2017 Pittsburgh Pirates season
The 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the franchise's 136th season overall, 131st season as a member of the National League, and the 17th season at PNC Park. They failed to improve on their record from the previous season and finished fourth in the National League Central. The Pirates failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
Offseason and spring training
Infielder Jung-ho Kang was found guilty by a South Korean court for his third offense of driving under the influence, and as a result, the initial request for a work visa to enter the United States for the 2017 season was denied. He would miss the whole season with the Pirates.The Pirates recorded a 19–12 win–loss record in preseason spring training, the third best record in the Grapefruit League. In addition, two of their games finished tied and were therefore not included in the standings.
Regular season
April
- April 3 – The Pirates lost on Opening Day to the Boston Red Sox 5–3.
- April 7 – In their home opener against the Atlanta Braves, the Pirates defeated the Braves 5–4. The Pirates would go on to win all three games of the series to sweep the Braves.
- April 9 – Starling Marte hit a walk-off home run in the tenth inning to propel the Pirates to a 5–4 win and series sweep over the Braves.
- April 12 – The Pirates were swept by the Cincinnati Reds following a 9–2 loss.
- April 16 – Following a four-game losing streak, the Pirates rally to beat the [2017 2017 Chicago Cubs season|Chicago Cubs season|Chicago Cubs] 6–1 to sweep the three-game series at Wrigley Field.
- April 18 – Starling Marte was suspended 80 games after testing positive for nandrolone, a performance-enhancing substance; he will not be eligible to return until after the team's 93rd game on July 17 and is ineligible for postseason play if the team qualifies.
- April 19 – The Pirates were swept following three straight 2–1 losses to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Pirates have been swept in three of the five series to date and have swept their opponent in the other two series to date.
- April 22 – The Pirates lost to the New York Yankees 11–5 after beating them in the first game of the series. The series marks the first series of the year where the Pirates did not sweep their opponent nor did they get swept.
- April 24 - the Pirates fielded the first baseball player to be born and raised in Lithuania, to reach the major leagues, Dovydas Neverauskas. In 1933, Joe Zapustas was the first Lithuanian-born player to play in MLB, as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics, however he grew up in Boston.
- April 26 - The Pirates promoted South African Gift Ngoepe from the AAA Indianapolis Indians; making him the first African-born player in MLB history.
- The Pirates finished the month with a win–loss record of 11–13, fourth in the NL Central at 2.0 games out of first.
May
- May 3 – Iván Nova was named NL Pitcher of the Month for April.
June
- Andrew McCutchen is named the National League Player of the Month
July
- July 2 – Josh Harrison is elected to the 2017 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
- July 18 – Starling Marte is reactivated after performance-enhancing drug suspension
August
- August 6 – Sean Rodriguez, in his first game since being re-acquired by the Pirates a day earlier, hits a walk-off home run in the twelfth inning to give the Pirates a 5–4 victory over the San Diego Padres.
- August 20 – The Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 6–3, in the 2017 MLB Little League Classic held at Bowman Field, located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
- August 23 – Josh Harrison became the first player in MLB history to break up a no-hitter in extra innings with a walk-off home run. The home run was hit in the tenth inning, off of pitcher Rich Hill, to give the Pirates a 1–0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
September
- September 4 - Josh Bell broke the National League record for most home runs by a rookie switch hitter, hitting his 24th of the season off of Jake Arrieta, in a 12-0 Pirates' rout of the Chicago Cubs
- September 5 - Longtime Pirates TV broadcaster Kent Tekulve announced his retirement, after the Pirates' 4–3 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs.
Season standings
Detailed records
| Month | Games | Won | Lost | Win % | ||
| April | 24 | 11 | 13 | 90 | 110 | |
| May | 30 | 13 | 17 | 122 | 140 | |
| June | 26 | 13 | 13 | 129 | 126 | |
| July | 25 | 14 | 11 | 105 | 94 | |
| August | 29 | 12 | 17 | 114 | 159 | |
| September | 27 | 11 | 16 | 97 | 94 | |
| October | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 8 | |
| Total | 162 | 75 | 87 | 668 | 731 |
Game log
August 20 game vs St. Louis Cardinals to be played at BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania as part of the 2017 MLB Little League Classic.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 |
| Andrew McCutchen | 156 | 570 | 94 | 159 | 30 | 2 | 28 | 88 | 1 | 73 | .279 | .486 |
| Josh Bell | 159 | 549 | 75 | 140 | 26 | 6 | 26 | 90 | 2 | 66 | .255 | .466 |
| Jordy Mercer | 145 | 502 | 52 | 128 | 24 | 5 | 14 | 58 | 0 | 51 | .255 | .406 |
| Josh Harrison | 128 | 486 | 66 | 132 | 26 | 2 | 16 | 47 | 12 | 28 | .272 | .432 |
| David Freese | 130 | 426 | 44 | 112 | 16 | 0 | 10 | 52 | 0 | 58 | .263 | .371 |
| Adam Frazier | 121 | 406 | 55 | 112 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 53 | 9 | 36 | .276 | .399 |
| Gregory Polanco | 108 | 379 | 39 | 95 | 20 | 0 | 11 | 35 | 8 | 27 | .251 | .391 |
| Starling Marte | 77 | 309 | 48 | 85 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 31 | 21 | 20 | .275 | .379 |
| Francisco Cervelli | 81 | 265 | 31 | 66 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 31 | 0 | 32 | .249 | .370 |
| John Jaso | 126 | 256 | 28 | 54 | 19 | 0 | 10 | 35 | 1 | 40 | .211 | .402 |
| José Osuna | 104 | 215 | 31 | 50 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 30 | 0 | 9 | .233 | .428 |
| Elías Díaz | 64 | 188 | 18 | 42 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 1 | 11 | .223 | .314 |
| Chris Stewart | 51 | 131 | 8 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 9 | .183 | .221 |
| Max Moroff | 56 | 120 | 19 | 24 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 21 | 0 | 16 | .200 | .325 |
| Sean Rodriguez | 39 | 95 | 12 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 8 | .168 | .274 |
| Jordan Luplow | 27 | 78 | 6 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 6 | .205 | .385 |
| Alen Hanson | 37 | 57 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .193 | .263 |
| Gift Ngoepe | 28 | 54 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 8 | .222 | .296 |
| Phil Gosselin | 28 | 40 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .150 | .175 |
| Christopher Bostick | 20 | 27 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .296 | .370 |
| Jacob Stallings | 5 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | .357 | .500 |
| Danny Ortiz | 9 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .083 | .083 |
| John Bormann | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Pitcher totals | 162 | 278 | 11 | 33 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 10 | .119 | .147 |
| Team totals | 162 | 5458 | 668 | 1331 | 249 | 36 | 151 | 635 | 67 | 519 | .244 | .386 |
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 |
| Gerrit Cole | 12 | 12 | 4.26 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 203.0 | 199 | 98 | 96 | 55 | 196 |
| Iván Nova | 11 | 14 | 4.14 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 187.0 | 203 | 96 | 86 | 36 | 131 |
| Chad Kuhl | 8 | 11 | 4.35 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 157.1 | 159 | 81 | 76 | 72 | 142 |
| Trevor Williams | 7 | 9 | 4.07 | 31 | 25 | 0 | 150.1 | 145 | 73 | 68 | 52 | 117 |
| Jameson Taillon | 8 | 7 | 4.44 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 133.2 | 152 | 69 | 66 | 46 | 125 |
| Felipe Vázquez | 5 | 3 | 1.67 | 73 | 0 | 21 | 75.1 | 47 | 19 | 14 | 20 | 88 |
| Wade LeBlanc | 5 | 2 | 4.50 | 50 | 0 | 1 | 68.0 | 64 | 35 | 34 | 17 | 54 |
| Tyler Glasnow | 2 | 7 | 7.69 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 62.0 | 81 | 61 | 53 | 44 | 56 |
| Daniel Hudson | 2 | 7 | 4.38 | 71 | 0 | 0 | 61.2 | 57 | 34 | 30 | 33 | 66 |
| Juan Nicasio | 2 | 5 | 2.85 | 65 | 0 | 2 | 60.0 | 49 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 60 |
| Tony Watson | 5 | 3 | 3.66 | 47 | 0 | 10 | 46.2 | 57 | 20 | 19 | 14 | 35 |
| Steven Brault | 1 | 0 | 4.67 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 34.2 | 41 | 21 | 18 | 14 | 23 |
| Jhan Mariñez | 0 | 1 | 3.18 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 34.0 | 34 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 26 |
| A. J. Schugel | 4 | 0 | 1.97 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 32.0 | 31 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 27 |
| Johnny Barbato | 0 | 1 | 4.08 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 28.2 | 25 | 13 | 13 | 18 | 23 |
| Dovydas Neverauskas | 1 | 1 | 3.91 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 25.1 | 24 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 17 |
| Edgar Santana | 0 | 0 | 3.50 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 18.0 | 16 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 20 |
| George Kontos | 1 | 1 | 1.84 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 14.2 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| Ángel Sánchez | 1 | 0 | 8.76 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 12.1 | 16 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 10 |
| Josh Lindblom | 0 | 0 | 7.84 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10.1 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 10 |
| Antonio Bastardo | 0 | 1 | 15.00 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 9 | 8 |
| Joaquín Benoit | 0 | 2 | 7.56 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8.1 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 3 |
| Jack Leathersich | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4.1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Dan Runzler | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Team totals | 75 | 87 | 4.22 | 162 | 162 | 36 | 1440.2 | 1464 | 731 | 676 | 511 | 1262 |
Source:
Notable achievements
Awards
National League Pitcher of the MonthNational League Player of the Month
2017 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
- Josh Harrison, INF, Reserve
- Andrew McCutchen