PBN Around the Horn: What in the Sam Howard Is Going On Here?!

Welcome to the PBN Around the Horn. Here you’ll find news and notes from across Major League Baseball, your Pittsburgh Pirates, and around the Sports Now network.

Game one didn’t go according to plan, but your Pittsburgh Pirates (57-95) will try and rectify that in game two vs. the Philadelphia Phillies (79-74). Sam Howard (5.80 ERA) of all people will get the start and face Kyle Gibson (3.51 ERA). First pitch is 7:05 p.m.

UPDATE (5:00 p.m.) Pirates Lineup

1. Ke’Bryan Hayes 3B
2. Yoshi Tsutsugo RF
3. Bryan Reynolds CF
4. Colin Moran 1B
5. Ben Gamel LF
6. Kevin Newman 2B
7. Michael Perez C
8. Hoy Park SS
9. Sam Howard P

UPDATE (3:36 p.m.) The Greensboro Grasshoppers evened their playoff series at a game apiece. Quinn Priester pitched 5 solid innings in a 4-2 victory.

UPDATE (12:47 p.m.) The Bradenton Marauders have a chance to win their playoff series tonight with Logan Hofmann on the bump.

Weather: 72 degrees, sunny
TV/Radio: AT&T Sportsnet, 93.7 The Fan
Line: PITT +180 underdog, O/U is 8.5 runs

Pittsburgh Baseball Now Notes

How Has the Offense Fared Since Eckstein’s Departure?

Pirates give up 12 straight runs in 12-6 loss.

Pirates Prospects Notes

Wilbur Miller covered all of the minor league action of Thursday; headlined by a Greensboro game in what felt like the first time in a million years, Wilbur gives us all the note-worthy stats in the prospect watch.

Around the Network

Steelers Now: Mason Rudolph Ranked 6th Best Backup By NFL’s Website. How do you feel about that?

Pittsburgh Sports Now: Pitt misses out on another highly-regarded basketball recruit.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Hextall and Sullivan Wrap up the first day of training camp.

WVU Sports Now: Week 4 Uniform Reveal for WVU FB. They’re going with the always popular Blue-white-blue combination.

Nittany Sports Now: The Nittany Lions’ next recruiting class is heating up as the team lands a 2023 OT.