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Should the Pirates bring back Don Kelly? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Territory, presented to
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hiles.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Joining me, as always, are my co-hosts, Josh Harrison and
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Platinum Key, a.k.a.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Mark.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: It is Monday, September 14th.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: The Pirates just concluded their six-game road trip out in
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: the Windy City, where they won four of their six games,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: but it ended with a series loss to the Chicago Cubs.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Their first series loss in a while, and they returned
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: to Pittsburgh with a.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: 500 record.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: For their final homestand of the year we're going to
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: talk about the final homestand of the year on this
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: show reflect on all the home games this season but
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: first we get started with today's show talking about don
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: kelly uh the chicago series well it could have gone
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: different if some different decisions were potentially made uh they
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: got blown out on friday There's nothing Don Kelly could
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: have done about that.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: But on Saturday, they had.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: A chance to win the ballgame. Ryan O'Hearn hits a
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: three-run home run. They go up by a run.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Paul Skeens is dealing. He's through 82 pitches.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: They decide to throw Gregory Soto out there in what
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: I believe was the eighth inning.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Is that right, Mark?
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Skeens went through seven and 82 pitches. They bring
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Gregory Soto in. And Soto loses them the game. It
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: was his first high leverage spot in a while. He's
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: been pitching low leverage situations or middle relief, really, since
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: they upgraded the bullpen at the trade deadline.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: To Kelly's credit, he had been pitching better. I believe
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: he was scoreless in his last 12 outings. If I
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: read that.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Correctly from my coworker, Colin Beasley, wrote that in his
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: game story on Saturday.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So Kelly goes with the left-hander. Soto blows the game.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: They lose.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: And he takes a lot of flack for it. As
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: you can see, the subject headline here is bring back Kelly,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: question mark. I am not going to sit here and
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: say that we're asking this question because of one decision
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: he made in one game.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: You play 162 of them.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Sometimes you're going to make decisions that backfire. But the
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: reality is a lot of the in-game decisions that Don
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Kelly has made this year have backfired. And there are
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: times where it seems like it's the right call. There
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: are times where you can even understand if it's the
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: right call. But when it's happening consistently or as consistent
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: as it is, you begin to wonder, does this guy
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: know his team? Does this guy know his players? I
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: think his players like him. I think his players respect him.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: But does he know the ingredients he's working with in
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the kitchen well enough to cook something up?
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: That's a winning formula.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, right now, shoot, he's on pace to have
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the best managerial record in a season since Clint Hurdle
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: in 2018.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: So I guess by comparison, he's done well. But when
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: you get to the end of the season and you
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: look at everything, and I'll open this up. We'll start
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: with you, Mark.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Has Don Kelly done enough to deserve an invite back
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: in 2026 or 2027?
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: There's one thing I really, really like about Don Kelly
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: and what he's done with this year's team. And that's
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: how unified this clubhouse feels. I feel like he's done
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: a really good job as far as the mental side goes,
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: getting guys to buy in, believe in this team. believe
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: in this franchise, especially after all the losing. So I
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: feel like he's done a good job of kind of
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: changing that culture. But like we've been saying all year,
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: it's been the in-game decisions that seem to be his
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: weak point. And we saw the Pirates kind of almost
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: acknowledge that when they first hired him by having Gene
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: Lamont on the bench with him to kind of guide
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: him along. I really like Don Kelly. I don't think
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: it's time necessarily to move on quite yet personally. Um,
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: but what I would like to see is more help
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: like that. Like they brought in with Jean Lamont, you know, maybe, uh,
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: maybe we bring back another Clint hurdle, you know, like,
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: and just a little extra help on the bench. Uh,
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: I saw someone tweet at Clint Hurdle this morning being like,
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: would you come back, coach? And he said, he always
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: answers his phone. So, I mean, there's an idea.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: But I think just getting Don Kelly a little bit
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: more support, I think he has a lot of growth
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: that can still happen with his managerial career. I like
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: the trajectory he's on, but there are valid concerns so far.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Mark, before Josh weighs in, I just want to mention
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: one thing. You mentioned Hurdle. Why not go poach Leland
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: from the Tigers? I'm not saying you need him in
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: the dugout. I don't think Jim Leland's showing up to
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Comerica Park every day either. Pay him more money than
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: what the Tigers are paying him. He has a great
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: relationship with Don Kelly anyway. He's lived in Pittsburgh for
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: a long time. His kids grew up here.
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: He still keeps up with the team too.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: He still keeps up with the team. We see him
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: around here all the time. Anyway, go poach him from Detroit,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: pay him more money and just have him be like
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: the consigliere, you know, like have him show up once
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: a homestand. He can, he can live wherever he lives
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: and fly him in and just be like a Rover
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: and just have him on retainer to help. Like, That's
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: just an idea I had when you brought that up
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: because I agree. I think Don Kelly could use a little,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: I think Don Kelly to a fault is very loyal
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: to the people on his staff. And I think sometimes
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: a good manager and a good leader in general.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Just needs to make his own decisions and.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Say, Hey, listen, I hired all of you to give
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: me the best advice and input to make the decision.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: But I am the decision maker.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: And I think there have been too many times this
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: year where Don Kelly allows other people's influence to make
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: the decision for him.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: When in reality, I mean, you're the manager, man, make
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: your decision.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Sorry to cut you off, Josh, but I just kind
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: of wanted to weigh in on that because it was
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: like so relevant onto what Mark just said.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, you didn't cut me off. I'll just say, honestly,
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's time to move on. As you mentioned,
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: there are a lot of things that Don has brought
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: to this team that, as you mentioned, hasn't been there
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: in quite some time. And yes, in-game decisions you mentioned
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: are going to backfire from time to time and sometimes
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: it's going to burn you more than others. And, you know,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: I just don't want to lose sight of the fact
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: that even some of these in-game decisions also can be
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: overshadowed by, you know, lack of execution on players' parts too.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: So we sit here and say that, but that also
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: goes to what you were saying, Noah, Mark, getting him
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: some support or even with his staff that he has.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: I mentioned it in the last episode about, you know,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: attention to detail. Maybe it's a thing where he has
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: to get with his individual coaches, pitching coach, infield coach,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: you know, catching coach. Hey, I expect more out of
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: our guys. This is how we need to do it.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: You know, because when you do have those respective position coaches,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: I'm sure you trust those guys to do what they
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: do and you don't want to step on toes. But
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: at some point, Noah, to your extent, if you're the
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: manager and something's not going the way you want in
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: one of the areas, you know, hey, been plenty of times,
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: you know, not that our position coach didn't do, you know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: what he was supposed to, but sometimes the message is
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: going to be received a little differently from the El Jefe,
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: you know, where we might be with the infield coach
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: and he's giving you this message, but you know what? Randomly,
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: you know, El Jefe, hey, I got the infielders today.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Meet in my office. And, you know, that message is
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: received differently. And not saying that Don hasn't done this,
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: but I think in the moments of where this team
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: has struggled this year has been lack of focus, attention
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: to details in those moments. And to your extent, Noah,
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: maybe it's him trusting his staff a little bit too
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: much as opposed to saying, you know what, I trust
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: this guy to do his job, but you know what,
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: to make sure that it's done the way that it
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: should be. Sometimes, you know, as I said, El Jefe
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: has to step in and, you know, just reiterate that message.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: And sometimes it doesn't have to be to the whole team.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Sometimes it's just, you know, it could even be that
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: the captain's on the team. Hey, whoever that is, hey,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: we need to sit down before it gets to me
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: relaying this message. It's better received from a player. And
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: when you got a young team, it's kind of hard
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: with finding that fine line of, dang, let me let
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: my coaches coach them and trust them. But Let me
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: not be too overbearing, but at the same time, as
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: you say, Noah, when you get to know your players,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: you know what? A little bit of tough love is needed.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: And I think DK has that in him. And it's
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: just a different day and age in this game. And
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: somebody like Leland might be in his ear to say,
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: you know what? No, you went too easy on that kid.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: And not necessarily like saying you got to bench him,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: but like, you know what? Hey, no, let him know this. DK,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: you know when you play for me or when I
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: was around, this is not saying it has to be
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: the same, but you know, just somebody that's been through experiences,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: you know, a lot more. And that's what this game,
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: you know, needs, not only from a player standpoint to
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: be able to go to a coach. I'm sure coaches
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: like to go to, you know, previous managers and previous coaches.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Hey man. And just, just my two cents. Cause I
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: don't think he's done, as I said, a bad job.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: Some in-game decisions could be better, but I think as
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: you say, Noah, maybe take the reins a little bit
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: more and just, You know, not make it his show,
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: but to know that like, OK, our level of expectation
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: is this. And if we fall below this, I'm going
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: to step in and let it be known that we
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: got to get back to the standard.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just to round it out, and this isn't like
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: an official report on my end, but.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Just using logic.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Don Kelly just got extended last year. I don't know
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: the details of that extension. I would imagine it was
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: more than just a one year extension. Cause I don't
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: think I've ever heard of a manager just getting a
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: one year contract extension.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: So yeah, The logic would be if they.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Just extended him last year and the team got better
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: this year, I would find it very difficult for him to–
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: I would find it very– it would be very difficult
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: for me to believe that he would be dismissed.
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: And had some tough liquid injuries.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, not to say that– I think there are a
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: lot of people who could make a very compelling argument
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: that this team could use maybe a little bit more
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: of an experienced manager. When you consider how a lot
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: of the key players are very inexperienced and most of
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: the guys that they're depending on to win them big
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: games have never been a part of winning ball clubs
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: at the major league level.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: I get all of that.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: But consider the franchise you're talking about. Consider the owner
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: you're talking about.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Consider one of their foes that just did the same thing.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: They're behind the Pirates.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: So, there you go. All right, we're going to take
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: a quick break.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: When we come back, we're going to reflect on the
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: home season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and we're each going
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: to say the best win, in our opinion, that the
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Pirates had at PNC Park in 2026.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: When we come back. Eric Kratz.
• 11:30
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• 11:32
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• 12:29
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: PNC park final homestand of the 2026 season. The pirates
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: had a lot of pretty good wins this year at
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: PNC park. They had a winning record at home this
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: year and, uh, barring, I believe a straight up sweep
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: in this homestand.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I think, I think they're like six games over 500.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Okay. Uh, so they would have to get swept or
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: something close to that, uh, for them to have a
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: losing record at home this year. Um, Mark, we'll start
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: with you because you've watched pretty much every game that
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: was played this season, especially the ones at PNC Park. What,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: in your opinion, was the best game of the season
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: played at that ballpark this year?
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I'm going to start off with one that
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: all three of us were at. The affectionately known Tyler
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: Callahan game. The 9-8 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: Pirates were down 6-1 at one point. I remember I
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: was interviewing Josh because I messed up our on-field audio
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: with Noah interviewing him. So we had to redo the interview.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: And as we're redoing that interview, we're talking about, we're like, oh,
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: it's the sixth inning, like tough one for the Pirates.
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: You know, Dodgers are a good team, but hey. you know,
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: they hung around, at least, uh, we saw Tyler Callahan
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: get a solo shot home run off of Shohei Otani, uh,
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: in the fourth inning. So that was cool. And then
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: all of a sudden the Pirates kept hanging on in there.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: And once again, Tyler Callahan, bottom of the, or yeah,
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: bottom of the eighth, hit a three run homer, go ahead,
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: Pirates hang on, beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-8 to
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: snap a four game losing streak. It was, it was
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: a fun time at PNC Park. Uh, one of my
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: favorite memories, uh, Part of the reason why I'm going
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: back again Tuesday because can't keep me away for Roberto
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: Clemente Day. So, you know, maybe Tuesdays will be the
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: best home game after. But as things stand right now,
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: that Tyler Callahan game was pretty special. Josh, what about you?
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: So I do remember that game because obviously we were there.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: And shout out to Callie. My brother coached him. So
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: it was kind of cool to be there for that moment.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: And for me, Man, I'm going to go August 8th,
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: which was another day that all three of us were there, man.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: It's going to be a day that, in my mind,
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: will always be one of my favorite victories. I mean,
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: even though I didn't play. One of my favorite memories, man,
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: it was Jay Hay Day. Just the incredible amount of
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: love that my family and I received was, you know,
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: words can't really describe just everything that went on that
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: weekend or even that day. But I do remember that.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: around that time of the season, which wasn't too long ago,
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: about a month ago, Pirates were in a little bit
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: of a rough patch and things were not, you know,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: they were struggling. And I just remember, you know, on
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Jay Hay Day that somebody's like, man, I hope they win.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: And I don't remember the score, but I know it
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: was pretty much a blowout. I say a blowout because
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: position player came in and, you know, like for me
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: and my family, you know, Obviously, you know, I've watched
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: a couple other games or, you know, throughout the season.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: But like to actually be there and experience that with
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: my family is definitely cool. So August 8th against the
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: New York Mets, seeing everybody, you know, rocking the Jay
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: Hay shirts and seeing all the love and feeling the
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: love and seeing parts of the ballpark again that I
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: never got to experience. You know, the energy was nice
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: to experience. So August 8th forever. That was one of
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: my favorite wins that they had. That was a good one.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: I really loved the pregame.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, the game itself was a blowout, but yeah,
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: that was a really good one. I've got some honorable
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: mentions before I say mine.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Home opener, electric.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Major League debut for Connor Griffin, him getting the double
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: in his first at bat. I remember I had just
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: the thought, I was like, go in the stands and
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: watch us at bat because if he gets a hit,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: you'll be able to feel the energy.
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: That video you took. Filming it, and it.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Was awesome just to be in the crowd and take
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: that video. It was special.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: So that one, I have July 7th, which was Ryan
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: O'Hearn's 12 RBI game.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: That was, yeah.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: That Paul's losing streak. That was a big game. I
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: have July 11th.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Later, that homestand is when they took two games against
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: the Brewers on the same day.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: The first game was Ezra and Valdez. What's that?
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: Was that before the All-Star break? Yeah.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: The Valdez home run. He had a grand slam, I believe,
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: in the first game. And then I think he homered
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: again in the second game. They won 3-2. And then
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: the third honorable mention I have was last month, August 19th,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: the Brandon Lau walk-off home run. Roe Flores had the
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: pinch hit home run earlier in the game. I thought
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: that was a really gutsy win. They were kind of
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: out of it by then, but it was still a
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: fun game to watch. But my pick is going to be, man,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: I just talked about all these games that I kind
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: of just forgot on the spot what I was.
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: Going to pick. Brian Reynolds, walk-off?
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Brian Reynolds, yes, right. Yeah, that's what I was going
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: to pick.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Brian Reynolds with the walk-off home run against the Minnesota Twins.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Derek Shelton's first game back. Just a heck of a win.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Just a really cool visual.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: His bat flip and everything. That was a really gritty
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: win for the Pirates, and they were buzzing at that
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: point of the season. They needed that win. It was
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: a sweep for them. They won 6-5. That game was on,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: I'm looking at it, Friday, May 29th. I believe that
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: was also the same day that Carmen said what he
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: said in the postgame clubhouse. So that kind of got
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: overshadowed there. Nonetheless, a lot of good wins at PNC Park,
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: and hopefully For Mark's sake, we'll see a couple more
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: before the season ends.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: We're going to take another quick break. When we come back, we.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Will wrap up today's show with Mark's Platinum Key of
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: the Week here on Bucko Territory.
• 18:43
  Speaker 6: No, we didn't plan this. And also, no, Kratz, we're
• 18:46
  Speaker 6: not wearing the same exact Mack Weldon shirts. I've got
• 18:49
  Speaker 6: a green and you've got the heather blue.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: I do.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: And the whole array of colors. There's so many to
• 18:57
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• 18:59
  Speaker 5: In everything that you get.
• 19:01
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• 19:33
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• 19:39
  Speaker 6: That's M-A-C-K-W-E-L-D-O-N.com, code F-O-U-L.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: All right. This week's key of the week coming off
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: a series loss. So I played the sad key of
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: the week white, but following up on our discussion of
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: best PNC moments, my key of the week is just
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: defend home. This final homestand, give the fans something to
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: cheer about, finish the season strong, Yeah, you might be
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: out of it. Let's see, the Pirates are six games
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: out from the last wildcard spot at the time of recording.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: So things are basically over, but there's still fans in
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: the stands that are going to be cheering. I'm going
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: to be there Tuesday. I want to see us defend PNC.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: Go out on a nice win streak to end the season.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: Leave some lasting memories, some good taste in people's mouth
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: so that they won't come back next year. So that's
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: my key of the week. Just finish strong and defend
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: at the very end of the, I guess this is
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: the last nine games here in a row. So we
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: have three series against the Brewers, the Royals, and then
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: the Cardinals. So it should be a tough home stretch
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: here with the Brewers to start off, but it's definitely winnable.
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: And hey, the Brewers tweeted out like, thank you at
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: the Pirates for beating the Cubs today. Let's make sure
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: they don't have anything else to thank us for after
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: this week. Their magic number is down to two. So
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: let's keep that at two for a little while.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: I got nothing to add.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, that's straight
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: to the point. And as you said, last home stand,
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: the guys know it to give the fans something to
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: be excited about, finish strong. And, I mean, for those
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: that are going to be there, like you said, give
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: them something to cheer about.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: I'm looking forward to it, especially on Roberto Clemente Day.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: That's going to be my first time at PNC for
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: Roberto Clemente Day.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: Always a cool time, especially being in Pittsburgh. So that's
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: one of my favorite days of the year.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I loved when Josh Palacios took right field. I
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: think it was the 2023 season. He got to carry
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: out the Puerto Rican flag to right field for Clemente Day.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: That was pretty special.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Any final thoughts?
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: You know what else is pretty special is when you
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: hit that subscribe button.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: There it is.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Not as special as Roberto Clemente, but, I mean, nothing
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: really is. So a close second place is when you
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: hit that subscribe button or if you check out our
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: stuff at the Bucko Territory Team Store.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Guys, any final thoughts?
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: I'll see you there at PNC Tuesday. So it should
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: be pretty fun. Did that seem natural when I said that? No,
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: not even close.
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: Not even close.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: I liked it, Mark.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: Thanks, Josh. Yeah, yeah.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Both of you, no, listen, my culture is not your costume,
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: all right, you outsiders. Josh at least owned property in
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh at one point.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: True, yeah.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: I rented an apartment, yeah, yeah.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: There we go, okay. For Platinum Key, a.k.a.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Mark and Josh Harrison, I'm Noah Heil signing off saying
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: thanks for tuning in to another episode of Bucko Territory
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: presented to you by Without Territory Network.
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: Take care.