Fastball

Pittsburgh Pirates Do Something They Haven't Done in Last 32 Years of Team History

The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers on Monday night to move to 9-2 on the season, a place they haven't been since the 1992 season.

Brady Farkas

Apr 8, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen
Apr 8, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
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The Pittsburgh Pirates kept the momentum going on Monday night, beating the Detroit Tigers, 7-4, at PNC Park.

With the win, the Pirates are now 9-2 on the season, a feat they haven't accomplished since the 1992 season.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

9-2 or better starts thru 11 games, Pirates history:

2024
1992
1966
1962 (10-1)
1937
1930
1914
1902
1896

Sure, it's early, but there's reason to be excited as a fan when your team does something it hasn't done in more than 30 seasons. Pittsburgh started out hot last season as well - even being in first place into May - but fizzled and finished fourth. This year's team will have to figure out how to have staying power in a competitive National League Central.

Maybe one of the ways that the Pirates can do this is because of veteran leadership. Pittsburgh went out this offseason and brought in established veterans like Marco Gonzales, Martin Perez, Yasmani Grandal and Rowdy Tellez, so perhaps those players can be stabilizing forces in the clubhouse.

Mitch Keller got his first win of the season on Monday, going 6.0 innings and allowing two earned runs on five hits. He struck out nine and moved to 1-1 on the season.

Five different Pirates' position players registered multi-hit games as well, including Andrew McCutchen and Bryan Reynolds. Reynolds hit his second homer of the season as well.

The two teams will play again on Tuesday night with first pitch coming at 12:35 p.m. ET. Perez (1-0, 2.45 ERA) pitches against Casey Mize (0-0, 6.23 ERA).

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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