Pittsburgh – Gene Lamont hadn’t been in uniform since 2017, his last year as the Detroit Tigers’ bench coach. And it had been 25 years since he managed the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Now 78, Lamont wasn’t necessarily looking to return to a big league dugout. But he couldn’t resist when Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly called last week and asked him to join the Pirates’ coaching staff.

Lamont’s first game back was Monday night when the Pirates hosted the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a three-game series.

Lamont returns to the Pirates for the first time since they fired him as manager at the end of the 2000 season following a four-year stint. He also managed the Chicago White Sox from 1992-95.

Kelly was a utility player for the Tigers when Lamont was on their coaching staff.

Lamont’s title with the Pirates is special consultant. However, he will primarily serve as the de facto bench coach.

When Derek Shelton was fired May 8, Kelly was promoted from bench coach to manager. Kelly had never managed at any level.

“It’s more just being with Donnie,” Lamont said of his role. “Maybe there are some decisions during the game that he’ll wonder about. Do I have all the answers? I have the answers, but they’re not always right. I’ll give Donnie my opinion and hopefully it’ll help.”

The Pirates entered Monday with a 15-32 record and in last place in the NL Central. They trailed the division-leading Chicago Cubs by 13 games.

“I think we’re a much better team than we’ve played,” Lamont said. “I think the players know that. But you have to do it on the field. You’ve got to make pitches, and everybody knows we’ve got to hit a little better. I think that we will. Sometimes it takes time.”

Kelly is happy to have Lamont as a resource. The Pirates are 3-6 since switching managers.

“Just a phenomenal baseball guy,” Kelly said. “Taught me a lot as a player and looking forward to having him around, teaching the staff and the players what he knows.”

Orioles manager remembers his dad getting in a brawl

Tony Mansolino’s first road game as the Baltimore Orioles’ interim manager came in the city where his dad worked as a Milwaukee Brewers coach for a couple of seasons in the late 1990s.

But the new skipper’s most vivid Milwaukee memory – even though it wasn’t particularly pleasant – goes back about five years before that.

Mansolino’s dad was coaching against the Brewers as a Chicago White Sox assistant in the summer of 1993. Mansolino was in the Milwaukee County Stadium stands watching the game with Casey Harrelson, the son of former White Sox broadcaster Ken “Hawk” Harrelson.

“I remember sitting behind home plate, and the next thing you know there was a lot of ruckus going on over by the first base dugout,” Mansolino recalled Monday during his pregame media availability. “It turned out it was my dad and Phil Garner getting in a fight on the field.”

Mansolino was working as the White Sox first base coach and Garner was managing the Brewers at the time. According to The Associated Press account of the game, an angry Mansolino headed toward the Milwaukee dugout in the eighth inning and Garner came out to approach him, sparking a bench-clearing scuffle.

Video footage of the skirmish shows White Sox players Bo Jackson and Tim Raines restraining Mansolino, who was ejected from the game. The incident occurred after a pitcher for each team hit a batter earlier in the game, with Milwaukee’s Cal Eldred hitting Robin Ventura in the sixth and Chicago’s Jeff Schwarz plunking John Jaha in the seventh.

“I don’t know the whole story,” Tony Mansolino said. “I just remember watching it and being pretty terrified as a kid.”

Tony Mansolino, now 42, noted the story doesn’t end there. Garner ended up getting Doug Mansolino to join his Brewers coaching staff in 1998. Doug Mansolino went on to be part of Garner’s coaching staffs with the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros as well.

“That was the start of the relationship,” Tony Mansolino said.

Tony Mansolino arrived in Milwaukee this time trying to snap the Orioles’ six-game skid after Baltimore lost its first two games since he took over for Brandon Hyde, who was fired Saturday.

Mansolino, a former minor league manager who had been working as Baltimore’s third base coach, said he should benefit from having a couple of days to adjust to his new assignment. The flight to Milwaukee gave him an opportunity to prepare for this series and just let everything sink in.

“Being fully honest, absolutely a ton of anxiety Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t sleep a whole lot,” Mansolino said. “Just going through the information and just getting my mind prepared for what the job is, I slept last night, which was a really nice feeling waking up today.”

He isn’t back at Milwaukee County Stadium, which was torn down in 2001. The Brewers now play at American Family Field, a stadium formerly known as Miller Park.

But the demolition of the old stadium couldn’t erase Mansolino’s memories of watching his dad get in a brawl here about three decades ago.

“When I think about being in Milwaukee,” he said, “that’s definitely what I think about.”

Jones, Grissom to manage in All-Star Futures Game

Braves Hall of Famer Chipper Jones and Marquis Grissom will be managers for the All-Star Futures Game on July 12 at Truist Park in Atlanta.

Jones will head the NL team and Grissom the AL team, Major League Baseball said Monday. Players for the game are drawn from affiliates of the 30 MLB clubs.

Jones was an eight-time All-Star third baseman who spent his entire career with Atlanta, hitting .303 with 468 homers and 1,623 RBIs from 1993-2012. He won a World Series title in 1995 and earned election to the Hall of Fame on his first ballot appearance in 2018.

Grissom spent the 1995 and 1996 seasons with the Braves, also earning a World Series ring. He was a two-time All-Star outfielder, hitting .272 with 227 homers and 967 RBIs for Montreal (1989-94), Atlanta (1995-96), Cleveland (1997), Milwaukee (1998-2000), the Los Angeles Dodgers (2001-02) and San Francisco (2003-05).

Jones’ coaches include Mark DeRosa (bench), Andruw Jones (hitting), Tim Hudson (pitching), Tyler Flowers (first base), Kanekoa Texeira (third base), Mick Markakis (general coach) and Peter Moylan (bullpen).

Grissom’s coaches include Jerry Manuel (bench), Fred McGriff (hitting), Marvin Freeman (pitching), Dale Murphy (first base), Brian Hunter (third base), Ryan Klesko (general) and Johnny Estrada (bullpen).

White Sox activate OF Slater

The Chicago White Sox activated Austin Slater from the 10-day injured list on Monday after the outfielder made a speedy recovery from a knee injury.

Slater, 32, got the start in left field for Chicago’s series opener against the Seattle Mariners. To make room for Slater on the 26-man roster, infielder/outfielder Brooks Baldwin was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

Slater had surgery on April 15 to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee. He batted .385 (5 for 13) over four games in a rehab assignment with Charlotte.

“So imaging showed I had a slight tear,” Slater said. “So I went under and had surgery and that was almost five weeks ago. So way faster than I thought. I think when I initially hurt it, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my season.’ That was my initial reaction, so pleasantly surprised by the recovery time I would say.”

Slater hit .250 (5 for 20) with a homer in his first eight games with Chicago. He agreed to a $1.75 million, one-year contract with the White Sox in November.

“Anytime you miss an extended period, you know, and watching the guys, you just want to get back out there to help any way you can,” Slater said. “So that’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. Hopefully I can go do that.”

Baldwin, a 12th-round pick in the 2022 amateur draft, made his big league debut last year. He is batting .215 with three homers and 16 RBIs in 44 games with the White Sox this season.

“With some of these guys coming back and getting healthy, it’s going to be a little less playing time,” manager Will Venable said. “And he’s at a point in his career where he really needs to play. And we want to expose him to center field a little bit more, some more opportunity on the dirt. We just think really highly of him and want to give him a chance to have everyday at-bats.”

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