Well, at least Jose Osuna and Jacob Stallings provided a diversion in their first-ever pitching appearances in the major leagues.
Osuna worked the seventh and eighth innings and allowed just one run. Stallings finished with a 1-2-3 ninth.
It made everyone in the Pirates’ dugout smile and forget their second-half woes for a moment. However, in the end, it did not mask the fact that the season is beginning to spin out of control.
The ugly truth Wednesday night at PNC Park was that the two position players allowed one run in three innings to help the bullpen from being overworked. Conversely, the guys who get paid to pitch were tagged for 13 runs in six innings.
It all added up to a 14-8 loss to the Cardinals, the fourth straight defeat for the Pirates.
They are now 46-55 overall, 2-10 since the All-Star break. Just two weeks ago, they entered the second half with high hopes of winning their first division title since 1992. They were just 2 1/2 games off the first-place Cubs’ pace in the National League Central. Now, they are 8 1/2 games behind Chicago and eight games out of the second wild card.
“These last two weeks have been hard, there’s no other way around it,” Clint Hurdle said. “Leading into the All-Star break, everything was trending up, there was a lot of positive carry, a lot of good things going on. A lot of things have shifted in two weeks.”
They certainly have, and it appears you can sense it in the clubhouse.
Just a handful of players remained in the dressing area by the time Hurdle’s postgame press conference ended and the media was allowed into the clubhouse. Part of it had to do with the short turnaround before the Pirates and Cardinals close out their four-game series at 12:35 p.m. Thursday. I suspect part of it also had to do with the players having no more answers.
Jordan Lyles (5-7) was certainly looking for answers after being tagged for eight runs – five earned – in 1 2/3 innings as the Cardinals built a 9-2 lead by the middle of the second inning.
Lyles pitched a perfect first inning but the second inning became eerily reminiscent of his start July 13 against the Cubs in Chicago, when he retired just two batters and was tagged for seven runs.
The Cardinals hit three home runs in the inning, Paul DeJong hit a two-run shot for his first of three on the night, Matt Knizner’s three-run blast was the first of his career, and Paul Goldschmidt’s two-run drive finished Lyles. The Cardinals wound up with eight extra-base hits in the inning off Lyles and Luis Escobar, tying the major-league record.
Here was Goldschmidt's homer:
Lyles talked about the three home runs and the nightmare inning:
The July 31 trade deadline is a little less than a week away and the Pirates have made Lyles available. When asked if it was a distraction, Lyles said he wasn’t thinking about it. Players say that every year at this time, but he meant it.
“I’ve got way too many other things on my shoulders,” Lyles said. “If that day is here and (a trade) comes, then it happens. But until then, I have more things to worry about, like getting major-league hitters out again.”
Like the Pirates, Lyles is clearly in salvage mode now when it comes to 2019. He had a 1.97 ERA through his first eight starts, but that number has soared to 9.57 over his last nine outings.
Perhaps the Pirates should have started Osuna. He was an amateur pitcher of note as a teenager in Venezuela before the Pirates gave him a $250,000 bonus to sign as a hitter when he was 16.
Osuna’s fastball was clocked as high as 93 mph and he also mixed some curveballs and a changeup in his 24-pitch outing. His only mistake came in the eighth when he gave up a leadoff home run to DeJong.
It was the first three-homer game for DeJong and the 22nd in Cardinals’ history. Adding injury to insult, the Pirates selected DeJong in the 38th round of the 2014 amateur draft from Illinois State. He went back to school, the Cardinals took him in the fourth round the following year, and he was in the major leagues by 2017.
Of course, that’s the way it’s been going for the Pirates the last two weeks.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE INJURIES
• Steven Brault (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Gregory Polanco (10-day IL, shoulder)
• Francisco Cervelli (60-day IL, concussion)
• Rookie Davis (10-day IL, forearm)
• Jameson Taillon (60-day IL, elbow)
• Erik Gonzalez (60-day IL, hamstring)
• Lonnie Chisenhall (60-day IL, calf)
Here's the most recent full report.
THE SCHEDULE
The finale of the four-game series is set for 12:35 p.m. Thursday, with Joe Musgrove (7-8, 4.08) facing Miles Mikolas (6-10, 4.17). Musgrove is 3-1 with a 2.20 ERA in his last six starts. Mikolas is 1-3 with a 3.30 ERA in his last five starts.
I will be covering the game.
THE COVERAGE
All our expanded baseball coverage, including Indy Watch by Matt Welch, Altoona Watch by Jarrod Prugar, and Mound Visit by Jason Rollison, can be found on our team page.
