About Matt Gajtka

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Matt Gajtka, born in Pittsburgh and raised in Weirton, W.Va., broke into media with hometown radio station WEIR-AM, then played a role in award-winning sports coverage at WMUL-FM and The Parthenon while attending Marshall University. Upon graduation, he interned for the West Virginia Power minor-league baseball team and later held broadcasting/media positions for junior hockey teams in Youngstown, Ohio, and Muskegon, Mich. For two years, he worked as a sports reporter/copy editor for the MLive Media Group. Desiring to return to Pittsburgh, he joined the Robert Morris University sports information department in 2014, with a focus on men's hockey. In addition to his role at DKonPittsburghSports.com, Matt is a freelance broadcaster, recently calling games for the Riverhounds and various RMU varsity sports.

Posts by Matt Gajtka:

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Le'Veon Bell powered the Steelers with a truly rare performance in his second season. -- GETTY

Matt’s Stats: Le’Veon Bell, perfect modern back

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by • Columns • ,

BylinesMATT
With our Steelers beat reporter Neal Coolong off and running this week in preparation for training camp, it’s an opportune time to talk some football in this space.

Matts Stats

On Tuesday, Neal detailed what the Steelers must do to make up for Le’Veon Bell‘s absence at the beginning of the season. No matter how Mike Tomlin, Todd Haley and company go about it, it’s going to be a monumental task, even if Bell has his pending suspension reduced.

Neal was right on when he dubbed Bell “the best all-around running back in the NFL.” The Steelers have had more than their share of outstanding talent at that particular position, but Bell is a fresh permutation: an ideal modern back just as comfortable catching a pass over the middle as he is taking a handoff.

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Pedro Alvarez is batting .236 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs at the break. -- JARED WICKERHAM / GETTY

Matt’s Stats: Pedro changed, but for the better?

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by • Columns • ,

BylinesMATT
Evolving doesn’t necessarily mean improving. For evidence of that, one only needs to look at the career of Pedro Alvarez.

Matts Stats

From the moment the Pirates drafted him No. 2 overall in 2008, the first pick of the Neal Huntington era, Alvarez has carried the psychic weight of expectation. Some of that is symbolic, as after years of making the safe or cheap pick more often than not in the first round, the Pirates chose a true top prospect, represented by shark-like Scott Boras to boot.

On top of that, it would be difficult to blame Pirates fans for salivating about Alvarez’s potential when he did things like this in college:

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Jung Ho Kang covers the final 90 feet of the Pirates' 10-inning victory Sunday night. -- GETTY

(Yet another) Pittsburgh baseball classic

by • Coverage •

BylinesMATT
It looked so familiar for these Pirates, but they saw it with fresh eyes.

Almost exactly 24 hours after this scene, capping one of the most extraordinary regular-season baseball games ever played in Pittsburgh, there was an inconceivable sequel before a raucous PNC Park, not to mention another national TV audience.

“Last night was a classic game,” Clint Hurdle said. “And you back it up with another one.”

Like Saturday night, the Pirates pushed back from a multi-run deficit late, but the details were different enough to make Sunday’s stunner easily stand alone. Most notably, instead of former MVP Andrew McCutchen putting a flourish on an extra-inning rally with a walkoff home run, it was yearling Gregory Polanco saddening St. Louis with a bases-loaded two-out liner to right field that completed a three-run 10th inning and a 6-5 victory.

“I got it,” Polanco said, recalling his immediate thoughts after the most critical hit of his 173-game career. “I was so excited.”

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Andrew McCutchen jokes with teammates in the Pirates dugout prior to the game. -- GETTY

Final: Pirates 6, Cardinals 5, 10 innings

by • Game previews

BylinesMATT
Looking ahead to first pitch…

Game: Pirates (52-35) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (56-32), 8:05 p.m., PNC Park

Pitchers: LHP Francisco Liriano (5-6, 2.99) vs. LHP Tim Cooney (0-0, 3.95)

TV, radio: ESPN, 93.7 The Fan

Online: Gameday / Multimedia / Media notes

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Final: FC Montreal 4, Riverhounds 2

by • Game previews

BylinesMATT
Looking ahead to kickoff …

Match: Riverhounds (7-5-4) vs. FC Montreal (1-11-2), 4 p.m., Stade Saputo, Montreal

Video: USL YouTube

Online: Live stats / Multimedia / Media notes

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Intrepid reporter Matt Gajtka travels to Toronto to talk to a hot dog vendor. For big news. -- MATT GAJTKA

Friday Insider: Hot dog vendor tale chewed up

by • Friday Insider • , , ,

BylinesMATT
TORONTO — When visiting a vibrant, diverse metropolis, there’s much to see. That means plenty of walking, which can work up a hearty appetite.

Luckily, on Thursday afternoon, I happened upon a food vendor at the corner of Front and John streets, near the CN Tower and Rogers Centre, and wait … isn’t this …?

Turner's

Yes, it is! It’s the hot dog stand Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons infamously identified last week as Phil Kessel’s favorite spot for a midday snack during his time with the Maple Leafs!

All right, time for full disclosure: I didn’t haphazardly come upon the stand, unironically named Ted’s Gourmet. In fact, I planned my sightseeing day around it, even though the Leafs blog Pension Plan Puppets essentially debunked Simmons’ claim with a little bit of research. (It helped that my wife was curious, too.)

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Matt’s Stats: What pulled the Pirates’ plug?

by • Columns • ,

BylinesMATT
With the exception of last week’s offensive bonanza in Detroit, the Pirates have not often resembled the balanced team they were anticipated to be this season.

Matts Stats

In 2013, elite run prevention boosted the franchise to 94 regular-season wins and a long-awaited postseason trip, and this year’s Pirates are on a similar track. They rank 17th in Major League Baseball in runs scored per game at 4.01 while permitting an average of 3.32 runs against, second-best in the majors.

Record-wise, there’s not much for the Pirates to complain about. They own one of MLB’s top three winning percentages with the All-Star break less than a week away. Of course, the one team they trail in the National League also happens to be in their division, so the offensive dropoff from a promising 2014 is rendered in sharp relief.

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The Riverhounds helped christen Toronto FC II's new Ontario Soccer Center facility. -- TORONTO FC II

Suddenly stingy Riverhounds stifle in Toronto

by • Coverage •

BylinesMATT
VAUGHAN, Ontario — Have these Riverhounds gone defensive?

That’s a legitimate question after their second consecutive shutout win, this by a 2-0 count over Toronto FC II Wednesday night at the new Ontario Soccer Centre.

After bleeding 20 goals in their first 10 USL matches, the Riverhounds have applied a tourniquet by limiting opponents to four goals in six matches, including shutouts in three of the past four.

“You have to defend for 90 minutes,” coach Mark Steffens said. “We didn’t do that early in the season and we gave up some late goals. We learned from that. Defense is becoming part of our M.O. now, not just scoring. That’s good because that’s what championship teams do.”

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Final: Riverhounds 2, Toronto FC II 0

by • Game previews

BylinesMATT
VAUGHAN, Ontario — Four hours to kickoff …

Match: Riverhounds (6-5-4) vs. Toronto FC II (3-5-3), 8 p.m., Ontario Soccer Centre

Video: USL YouTube

Online: Live stats / Multimedia / Media notes

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Josh Harrison crashes into second base while stealing ahead of Jason Kipnis' tag. -- JARED WICKERHAM / GETTY

Pirates push through Cleveland K-machine

by • Coverage •

BylinesMATT
By recent Cleveland standards, the first four innings Danny Salazar pitched Sunday afternoon at PNC Park were nothing special.

Not that the 25-year-old right-hander wasn’t dominant in retiring 12 of the Pirates’ first 14 batters, seven by swinging strikeout. It’s just that when a starting rotation has had three legitimate perfect-game bids in the past week – plus a complete-game loss Saturday – the excellent can appear routine.

However, elevated bar or not, Salazar came crashing down from those heights during a five-run fifth inning that pushed the Pirates to a 5-3 come-from-behind victory.

“We finally got some guys on base and got him into trouble,” Neil Walker said of Salazar. “We knew we had to stay aggressive because he was coming right at us.”

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