Pirates make Kelly a winner in debut as manager
PITTSBURGH — Bailey Falter allowed just two hits over six innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates made manager Don Kelly a winner in his debut, holding off the Atlanta Braves 3-2 on Friday night.
Kelly, a Pittsburgh-area native promoted from bench coach to manager on Thursday after the club fired Derek Shelton, received a warm ovation when introduced before the game, then sat back and watched the Pirates put together a crisp nine innings of work that has been elusive during their miserable start.
There had been butterflies as Kelly made the drive to PNC Park earlier in the day ahead of the start of Pittsburgh’s weekend series.
Those jitters will soon fade away as the 45-year-old Kelly tries to coax more out of an underperforming roster that hasn’t played like the group most in the organization felt was on the cusp of contending when the season began six weeks ago.
“When we look at these things, yes the record isn’t where any of us hope it would be right now,” Kelly said Friday. “But there’s a lot of opportunity for growth, there’s a lot of opportunity to get better.”
The Pirates’ win Friday ended a seven-game losing streak that had them already 10 games out of a playoff spot thanks largely to an offense that ranks among the worst in the majors in every important category.
It’s one of the reasons why Shelton’s dismissal wasn’t surprising, not even to a player who hasn’t even been in the majors a full calendar year.
“At the end of the day, we’re 12-26,” reigning National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes said. “Someone’s got to be held accountable. And unfortunately, right now, it’s him. That’s just kind of how it goes. But I don’t know that it fixes the root of the issue, which is we need to play better.”
Enter Kelly, who played collegiately at Point Park University, a small liberal arts school a few blocks across the Allegheny River from PNC Park. A stint in a college summer league between his sophomore and junior years convinced the Detroit Tigers to select Kelly in the eighth round of the 2001 draft. He spent nine seasons bouncing around from team to team — including the Pirates — as a 6-foot-4 version of duct tape: willing to patch a hole wherever needed.
Kelly retired after the 2016 season and spent some time as a scout before going into coaching full time with Houston in 2018. By the end of 2019, he was back home as the bench coach on Shelton’s staff.
Kelly isn’t sure what kind of impact he can have over the final 120ish games of the season. Yet he has no plans to change who he is or how he goes about communicating with players now forced to see him in a different light.
“When the players know you care about them and they know that at the bottom line you care about the team, you care about winning, that’s what it all ties back too,” Kelly said.
During his first full day in his new gig, Kelly challenged the Pirates to try to find the kind of joy in playing that has been elusive during a miserable spring.
Asked how much progress could be expected, the man who still walks across a darkened PNC Park after games and marvels at the city skyline offered an honest response.
“I guess time will tell,” he said. “I don’t exactly know.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — New York Rangers captain J.T. Miller will miss at least one game after getting injured Saturday and is not traveling with the team to Nashville.
Coach Mike Sullivan said Miller was still being evaluated back home for an upper-body injury and would not play Sunday night against the Predators.
Miller left the Rangers’ game against Philadelphia with about eight minutes left after taking a big hit from Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler and landing awkwardly. The 32-year-old forward appeared to be favoring his right arm or shoulder while in pain on the bench and skating off to go down the tunnel for medical attention.
“You don’t want to lose any teammates,” center Mika Zibanejad said. “When you see your captain go down and you don’t see him come back, that obviously becomes [a situation] for us to step up and everyone has to do a little more when a guy like that leaves. Just hoping everything is OK.”
Miller was named captain before training camp. He has 10 goals and 12 assists in 35 games this season and is believed to be in consideration for the U.S. Olympic team, though it’s unclear whether this injury could cloud that possibility.
-
Greg Wyshynski
New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes, out since Nov. 12 with a “freak” hand injury, will return to the lineup against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.
Hughes, 24, injured his hand at a team dinner in Chicago on Nov. 13, underwent surgery on his finger and was given a recovery window of eight weeks. He has been skating throughout his rehab and was recently spotting using a stick again on the ice.
He returned to Devils practice Sunday at an optional skate.
“Yeah, I’m going to play tonight. Might as well ease my way in,” Hughes joked after practice.
Both Hughes and the Devils were off to flying starts before his injury. New Jersey was 12-4-1, with the second-best points percentage (.735) in the NHL behind the Colorado Avalanche (.794) and first place in the Metropolitan Division. Hughes had 20 points in his first 17 games, including 10 goals.
The Devils struggled without their top-line center, going 8-10-0 (.444) and scoring 3.35 goals per game with Hughes to 2.28 goals per game without him. But they have remained in the playoff race in a competitive Eastern Conference, holding the final wild-card spot entering Sunday.
Hughes is one of three key players returning to the Devils’ lineup Sunday against surging Buffalo, which has won five straight games. Forward Timo Meier last played Dec. 9, having taken leave from the team for a family matter. He has 11 goals and 12 assists in 30 games. Forward Arseny Gritsyuk has missed the past four games due to injury. The rookie has 16 points in 31 games.
“To come back from the road trip and to have those guys in the building and then on the ice, it gives the [team] a boost,” coach Sheldon Keefe said Sunday. “There’s an emotional impact.”
Keefe said the challenge for his team is not to become suddenly passive because help has arrived.
“We’ve got to keep playing the way we’ve been playing and have those players enhance that,” he said. “Sometimes when you bring important people back to your group, there can be a tendency for the rest of the group to take a back seat. And that cannot happen.”
Sunday was Hughes’ first appearance since the injury and the first time he has faced questions about his brother, star defenseman Quinn Hughes, being traded to the Minnesota Wild last week.
Sources told ESPN that the Vancouver Canucks went to the Devils first in discussing trade destinations for Quinn Hughes, as his brothers Jack and Luke both play in New Jersey. Ultimately, the Canucks opted to trade Hughes to the Wild for center Marco Rossi, forward Liam Ohgren, defenseman Zeev Buium and a 2026 first-round pick.
“It happened fast,” Jack Hughes said, adding that there was a “little bit” of disappointment that the three brothers weren’t united together. “I think he’s happy in Minnesota now. They have a great team there, and they’re playing well. … We’re happy for him.”
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024