The Pirates continued to limp towards the regular season’s finish line Monday, mustering just four singles in a 5-0 loss to the Cubs at PNC Park, marking their 13th loss in 14 games.
One of those hits came off the bat of Bryan Reynolds: A roller to first base that Anthony Rizzo couldn’t take himself, and he beat pitcher Jon Lester to the bag.
That was it for him. A far cry from the line drives he lacing all over the field last summer. He was one of the best in a loaded rookie class, and his manager thought he was ready to take that next step.
“He’s going to be one of those guys that I think people outside of Pittsburgh are going to realize how good of a player he is,” Derek Shelton said during summer camp. “I don’t think people in the game realize how good this guy is going to be and how much he’s going to hit.”
That hasn’t happened. Reynolds has gone from competing for a batting title to trying to avoid having the lowest average in the National League. A 1-for-4 performance Monday night elevated it to .182.
That’s just one way to sum up this season. He’s been limited to five home runs and 13 extra-base hits. His OPS is .611. He’s had a noticeable drop in exit velocity and hard hit rate, and an increase how often he strikes out.
“It’s just a slump,” he insisted before Monday’s game.
A season-long slump. One that is partly due to the layoff, partly due to the 60-game schedule -- “I guess technically it counts as a full season, but 60 games isn't a full snapchat of what type of player, what type of team you've got” -- partly due to not being able to watch in-game video and a large part due to the unknown. He doesn’t think pitchers have found a hole in his game or is being attacked differently. Like he said, it’s a slump.
This is not how anyone envisioned his season would go, most of all Reynolds.
"I mean, I wanted to have a good season,” Reynolds said. “Play well on both sides of the ball and help us win. And I think I played decent defense and my offense was terrible."
Reynolds is as even keel as they come. Shelton has joked that it’s a good day if they could get the deadpan outfielder to crack a smile. Walking into the clubhouse pregame in 2019, you wouldn’t know by his body language if he had three hits or three strikeouts the night before.
The body language is still the same from last year. But on the inside...
"No, I don't feel the same,” Reynolds said. “I'm not in the same boat [as] last September, but I don't think that's a clear representation of how I am as a player. It's a short season. I'm not harping on it overly too much. But I'm definitely not pleased with it."
And his ailment at the plate has been a common problem for this team.
"My timing hasn't been there for most of the season, I feel like,” Reynolds said. “I'm trying something right now to try to help with that. We'll just keep pushing on it and see what we've got."
Reynolds wouldn’t offer any specifics on what he’s trying now, but he’s not the only Pirate to have pretty significant timing problems this year. Josh Bell, Kevin Newman, Adam Frazier, Gregory Polanco, basically everyone who has been around all season has had it for most, if not all, of 2020.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to that. If there were, Shelton and the coaching staff would have loved to find that six or seven weeks ago.
“We’ve seen guys go through stretches where they haven't don't have it for some reason, and not only in Pittsburgh,” Shelton said. “It’s a weird year throughout the [league]. You look at a lot of good hitters and their timing is extremely inconsistent. I wish I had an explanation for it, but I don't. It's something that we have to continue to work on moving forward.”
At this point, it’s almost more of a 2021 problem, and nobody knows exactly how Reynolds is going to fit in next year. Lately he’s been batting leadoff and playing center field fairly regularly. He’s ok with batting wherever, and he has, He likes the reads he gets defensively in center, so he wants to play that position. Shelton said it was a “possibility” he could be out there in 2021.
Reynolds will be back next year. The Pirates will need him to play like he did in 2019 again. He believes that to that, it starts before this season lets out.
“I'm going to try to take something from this last week,” Reynolds said. “Find something I can build on in the offseason. Come ready for spring."
• Sticking with the trend we have seen recently, the Pirates got a great outing from their starter, but did not give him any support on offense or with the bullpen.
This time, it was JT Brubaker, who went 6 2/3 innings of two run ball. He allowed four hits, walked and hit a batter and struck out nine.
Unlike his previous outings and most of his career in the minors, Brubaker's breaking pitches actually set up his fastball, instead of the other way around. He got 13 whiffs on 20 swings with his slider and curveball, and the Cubs went 2-for-15 against his sinker.
"Early in the counts, and then late in the ABs, I was getting looks on my fastball, so pitching backwards seemed to be working pretty well for most of these guys," Brubaker said. "Last time I faced them it was a lot of heavy spin. I didn’t really process that 'til I was out of the game, but after kind of looking back at my start I realized I did a lot of backwards pitching."
The Cubs got their two runs against him on a two-out bunt hit by Javier Baez and a high fastball that cut a bit and was hit into the gap for a double by Victor Carantini. Brubaker allowed hard contact just three times on the night.
He has enjoyed a nice campaign, mostly as a starter. Right now, the plan is for him to pitch the finale Sunday. With the impression he's made, there's a very good chance he'll be in the rotation in 2021, though he's not thinking that far ahead.
"I’m just out there day by day just trying to pitch my game," Brubaker said. "That’s a decision for guys in the front office – Ben [Cherington] and Shelty, Oscar [Marin] to talk about. I am just out there trying to have success and pitch my game the way I know how to pitch, that’s really all that’s going through my mind right now.
• The rest of the runs came while Blake Cederlind was pitching, inherting a runner on first with two outs in the eighth. He flirted with triple-digits with his heat, but showed why he is still raw as a pitcher, allowing three hits and a walk before being pulled. He did not record an out.
Cederlind's first slider of the night hit the backstop, and he barely used the pitch from there, relying almost exclusively on the fastball. That didn't fool the Cubs' hitters.
"We needed him to be there with runners on base, and now we have the ability to talk to him about the execution of the slider," Shelton said.
• Ke'Bryan Hayes went 2-for-4 on the night. The rest of the Pirates' offense went 2-for-25.
Colin Moran came close, but even he wasn't able to escape the pull of a 2020 slump, going 2-for-23 over his last seven games played. He went hitless in his three trips to the plate Monday.
• Jared Oliva, one of the club's 10 best prospects, made his major-league debut, pinch-hitting for Moran in the ninth. He struck out looking.
Oliva is taking Jason Martin's roster spot after he was placed on the injured list before Monday's game. Oliva will start Tuesday, Shelton said.
Noah Hiles has more on Oliva here.
• Oliva wasn't the only player the Pirates added to the 40-man roster Monday. They also claimed right-hander Carson Fulmer off waivers...
...again.
The Pirates claimed Fulmer off waivers in August but designated him for assignment in early September due to a roster crunch. It's pretty clear the Pirates acquired him the first time as pitching depth in case they made a deal before the August trade deadline, and let him go once the date passed and they didn't make a trade.
Well, Baltimore decided to DFA him too, so the Pirates get another chance with the former No. 8 overall draft pick.
"I think there are a lot of positives we see in Carson Fulmer," Shelton said. "I think the last time when we designated him, we talked about it, we just kind of ran out of roster space. We’re happy to have this guy back. We’re happy he’s a Pirate. We have identified some things we think are going to make him better. We can continue to work on that. Now that we’re closer to the end of the season and we have an opportunity to get him back, it’s going to be a great conversation because he’s an easy kid to root for. I’m excited to have him back in the Pirates organization."
Fulmer will not be joining the team before the end of the regular season.
• Tragic number update: With the Pirates' loss, their "tragic number" to the worst record in baseball is down to three games. So any combination of three losses or Rangers wins will clinch it.
Normally, that would clinch the first overall pick in the draft, and top draft prospect Vanderbilt righty Kumar Rocker, but commissioner Rob Manfred has the power to change how the draft is ordered this year. So don't order a Rocker jersey yet.
• Factoid of the night: Pirates starters have combined for four quality starts over their last six games played. They had just two all season before then.