The Pirates’ dress code for their one-day road trip to Denver Thursday was spelled out in four capitalized words posted in the clubhouse before the team’s doubleheader with the New York Mets Tuesday.
JEANS OKAY.
PENGUINS JERSEY.
The call came from manager Clint Hurdle for the Pirates to wear Penguins sweaters for their flights to and from Colorado Thursday. They will arrive in Denver early Thursday morning and return to Pittsburgh early Friday morning, watching Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final on the plane.
Hurdle will wear his Mario Lemieux jersey, and Andrew McCutchen his Evgeni Malkin jersey.
Not everyone was completely content with the dress code. David Freese, who grew up in St. Louis and played pro baseball there with the Cardinals, quickly chimed in with a question of allegiance.
“I asked if I could wear a Blues jersey,” Freese explained later, “and I got the look.”
“He got beat down,” Hurdle added.
Freese eventually reached a happy compromise. Pitcher Gerrit Cole loaned Freese his Ian Cole sweater as Gerrit Cole will be left behind on the trip because he starts Friday in Pittsburgh. Ian Cole spent nearly five years with the Blues before being traded to the Penguins in March 2015.
Wearing the jersey of a former Blues player, Freese said, “was the next best thing.”
Hurdle acknowledged that not every Pirates player is a born-and-bred Pittsburgh sports fan. But with a little prodding, they tend to come around on the idea.
“The term I read when I get information from Neal [Huntington] or Frank [Coonelly] from discussions in agents or whoever is: I strongly recommended they wear a Penguins jersey,” Hurdle said. “I’ve picked up that term over my years here. Strongly recommended it. We’ll see how it shows up.”
Cole Figueroa is still smarting from the Penguins bouncing his Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final. But a theme trip is about teamwork and participation, so he bit the bullet and bought a nameless Penguins sweater and will wear it with little protest Thursday.
A casual and comfortable outfit surely is better than a stuffy suit coat, right?
“Oh, I’d much rather wear a jersey than a suit,” Figueroa said. “But it depends which jersey.”
Vogelsong returns to park
Right-handed pitcher Ryan Vogelsong returned to the Pirates clubhouse Tuesday for the first time since undergoing surgery Thursday to repair facial fractures suffered when he was hit by a pitch May 23.
“Suit up,” catcher Chris Stewart told Vogelsong. “You’re starting the second game.”
Vogelsong looked pretty banged up, with a bandage across his nose and swelling and bruises around his eyes, but was in good spirits. He met with the training staff and plans to remain with the team during his rehab. He was transferred to the 60-day disabled list Saturday.
Masterson on the move
With prospect Jameson Taillon making his debut in Pittsburgh tonight, veteran right-hander Justin Masterson will take Taillon’s spot in the Class AAA Indianapolis rotation for now and start tonight against Class AAA Columbus.
The Pirates signed Masterson to a minor-league deal April 14. He spent more than a month at extended spring training before making a start at Class High-A Bradenton and then joining Indianapolis.
“It’s still not the power that Justin Masterson had when he was really successful at the major league level,” general manager Huntington said. “You still see the life in the fastball, but it’s not the mid-90s power sink that Justin had when he was so successful.”
Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: June 8, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
