Adam Frazier stood in front of his locker stall in the home clubhouse at PNC Park, left fist on top of the right to mock his batting stance, while talking to Colin Moran about their collective frustrations Wednesday night.
"We’re just not getting a pitch and driving it," Frazier lamented after the lineup had only three hits in a 2-1 loss to the Braves. "That’s where we’re at right now." That's as much analysis as any of his teammates would provide — Moran included — after scoring only seven runs over a seven-game home stand, capped by a series sweep.
The same offense that propelled the team back into contention is now solely responsible for its fading playoff chances. The Pirates, now 63-65, have lost eight of their last 10 and are 7 1/2 games back for the second wild card spot with five teams to surmount, despite the starting rotation having a 2.43 ERA over their last 11 games. Clint Hurdle explored possible changes following a loss one night earlier, yet he was still searching for answers when his lineup yielded the same results and showed no signs of a possible rejuvenation.
"We’re doing some things really well," Hurdle said. "We’re not scoring runs at the end of the day, which can complicate things and put you under a magnifying glass in every other aspect of the game. I can’t look at any of the hitters in the eyes and not see fight, not see want-to, not see effort and all those other things. It’s tough sledding right now."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCOREThat they came within three feet of tying the score in the ninth inning was little consolation. Neither was the crafty pitching of Trevor Williams, though Hurdle beamed when dissecting his starter's six-inning effort. His offense has scored in only five of its last 65 innings and has only six hits in its last 66 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
They're the fourth team in the live-ball era to average one or fewer runs per game and allow two or fewer runs per game in any seven-game span, joining the 1992 Cardinals, 1968 Cubs and 1938 Phillies, according to Stats LLC.
The Pirates didn't have a baserunner against Braves starter Julio Teheran until there was one out in the fifth inning, despite Teheran's fastball hovering around 87 mph. They saw only nine and eight pitches in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. Also, Josh Bell, the possible tying run, was stranded at third base in the eighth inning, and Gregory Polanco was stranded at second in the ninth after his double off the Clemente Wall came within three feet of tying the score.
Hurdle, like his players, isn't sure where to go from here. He opted to not overhaul his lineup like he did several times this season. Corey Dickerson, Starling Marte and Polanco batted one through three again, followed by Francisco Cervelli, Frazier, Josh Bell, Moran and Adeiny Hechavarria.
Hurdle's options were limited. Josh Harrison did not start again because he's dealing with a left hamstring injury the Pirates expect to linger for the remainder of the season, and Jordy Mercer is on the disabled list with a left calf strain. Despite his struggles earlier this month, Dickerson entered Wednesday on a seven-game hitting streak with eight hits in his previous 17 at-bats and was batting .312 in 26 games as the leadoff hitter.
Marte, benched Monday for lack of effort and out of the lineup again Tuesday, has a .826 OPS in 37 games as the No. 2 hitter, but he's batted just .156 over his last 17 games. The center fielder struck out two more times Wednesday, including this whiff on Teheran's 89-mph fastball over the plate:
Polanco, meanwhile, has now gone 5 for 15 in his last four games — he homered in the ninth inning Tuesday — after encountering a 4-for-28 slump. Even Frazier, the hero Sunday with an 11th-inning walkoff homer, has zero hits in his last 10 at-bats.
"We moved some other people around tonight," Hurdle said. "You’re not even asking me about those, but it didn’t work. Our focus is on something else. I don’t have the answers; we’re looking for some, all of us."
The Pirates could opt to change personnel, and Hurdle indicated the team could shift back to a five-man bench now that the bullpen will be rested following the off-day Thursday. He even acknowledged that Kevin Kramer, Jose Osuna and Pablo Rays, three position players having strong seasons at Triple-A Indianapolis, could help contribute in some way.
"I don't see any one guy down there recreating our offense for us," he said. "Can they help and accent something? Sure they could." But Hurdle pointed out that Sean Rodriguez, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list Aug. 7, will soon be ready to return and said the Pirates plan to give the 33-year-old another opportunity, despite his .163 average and 58 strikeouts in 147 at-bats this season.
The bench isn't the problem, though. Marte's again swinging at too many pitches out of the strike zone, and tough luck is to blame for some of Bell's woes, as he owns a .227 batting average on balls in play over his past eight games. For context, the league average is .300.
Dickerson's whiff rate on breaking pitches is 38 percent since returning from the disabled list July 28, compared to only 14.6 percent before the injury. Polanco's batted only .181 this month while seeing more off-speed pitches low and away. David Freese has only one hit in his last 15 at-bats, and he struck out on this elevated fastball to strand Bell on third in the eighth inning:
Cervelli and Moran have been the only bright spots over the past week. Cervelli has nine hits in his past 28 at-bats, Moran six in his past 18, including his game-tying RBI single with two outs in the fifth to score Frazier:
"I think it’s just about getting it done," Moran said. "Obviously when you’re getting this many good pitching efforts, you’re just trying to win games because it really doesn’t take much offensively to pull through. It’s not a try-hard league. You just have to get it done. It adds frustration for sure, but you can’t be frustrated for too long because we have another game coming up."
With few options in terms of personnel changes, Hurdle and staff will likely direct their focus to lineup changes or addressing specific weaknesses with hitters. He said the Pirates "tried some different things" and "different attack methods" against Teheran, but the right-hander needed only 85 pitches for seven scoreless innings and had five strikeouts to only one walk.
Frazier and Moran were still talking about their at-bats 20 minutes after the final out, yet they departed for a nine-game road trip without a solution.
"We’ve had some tough luck," Frazier said. "At the same time, we’ve had unproductive at-bats, I guess. Tough stretch. Communication is still there between each other. We haven’t given up on that. We’re still trying to help each other out."
1. Williams elevates to fool the Braves.
Williams frustrated the Braves after one bad pitch. His hanging changeup to Ronald Acuña Jr. was hit 410 feet to left for a solo home run to lead off the game. However, Williams allowed only one more hit, a single by Ender Inciarte, to the 21 batters he faced. The right-hander had four strikeouts to two walks and was pulled at 84 pitches because Hurdle used Harrison as a pinch-hitter with one out in the sixth.
Harrison struck out in a nine-pitch inning, and Kyle Crick was charged with one earned run in the eighth after loading the bases with nobody out. Freddie Freeman's sacrifice fly off Edgar Santana was the decisive run. Williams has allowed only four runs in 42 innings, an 0.86 ERA, over his last seven starts, and he's accomplished that by throwing high in the strike zone.
Williams held the Braves' left-handed and switch-hitters to a combined 1 for 12 by throwing his fastball high and inside, while both his changeup and slider were effective. He used the latter to strike out Freeman, stranding a runner on first in the third inning:
The Pirates' rotation allowed only eight earned runs during the seven-game homestand, yet the offense won only two of those games. "We’re showing up at the yard and doing what we do best," Williams said. "We know that when you’re on a run like this, you need to give the team the best chance to win. It seems like if you allow a lot of runs, when you’re in a rut like this the game seems out of reach. We know what we have to do and limit the damage as much as we could. When Santana came in to limit the damage to one run it was huge for our offense and huge for morale."
2. Managing the bench not easy.
The personnel won't change much. Sure, more players will be added when rosters expand on Sept. 1, and Rodriguez will likely rejoin the club soon, but Hurdle's best options are currently on the roster. He just has to figure out how to best utilize each player, which isn't easy when so many hitters are struggling. Elias Diaz is batting .286 in 53 starts this season and .300 in 30 at-bats this month, but he's stuck on the bench because Cervelli's performed well as of late.
The Pirates could recall Jacob Stallings as early as Sunday to free up Diaz to be used as a pinch-hitter, but Diaz has only three hits in 14 at-bats off the bench. Freese also has just seven hits in 28 at-bats as a pinch-hitter, compared to a .294 average and .847 OPS in 52 starts. Conversely, Moran has only a .681 OPS as a starter and is the Pirates' most effective pinch-hitter with nine hits in 19 at-bats.
Although Freese is unlikely to be the everyday starter since the Pirates want to monitor workload, his .839 OPS against right-handed pitching this season could put him in line for more starts. He's even batted .306 in 23 games as the team's cleanup hitter. Harrison's health is also an issue. He's hit safely in nine of his last 11 games, but the hamstring injury has prevented him from starting the past two games.
3. Rough road ahead.
The Pirates will play on the road for 22 of their final 34 games, beginning with a nine-game road trip to Milwaukee, St. Louis and Atlanta. Seven of their final 11 series are against teams ahead of them in the playoff chase, including the next nine games.
They trail by 10 1/2 games in the Central Division, 7 1/2 behind the third-place Brewers, and have won only one series since their 11-game winning streak ended July 25. There's little room for error, plus two teams in their division got better this week. The Cubs acquired second baseman Daniel Murphy from the Nationals and the Cardinals claimed Matt Adams off waivers from Washington.
This weekend in Milwaukee could determine if Hurdle and the front office shift their focus to evaluating who can help the Pirates in 2019.