“First Call” for Tuesday puts out a call for help to fix the Pittsburgh Pirates’ recent pitching problems. We look at a potential Bucs trade target who may be drawing interest from others. A local baseball standout makes his Major League Baseball debut.

Gerrit Cole attempts to recapture his initial form after his arm injury. And we debate the historical spots of some recent Stanley Cup champion Penguins teams.

The Fedko Zone

Congratulations to Kyler Fedko. The Pittsburgh native made his Major League Baseball debut for the Minnesota Twins Monday night in Texas.

A Vincentian Academy graduate, Fedko is the son of former WPXI sports anchor John Fedko.

Starting in left field, Fedko went 0-4 in his first game. However, the Twins won 4-2 behind a three-run home run from former Pirate Josh Bell.

Fedko was the Big East Player of the Year at UConn in 2021. He was hitting .286 with 15 home runs at Triple-A St. Paul at the time of his promotion.

Stop the slide

After Monday night’s 11-2 drubbing at the hands of the Athletics, the Pirates have now dropped eight of their last 10 contests.

It’ll be up to pitcher Mitch Keller to reverse that trend in West Sacramento. He gets Game 2 of that series.

Much like everyone else in the rotation the past few weeks, things have gotten difficult for Keller. The 30-year-old right-hander is 5-4 with a 5.14 ERA.

In each of his last three appearances, the former innings-eater hasn’t completed the fifth, and he has allowed 18 earned runs. He has just one win since May 7. On that date, he was 4-1 with a 2.87 ERA.

The A’s respond with Jack Perkins, who has only two starts on the year, but 17 appearances out of the bullpen. The righty is 2-3 with a 6.25 ERA.

Not alone

A frequently discussed name on the trade market among Pirates fans is Antonio Senzatela.

The Colorado relief pitcher is 6-0 with a 1.04 WHIP. He is a 31-year-old right-hander.

But he’s popular for a reason. Lots of other teams seem to be interested in him, as many pennant contenders need bullpen help.

One of them is the New York Yankees. Via the MLB Network on Monday, Jon Heyman said Senzatela may be a good fit in the Bronx.

One thing about him, though, is that Senzatela hasn’t been great in June. He entered the month with a 1.36 ERA. It’s now up to 2.29. He allowed another run during a 5-4 loss to the Cubs on Monday.

That means the 31-year-old has yielded six runs (five earned) in 6⅓ innings this month (7.11 ERA).

Burning Cole

Speaking of the Yankees, on Tuesday night in Chicago, ex-Pirates ace Gerrit Cole makes his fifth start since returning from Tommy John surgery against the White Sox.

The Yanks’ ace was fantastic during his first two starts.

The former Cy Young winner didn’t allow an earned run over the first 12⅔ innings he pitched to open 2026. He shut out both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals, striking out 12 while walking three.

Since then, he and the Yankees split two games against Cleveland. On June 3, Cole yielded four earned runs in 5⅓ innings en route to a 5-4 loss. On June 9, Cole threw 83 pitches through four innings and was pulled. The Yankees won 3-2. Cole allowed both Cleveland runs on June 9.

Cole will be opposed by right-hander Davis Martin. He is 9-2 with a 2.41 ERA. No one in MLB has more wins than he does.

I demand a recount!

In the wake of the Carolina Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup on Sunday, The Daily Faceoff compiled a ranking of each Stanley Cup champion of the salary cap era. So that goes back to 2005-06.

The outlet had the 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings team that knocked off the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Cup Final in first place, followed by the ‘22 Colorado Avalanche.

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The first Pens team didn’t show up until the ‘09 team, which was in a tie for fifth with two Chicago Blackhawks teams (‘10 and ‘15), and the ‘21 Tampa Bay Lightning.

First of all, that’s too many ties. Second, I’d have that ‘09 team in front of at least one of the Chicago teams and maybe that Lightning bunch too.

The ‘16 and ‘17 Pens were tied with each other in 12th place. Again, break a tie, huh? And I think the ‘16 team was clearly better than ‘17.

This year’s Hurricanes finished tied for ninth with last year’s Florida Panthers.