first year as a manager and being in baseball as long as Ive been in baseball, this is arguably the toughest stretch Ive witnessed -- whether its player, coach, manager -- of bullpen woes," Porter

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates have hired former major leaguer Joey Cora to serve as the teams infield and third base coach.Cora spent 11 seasons as an infielder for four clubs from 1987-98 and made the All-Star team in 1997 while playing for the Seattle Mariners. Cora served as the manager of Pittsburghs Double-A affiliate, the Altoona Curve, in 2016. Cora led the club to a 76-64 record and a playoff berth.Cora replaces Rick Sofield, who was fired last week.Pittsburgh also selected Kimera Bartee as outfield, base-running and first base coach. Bartee spent parts of six seasons in the majors from 1996-2001. Bartee has served as Pittsburghs Minor Leagues Outfield/Base-running Coordinator since being hired in 2008.The Pirates promoted Tom Prince to bench coach. The former big-league catcher spent the past 11 years managing in Pittsburghs farm system.San Francisco Giants Store .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. Fake Giants Jerseys . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. https://www.cheapjerseysgiants.us/ . "Four now," Carl Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report proudly following a 5-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night, the clubs fifth straight at home. Custom San Francisco Giants Jerseys . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. Wholesale Giants Jerseys . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. MINNEAPOLIS -- After Anthony Swarzak helped lead another dominant effort for the Minnesota Twins bullpen, he offered a few words of encouragement to his struggling young teammate Kyle Gibson. Ryan Doumit hit the go-ahead single in the seventh inning, Minnesotas bullpen pitched six scoreless innings and the Twins beat the Houston Astros 6-4 on Saturday night. Swarzak made sure to connect with Gibson -- also a young up-and-comer -- about keeping his head up after a string of bad outings: hes allowed nine runs in his past six innings. "Hes got unbelievable stuff I told him. He was born to be here in this league, we all see that," said Swarzak, who has allowed just one earned run in his past 16 innings. "Now its just putting it all together. When I got called up in 09, I was kind of doing the same thing hes doing now. You want to do good so bad, it kind of works against you sometimes." After Gibson allowed four runs and nine hits in three innings, Swarzak struck out five in the next three innings and the American Leagues second-best bullpen came through for Minnesota. Brian Duensing (4-1) followed with a scoreless seventh and Casey Fien a scoreless eighth to set up All-Star Glen Perkins for his 26th save. "Swarzy was the star of the game for us," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That was huge to pick us up." Minnesota relievers allowed only one hit and struck out 10 over the games last six innings. Brett Wallace homered for Houston and Erik Bedard allowed three runs in six innings before leaving with a 4-3 lead. Houstons bullpen entered the game with a 5.11 ERA -- worst in the majors -- and couldnt hang on to get Bedard his first win since June 26. With Lucas Harrell (5-12) on the mound, Brian Dozier doubled home Clete Thomas to tie the game at 4. After Harrell walked Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, Doumit dumped a single that landed just in front of centre fielder Brandon Barnes to give Minnesota the lead. Harrell walked Oswaldo Arcia later in the inning with the bases loaded to make it 6-4. "Its definitely frustrating. If I dont pitch better Im going to be gone," Harrell said. "Being realistic, thats the way it is. Hopefully theyll even give me another chance to go back out. Hopefully finish the rest of the year and have a couple good outings and end on a high note." Dozier and Arcia led off the first and second innings with triples off Bedard and eventually scored. The Twins took a 3-1 lead in the secondd on a blooper-reel type of play that left Jose Altuve and Wallace staring at each other while Bedard pounded his glove in frustration.dddddddddddd With runners on first and third and one out, Dozier struck out and Doug Bernier got caught in a rundown trying to steal second. With an eye on Thomas creeping off third, Altuve chased Bernier back to first and bumped into Wallace as Thomas scampered home. Thomas was credited with a steal of home, Minnesotas first since Torii Hunter swiped home versus Detroit on May 4, 2002. "We were moving around pretty good out there," Gardenhire said. "All hes gotta do is get in a rundown in that situation. They got a little confused, and there ya have it." Bedard settled down after the mishap and appeared on his way to snapping a five-game losing skid. Houston grabbed a 4-3 lead after Wallaces solo homer which was part of five straight two-out hits in the third. But Harrell -- typically a starter -- allowed a leadoff double to Thomas in the seventh and struggled from there. Harrell has been used out of the bullpen recently after several trades shook up Houstons rotation. Friday nights game lasted 13 innings and required manager Bo Porter to get a little creative with his pitchers. "This being my first year as a manager and being in baseball as long as Ive been in baseball, this is arguably the toughest stretch Ive witnessed -- whether its player, coach, manager -- of bullpen woes," Porter said. Robbie Grossman and Barnes each had two hits for Houston. Dozier extended his hitting streak to 10 games. NOTES: The Astros will recall Brad Peacock from Triple-A Oklahoma City to start Sundays series finale. Peacock is 6-2 with a 2.73 ERA in the minors and 1-3 with an 8.07 ERA in nine appearances with Houston this season. Outfielder Jimmy Paredes will be sent down. ... Andrew Albers will make his major-league debut for the Twins on Tuesday against Kansas City. The Canadian lefty arrived in Minnesota a couple of hours before Saturdays first pitch, bleary-eyed but excited for his opportunity. "Its been a whirlwind last day-and-a-half. Just trying to take it all in right now. Not sure if its really sunk in," said Albers, 11-5 with a 2.86 ERA at Triple-A Rochester. "Im really thrilled to be here." ... Altuve returned after missing the past two games with a sore quad. ... Mike Pelfrey (4-9, 5.31) takes the mound for Minnesota on Sunday and will try to break a three-game losing streak. ' ' '