Kingham's outing almost as awful as his accountability taken in Phoenix (Courtesy of StepOutside.org)

Nick Kingham gets a visit from Francisco Cervelli in the first inning Monday in Phoenix. - AP

PHOENIX – Terse would be the word to describe the mood in the Pirates’ clubhouse.

Clint Hurdle twice gritted his teeth and gave one-word answers when asked about his pitching staff, particularly Nick Kingham.

Not surprisingly, Kingham also was unhappy, as evidenced the answer to this question I asked after a 9-3 loss to the Diamondbacks on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Chase Field:

A few moments earlier, Kingham had said he was “making pitches” but they got hit because “those guys were doing their jobs, too.” However, it was hard to buy that explanation after Kingham was tagged for seven runs and 10 hits in four innings. He had two strikeouts and one walk.

Arizona's Eduardo Escobar certainly provided proof that Kingham wasn’t particularly effective.

First, there was this two-run triple in the second inning that broke a 2-2 tie and put the Diamondbacks ahead for good, this off a hanger left right in the lefty's wheelhouse:

Then there was leadoff home run by Escobar in the fourth that pushed the Diamondbacks’ lead to 7-2, this off an elevated fastball -- watch Francisco Cervelli's mitt -- that went right to the barrel:

Hurdle certainly didn't sound pleased with Kingham’s outing.

“He never really established any one pitch,” Hurdle said. “The overall execution wasn’t there. He made mistakes up and over the middle of the plate. Ten hits in four innings. Plenty of baserunners. Only walked one, but it didn’t seem like there were many foul balls, not many swings and misses. It was a short outing.”

Kingham threw 92 pitches – 36 in the first inning – and the Diamondbacks swung and missed at four. They fouled off 22.

"They put some good bat on the ball, laid off some really tough pitches, made me work," Kingham said. "It's a tough lineup to face. I feel that everything they were swinging at they were touching pretty good. One of those nights where it doesn't go my way."

The Pirates scored twice in the first, but Kingham gave the lead right back as the Diamondbacks scored two in the bottom half, then three more in the second, then a run each in the third and fourth. Down 7-2, the Pirates’ three-game winning streak was effectively over as they fell to 20-18.

Kingham struggled from the start and drew the visible ire of Francisco Cervelli during a first-inning mound visit captured above by the Associated Press photographer. He also got a visit from Ray Searage in the same inning, as well as a lengthy, spirited dialogue later in the dugout.

It was the continuation of what has been a bad season. He has a 7.84 ERA in 10 games, including two starts, allowing 18 runs and 26 hits in 20 2/3 innings.

The Pirates were forced to move Kingham and Steven Brault from their long relief roles into the rotation last week because of injuries to Chris Archer and Jameson Taillon. While Archer is scheduled to be activated from the injured list and pitch the series finale Wednesday afternoon, Taillon was transferred to the 60-day IL prior to the game and won’t be eligible to be activated until July 1.

Brault was tagged for six runs in 3 2/3 innings Sunday in St. Louis, though the Pirates rallied for a 10-6 victory. However, the bullpen and offense couldn’t overcome Kingham’s short outing. Kingham has allowed nine runs and 13 hits in eight innings in his two starts while Brault has given up eight runs and 11 hits in 7 2/3 innings.

Either Brault or Kingham will move back to the bullpen when Archer returns, though Hurdle wasn’t ready to say who it would be. In fact, Hurdle sounded like a man who knows he has no good options.

“You look to move some things around,” Hurdle said. “There’s a day off (next Monday). So, you know, we’ll take it one day at a time. We don’t need to get in front of that right now. We’ve already started the conversations. We’re just looking for Joe Musgrove to have a good outing tomorrow night. We didn’t get the distance from either (Brault or Kingham) that we wanted, but we won one of the games. Tonight, we just got beat. We got barreled up and we got beat.”

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore

• Video highlights

Scoreboard

• Standings

THE GOOD

Starling Marte went 3 for 5 with a triple, extending his hitting streak to eight games. He is 14-for-37 (.378) in that span with a triple, a home run, seven runs scored and five RBIs.

The hot streak has lifted Marte’s batting line to .252/.286/.417 through 29 games. Those aren’t All-Star caliber numbers, but they are getting a little closer to what is expected of the team’s most-talented player.

However, Marte’s night wasn’t without frustration. After tripling with one out in the fifth inning, he was thrown out at home while trying to advance on Melky Cabrera’s comebacker to the mound.

THE BAD

The Pirates had a chance to get back into the game in the seventh inning despite trailing 8-2 but their struggles to hit in the clutch hurt them again.

They loaded the bases with no outs on three consecutive singles off Jimmy Sherfy with the heart of the order coming up. However, Sherfy, a reliever recalled from Class AAA Reno earlier in the day, struck out Cabrera, Josh Bell and Bryan Reynolds in succession to escape the jam:

The Pirates are 3 for 26 (.115) with the bases full this season.

“Overall, I still liked the fight at the end but there wasn’t enough offense. And they scored nine runs,” Hurdle said. “Sometimes you just scratch your head, especially in the seventh inning when we had the guys you’d want up. They’ve all been coming through for us consistently, but it didn’t happen this time.”

The Pirates had 13 hits but went 4 for 17 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 total.

THE OTHER SIDE

The Diamondbacks (23-19) appeared to be taking batting practice much of the night as seven of their 13 hits were for extra bases, including home runs by Escobar and Christian Walker, while snapping a three-game losing streak.

Perhaps the outburst was in part to hitting coach Darnell Coles changing things up during batting practice. The former Pirates third baseman/outfielder had his players work on situation hitting instead of the traditional grip-it-and-rip-it approach to BP.

“It was more the things we worked on in spring training, kind of getting back to the basics of just getting a good pitch to hit, understanding what to do when you get a guy on second (base) with less than two outs,” Coles told reporters. “Trying to get something, or at least staying disciplined enough to get a pitch that you can do whatever job needs to be done.”

It is a little surprising to see Coles enjoying a long career as a major-league hitting coach. Coles' inability to make adjustments continually frustrated hitting coach Milt May during his two seasons with the Pirates in 1987 and 1988.

THE DATA

• The Pirates have lost nine straight to the Diamondbacks, dating to last season, and are 0-5 this year while being outscored, 39-10.

• The 10 hits allowed by Kingham were the most by a Pirates pitcher since Ivan Nova's 11 in 4 2/3 innings at Washington on May 2, 2018.

• Bell extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games by going 2-for-4 with a walk. Bell is 22 for 53 (.415) with 17 RBIs during the streak, the longest active one in the National League.

• Jake Elmore singled in the seventh in his first plate appearance with the Pirates. Called up earlier in the day from Class AAA Indianapolis, the veteran utility player entered the game in the sixth as part of a double switch. It was Elmore’s first major-league hit since Oct. 2, 2016, while playing for the Brewers.

• Robbie Ray (3-1) allowed two runs in five innings while getting the win. He struck out six to raise his career total to 800, reaching the milestone in his 125th game. Ray became the second-fasted left-hander in major-league history to get to 800 after only Frank Tanana (120).

THE INJURIES

• Jung Ho Kang, third baseman, was placed on the 10-day IL with a strained left side Tuesday.

• Chris Archer, right-hander, is on the 10-day IL with right thumb inflammation, will rejoin the rotation and start Wednesday in the series finale.

Corey Dickersonoutfielder, is on the 10-day IL with a strained right shoulder. He's hitting and throwing.

• Lonnie Chisenhalloutfielder, is on the 10-day IL with a broken right hand. He will begin a rehab assignment Tuesday night with Indianapolis.

• Keone Kela, right-hander, is on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. He is hopeful of returning within a week.

• Jameson Taillon, right-hander, is on the 60-day IL with a strained right forearm flexor tendon. He will not throw until early June and cannot be activated until at least July 1.

• Jacob Stallings, catcher, is on the 10-day IL with a cervical neck strain. He's on a rehab assignment with Indianapolis.

Nick Burdi, relief pitcher, out with right elbow/biceps pain caused by a nerve problem, is on the 60-day IL. He will not throw again until at least late June.

• Erik Gonzalezshortstop, is on the 60-day IL with a fractured right clavicle. He won't return until at least mid-July.

THE SCHEDULE

The middle game of the three-game series is set for 9:40 p.m. Eastern time, with Musgrove (1-4, 4.20) pitching against Luke Weaver (3-1, 2.98). I will have the coverage. The clubhouse opens to the media at 6 p.m., and Hurdle will have his daily powwow with reporters at 6:30.

THE COVERAGE

All of our expanded baseball coverage, including Mound Visit by Jason Rollison, Indy Watch by Matt Welch and Altoona Watch by Jarrod Prugar, can be found on our team page.

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