2011 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 2011 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the franchise's 125th season as a member of the National League and 130th season overall. This was their 11th season at PNC Park. The season was the first with manager Clint Hurdle, who was hired to replace the fired John Russell. After going a major league worst 57–105, they enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence, winning more than 70 games for the first time since 2004 and being covered significantly in the summer due to being involved in the pennant race, but they still locked up their 19th consecutive losing season.

Regular season

April

The Pirates won their opening game against the Cubs in Chicago 6–3. Neil Walker led the offense with a grand slam in the fifth inning, becoming the only Pirate other than Roberto Clemente to hit a grand slam on opening day. Pittsburgh blew a lead the following day and lost, but scored two runs in the final inning of the series finale to finish their first series with a 2–1 record. Pittsburgh defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in two of three games during their second series, marking the first time the Pirates had won the majority of games in two consecutive road series since 2007. Pittsburgh came home to face the Colorado Rockies; winning one game out of four. In the second game of the series, the Pirates prevailed in a 5-hour, 10-minute game which lasted 14 innings. After an injury to starting pitcher Ross Ohlendorf, the bullpen combined for scoreless innings—the most for the Pirates since 1900.

Taser incident

During the April 9 game in Pittsburgh, a local man was arrested in the left-field seating section. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the man "appeared to be drunk, bothered fans in his section and belligerently refused to cooperate" when he would not leave at the game at the request of PNC Park employees and police. While being escorted from the section the man struck a ballpark employee, which was met with officers putting him under arrest after "Tasering him to little effect before clubbing him in the neck, head, side and legs." The entire incident was captured on video. He was charged with public drunkenness, resisting arrest, and two additional misdemeanors. In a related incident, a woman was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, and defiant trespassing. After yelling at the officers making the initial arrest, she then "resisted an officer's attempts to remove her from the park" while yelling obscenities.

May

In May, the Pirates compiled a 13–13 record, and finished the month at 25–28 for the season.

June

On June 24, 2011, the Pirates defeated the Boston Red Sox, 3–1, to improve their record to 38–37. This is the latest in the season that the Pirates have been above.500 since 1999.
On June 28, 2011, the Pirates defeated the Blue Jays 7–6 at the Rogers Centre, to mark their first inter-league road victory in two years.

July

On July 8, the Pirates defeated the Chicago Cubs to enter the [2011 Major League Baseball 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game|All-Star] break above the.500 mark for the first time since 1992. The Pirates also sent three players to the All-Star Game with the selections of Kevin Correia, Joel Hanrahan and Andrew McCutchen. This marked the first time since 1990 that the team had three All-Stars in the National League lineup. While Correia did not enter the game, along with Tim Lincecum, McCutchen entered the game in the seventh inning, batting in the eighth. Hanrahan was called to close in the top of the ninth, striking out the first batter, however an untimely error from Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro and a single led to two men in scoring position. Brian Wilson got the save.
On July 15, and again on July 18, the Pirates moved into first place of the NL Central. This marked the first two times that the Pirates were in first place this late in the season since 1997.
July 25 saw the Pirates return to the national stage with their game at Atlanta being televised on ESPN. This is the first time the Pirates had been on ESPN since September 22, 2004. The Pirates went on to win the game 3 to 1, moving them again into a first place tie in the NL Central.
The next night, the Pirates fell victim to a controversial call in a 4–3 loss to the Braves after 19 innings. Braves infielder Julio Lugo was ruled safe at home plate by home plate umpire Jerry Meals even though replay clearly showed Lugo should have been called out. Meals and the league both admitted the call was incorrect. The team ended up filing a complaint with the commissioner's office.

Season standings

Detailed records

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %
April	27	12	15		91	115
May	26	13	13		108	91
June	27	16	11		105	106
July	26	13	13		102	98
August	30	8	22		113	167
September	26	10	16		91	135
Total	162	72	90		610	712

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	AVG	SLG
Neil Walker	159	596	76	163	36	4	12	83	9	54	.273	.408
Andrew McCutchen	158	572	87	148	34	5	23	89	23	89	.259	.456
Garrett Jones	148	423	51	103	30	1	16	58	6	48	.243	.433
Ronny Cedeño	128	413	43	103	25	3	2	32	2	30	.249	.339
Lyle Overbay	103	352	40	80	17	1	8	37	1	36	.227	.349
José Tábata	91	334	53	89	18	1	4	21	16	40	.266	.362
Brandon Wood	99	236	25	52	9	0	7	31	0	19	.220	.347
Pedro Álvarez	74	235	18	45	9	1	4	19	1	24	.191	.289
Xavier Paul	121	232	30	59	6	5	2	20	16	13	.254	.349
Ryan Doumit	77	218	17	66	12	1	8	30	0	16	.303	.477
Matt Diaz	100	216	14	56	12	1	0	19	4	11	.259	.324
Alex Presley	52	215	27	64	12	6	4	20	9	13	.298	.465
Josh Harrison	65	195	21	53	13	2	1	16	4	3	.272	.374
Michael McKenry	58	180	17	40	12	0	2	11	0	14	.222	.322
Chase d'Arnaud	48	143	17	31	6	2	0	6	12	4	.217	.287
Ryan Ludwick	38	112	14	26	5	0	2	11	0	19	.232	.330
Derrek Lee	28	101	16	34	2	1	7	18	0	8	.337	.584
Chris Snyder	34	96	13	26	3	0	3	17	0	17	.271	.396
Steve Pearce	50	94	8	19	2	0	1	10	0	7	.202	.255
Jason Jaramillo	23	43	1	14	3	0	0	6	1	2	.326	.395
Pedro Ciriaco	23	33	4	10	2	1	0	6	2	1	.303	.424
Dusty Brown	11	28	2	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.107	.107
Eric Fryer	10	26	5	7	0	0	0	0	1	3	.269	.269
John Bowker	19	17	0	4	1	0	0	2	0	2	.235	.294
Josh Rodriguez	7	12	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.083	.083
Matt Pagnozzi	5	8	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.250	.250
Wyatt Toregas	3	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Pitcher totals	162	287	10	27	8	0	1	16	0	14	.094	.132
Team totals	162	5421	610	1325	277	35	107	580	108	489	.244	.368

Source:

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Charlie Morton	10	10	3.83	29	29	0	171.2	186	82	73	77	110
James McDonald	9	9	4.21	31	31	0	171.0	176	86	80	78	142
Paul Maholm	6	14	3.66	26	26	0	162.1	160	72	66	50	97
Jeff Karstens	9	9	3.38	30	26	0	162.1	163	69	61	33	96
Kevin Correia	12	11	4.79	27	26	0	154.0	175	90	82	39	77
Daniel McCutchen	5	3	3.72	73	0	0	84.2	87	38	35	33	47
José Veras	2	4	3.80	79	0	1	71.0	54	32	30	34	79
Chris Resop	5	4	4.39	76	0	1	69.2	73	34	34	30	79
Joel Hanrahan	1	4	1.83	70	0	40	68.2	56	17	14	16	61
Brad Lincoln	2	3	4.72	12	8	0	47.2	54	27	25	16	29
Tony Watson	2	2	3.95	43	0	0	41.0	34	18	18	20	37
Ross Ohlendorf	1	3	8.15	9	9	0	38.2	60	38	35	15	27
Jason Grilli	2	1	2.48	28	0	1	32.2	24	10	9	15	37
Joe Beimel	1	1	5.33	35	0	0	25.1	34	17	15	9	17
Chris Leroux	1	1	2.88	23	0	0	25.0	26	9	8	7	24
Daniel Moskos	1	1	2.96	31	0	0	24.1	29	11	8	9	11
Evan Meek	1	1	3.48	24	0	0	20.2	27	11	8	12	17
Jeff Locke	0	3	6.48	4	4	0	16.2	21	12	12	10	5
Brian Burres	1	0	3.86	5	2	0	14.0	12	6	6	4	10
Jared Hughes	0	1	4.09	12	0	0	11.0	9	5	5	4	10
Michael Crotta	0	1	9.28	15	0	0	10.2	20	11	11	5	7
Tim Wood	0	3	5.63	13	0	0	8.0	8	5	5	8	2
Aaron Thompson	0	0	7.04	4	1	0	7.2	13	6	6	6	1
José Ascanio	0	0	7.11	8	0	0	6.1	10	5	5	2	5
Garrett Olson	1	1	2.08	4	0	0	4.1	2	1	1	3	4
Team totals	72	90	4.04	162	162	43	1449.1	1513	712	650	535	1031

Source:

Notable achievements

Awards

2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Joel Hanrahan, P, reserve
Andrew McCutchen, OF, reserve
Kevin Correia, P, reserve

NL Player of the Week

Jeff Karstens

MLB Delivery Man of the Month Award

Joel Hanrahan

Milestones

Player	Milestone	Reached
	100th Career Game	April 1, 2011
	100th Career Inning Pitched	April 14, 2011
	100th Career Game	May 20, 2011
	100th Career Game	May 25, 2011
	200th Career Game	May 21, 2011
	300th Career Double	June 8, 2011
	1200th Career Game	June 12, 2011
	500th Career Hit	July 23, 2011
	500th Career Hit	August 15, 2011
	500th Career Hit	August 17, 2011
	100th Career Game	Sep 7, 2011
	500th Career Inning Pitched	Sep 19, 2011

Transactions

Pre-season

On November 3, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed Wil Ledezma to a 1-year contract.
On November 12, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost free agent Erik Kratz to the Philadelphia Phillies.
On November 15, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates hired Clint Hurdle as manager.
On November 19, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost free agent Hector Gimenez to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On November 22, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost free agent Dana Eveland to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On November 24, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates hired Euclides Rojas as bullpen coach, Gregg Ritchie as hitting coach, Luis Silverio as first-base coach, Nick Leyva as third-base coach and Mark Strittmatter.
On November 24, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Zach Duke to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a player to be named later.
On December 3, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed Jeff Karstens to a 1-year contract and Ronny Cedeño to a 1-year contract with an option for 2012.
On December 7, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed free agents Kevin Correia to a 2-year contract and Scott Olsen to a 1-year contract with an option for 2012.
On December 8, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed free agent Matt Diaz to a 2-year contract.
On December 14, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed free agent Lyle Overbay to a 1-year contract.
On December 23, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Ryan Kelly to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for Corey Wimberly.
On December 23, 2010, the Pittsburgh Pirates claimed free agent Aaron Thompson off waivers from the Washington Nationals.
On January 4, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Joe Martinez to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
On January 5, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost free agent Wil Ledezma to the Toronto Blue Jays.
On January 18, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed Joel Hanrahan to a 1-year contract.
On February 9, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed Ross Ohlendorf to a 1-year/$2.025 million contract.

In-Season

On March 3, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed Alex Presley, Andrew McCutchen, Bryan Morris, Brad Lincoln, Charlie Morton, Chris Leroux, Chris Resop, Daniel McCutchen, Daniel Moskos, Evan Meek, Garrett Jones, Gorkys Hernández, James McDonald, Jason Jaramillo, Jeff Locke, John Bowker, José Ascanio, José Tábata, Josh Rodriguez, Kevin Hart, Kyle McPherson, Mike Crotta, Neil Walker, Pedro Ciriaco, Ramon Aguero, Steve Pearce and Tony Watson to 1-year contracts.
On March 21, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates released Garrett Atkins.
On March 22, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates released Fernando Nieve.
On April 6, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates released Craig Hansen.
On April 8, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost free agent Ramon Aguero to the Texas Rangers.
On April 22, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates claimed free agent Brandon Wood from the Los Angeles Angels.
On April 26, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates claimed free agent Xavier Paul from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On May 14, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates released Scott Olsen.
On June 13, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded a player to be named later or cash considerations to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Michael McKenry.
On June 21, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded cash considerations to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Josh Rodriguez.
On July 21, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed free agent Jason Grilli to a 1-year contract.
On July 31, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Aaron Baker to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Derrek Lee.
On July 31, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded a player to be named later or cash considerations to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Ryan Ludwick.
On August 18, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded a player to be named later or cash considerations to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Tim Wood.
On August 21, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed José Tábata to a 6-year contract extension through 2016 with options for 2017–19.
On August 31, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded Matt Diaz and cash considerations to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for a player to be named later.
On August 31, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded John Bowker to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for future considerations.
On September 11, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed Neal Huntington as senior VP and GM to a 3-year contract extension through 2014.
On September 14, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates claimed Matt Pagnozzi off waivers from the Colorado Rockies.
On September 16, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates promoted Greg Smith to assistant GM, Joe Dellicarri to director of amateur scouting, Kevan Graves to director of baseball operations, Kyle Stark to assistant GM, Larry Broadway to director of minor league operations and Tyrone Brooks to director of player personnel.
On October 24, 2011, the Pittsburgh Pirates hired Ben Potenziano as assistant trainer and Brendon Huttman as strength and conditioning coach.