Henry

Davis

Bart will sit out his second straight contest with left wrist discomfort. It’ll be Henry Davis behind the plate on Wednesday evening in Cincinnati.

Adding an extra catcher at this point suggests that maybe Joey Bart or Henry Davis is dealing with a minor injury, but there’s been nothing yet to indicate that’s the case. The Pirates might just want to take a brief look at Flores, who needed to be added to the 40-man this winter anyway. The 24-year-old, who was acquired from the Yankees for David Bednar, hit .281/.363/.459 with six homers in 36 games for Indianapolis. He’s probably not good enough defensively to become a starting catcher, but the Pirates don’t have much to lose by giving him a look.

With the Orioles starting left-hander Cade Povich, the Pirates will put Cruz and Spencer Horwitz on the bench while also giving a day off to Henry Davis and Cam Devanney. Joey Bart, Liover Peguero, Nick Yorke, and Alexander Canario will enter the starting lineup. Cruz is hitting just .200 on the season, but also has a .105/.233/.181 slash line against lefties, so there’s a strong argument that he should simply be a strong side platoon bat. That should drastically impact his fantasy value in 2026.

The 25-year-old backstop capped off a five-run first inning with a sacrifice fly. He then victimized Andre Pallante for a 403-foot (106.7 mph EV) solo shot in the third inning that increased the Pirates’ lead to 7-0. It has been another very rough season at the plate for Davis, slashing a cringe-inducing .178/.253/.305 with six long balls, 18 RBI and a 56/16 K/BB ratio in 225 plate appearances.

Davis scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch after reaching on the double in the seventh and then added some insurance later. With Joey Bart in the midst of a nice run, the Pirates are finally getting some production from a catcher spot they figured would be one of their strengths this year. Davis is hitting just .172/.248/.286 in 210 plate appearances, and his future as a big leaguer should be in serious doubt at this point.

It’s basically a second straight lost year for Rodríguez, who underwent Tommy John surgery last summer. He played in just 18 games for the Pirates, hitting .173/.246/.250 in 57 plate appearances. The good news for him is that Joey Bart has regressed and Henry Davis still hasn’t done anything to establish himself. Unless the Pirates target an upgrade from the current group, Rodríguez should have a chance to compete for the starting job next spring.

Davis led off the fourth inning with a single off of Brady Singer, advanced to second on a ground ball and then raced around to score on an RBI knock off the bat of Spencer Horwitz. He then crushed a 373-foot (100.4 mph EV) two-run shot off of Brent Suter in the seventh inning that increased the Bucs’ lead to 7-0. With his two-hit attack, Davis is now hitting .172/.254/.290 with five homers and 15 RBI in 193 plate appearances with the Pirates this season.

It was a rather unlucky 0-for-3, as he barreled a 390-foot fly with a .630 xBA and also had a 100-mph lineout with a .590 xBA. The Pirates thought catcher would be a strength for them this year, but Joey Bart is batting .232/.327/.288, Davis is at .187/.250/.309 and Endy Rodriguez is on the 60-day IL with more elbow woes. Right now, Bart and Davis are splitting time evenly, but that would probably change if either started to swing the bat better.

Davis, who went 4-for-4 in his last game Sunday, had a chance to break this one open with runners on first and third and none out in the eighth, but what he did wound up being sufficient. The Pirates won the game despite being outhit 7-4 and outwalked 4-2. The Cardinals, though, went 1-for-13 with RISP, and that one hit turned into an easy out at the plate.

Davis didn’t drive in any runs, as Jared Triolo, hitting one spot ahead of Davis, had zero of the Pirates’ 16 hits today. It’s the first career four-hit game for Davis, and he raised his average from .178 to .207 today. He’s started five of the Pirates’ 12 games at catcher since Joey Bart came off the injured list, and it’d probably take a few more games like this for the Pirates to consider using him anywhere else.