, the 43,298 fans rose from their seats at Citi Field. Wright took a ball, then swung at a high fastball, lofting it toward the first base stands. O'Brien drifted over, unsure of how close he was to the wall. He stuck out his glove and snared it, as the crowd howled. 'Part of me felt bad for O'Brien as I walked back to the dugout, staring at my bat, a goofy grin on my face,' Wright wrote in 'The Captain,' his memoir with Anthony DiComo. 'Most of me was just stunned. Was that really it?' It was. But at least O'Brien got a cool souvenir from it. A Marlins clubhouse attendant scrawled a note on a baseball, ripping O'Brien for making the catch — and adding Wright's signature. When O'Brien found it at his locker and learned it was a prank, he sent the ball to the Mets' clubhouse for the real Wright to sign. Wright did, and added an inscription of his own: 'No, really. You should have let it drop.' Don Drysdale worked 3,270 1/3 innings in his 1957-68 prime, the most in MLB in that stretch. It's also about 1,200 more innings than the major-league leader in the dozen seasons before 2025, Max Scherzer, who threw 2,073 1/3. As you may have noticed, times have changed. Drysdale, a towering figure who spanned the Dodgers' Brooklyn and Los Angeles eras, is the subject of a riveting biography published earlier this year: 'Up and In: The Life of a Dodgers Legend,' by longtime Orange County Register columnist Mark Whicker. This week marks the 57th anniversary of the sixth and final shutout in Drysdale's 58-inning scoreless streak. Advertisement Another Dodger, Orel Hershiser, broke the record in 1988 with 59 scoreless innings to end the regular season and eight more to start the playoffs. Both pitchers paid dearly with their shoulders: Drysdale was finished in 1969, at age 33, and a shoulder reconstruction saved Hershiser's career in 1990. Here's Drysdale cashing in on his streak with a cheeky ad for Vitalis in 1968, co-starring San Francisco Giants manager Herman Franks. It plays on Drysdale's reputation for loading up his turbo sinker. Cheating used to be so fun. 'Vitalis has no grease, and spreads easily through your hair,' the announcer intones. 'If we all used Vitalis, we could help put an end to the greaseball.' (Top photo of Warren Schaeffer: Dustin Bradford / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Paul Skenes' stats with Pirates are mind-blowing — especially the non-wins
Editor's note: This is a bonus Weird & Wild. To read this week's main W&W column, go here. I've always enjoyed visiting Pittsburgh in the summer. Then again, I'm not Paul Skenes. Maybe you've noticed this, but when the Greatest Pirates Pitching Phenom Ever takes the mound, amazing things happen. It would be cool if winning was one of those things. But hey, don't get greedy! Advertisement Here at Weird and Wild World HQ, we've spent some time looking at this. And maybe it's just us, but we're starting to notice a common theme running through these starts by Skenes, a once-in-a-generation talent, pitching for a team that mostly forces that generation to cover its eyes a lot. It doesn't matter how well Skenes pitches. It doesn't matter how long Skenes pitches. It doesn't matter if he's facing the Mets or the Marlins. It always ends the same. By which I mean you won't be reading many box scores that say: WP — Skenes That's just a fact. But now here come more facts: Over Skenes' past seven starts, he has a 1.77 ERA, he's averaging over six innings a start … and the Pirates are 2-5. Is that even possible? But there's more. Of course there's more. Over Skenes' 13 starts this season, he's leading the National League in bWAR, WHIP, innings pitched, quality starts, opponent average and even (cough, cough) a new-age stat known as Win Probability Added … and the Pirates have still found a way to ignore that 'win probability' stuff and go 5-8 when he pitches. But wait. It gets worse. Would you like to know how much worse? You've come to the right place. They're taking not winning to a whole new level — In his two seasons in the big leagues, Skenes is now up to 21 career starts in which he hasn't gotten a win. Somehow, it doesn't feel like that's his fault. His numbers, just in those non-wins: a 2.59 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings. Ready for the complete list of everyone in history with that many starts (or more) whose career ERA is that spectacular in their non-wins? (This is since earned runs became an official stat in 1913 — and not counting openers.) It won't take long. Here it comes: Paul Skenes — 2.59 That's a wrap on that list. (Source: Baseball Reference / Katie Sharp) Advertisement But here's even more perspective: Only one pitcher in history is even within half a run of that: Hoyt Wilhelm (who spent most of his career as a reliever), at 2.99. And the next closest active starter — Jacob deGrom — has an ERA in those games nearly a full run higher (at 3.54). So there's that. But also … Crazy Eights — Skenes has made three career starts of eight innings or longer. His ERA in those starts is 1.48. His record in those starts is … what else? … 0-3. The record of all other MLB starters over the past two seasons, in starts of eight innings or longer: How about 86-5! And just for fun … how about we throw in a few more tidbits where those came from? These are just in games he hasn't won: • Four non-wins this season in starts of five innings or longer, with no more than three hits allowed. That would be — shockingly, I know — the most of any pitcher in baseball. • Nine non-wins, in his career, in starts of five innings or longer, with no more than one run allowed. That's tied for (yep) the most in baseball in that span. • Ten non-wins, in his career, in starts of five innings or longer, with no more than one earned run allowed. That's tied for most in the NL, and it's one behind Yusei Kikuchi for most in baseball. All of this is happening at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, in real life, to one of the special talents we've seen pass through our sport in this century. To everyone in Pittsburgh, we can only say: Sorry! And just seven weeks until Steelers training camp! GO DEEPER Pirates don't want to trade Paul Skenes. But they'd have to weigh these 5 prospect packages GO DEEPER Rosenthal: Would the Pirates trade Paul Skenes? A fascinating but unlikely idea for now
