SAN DIEGO -- Tyler Anderson was awesome.
By all rights, if the Pirates' bats hadn't been blanked for a second consecutive day, if the Pirates as a whole hadn't been beaten for a fifth consecutive game, if the Pirates hadn't been busy further burying any warmth and fuzziness that anyone might've dared to feel, oh, a week ago ... sure, Anderson's awesomeness would've been both welcome and wonderful.
As it was ...
... it wound up little more than a fun footnote that the man for-real flirted with a no-hitter -- 6 1/3 innings, 91 pitches by the time Wil Myers' nine-hopper found a hole in the shift, then the right field grass -- amid a 2-0 loss to the mighty Padres on this Monday night at Petco Park.
Any satisfaction in any of that?
“Uh, I feel like wins and losses are the most satisfying parts," Anderson replied flatly to my question. "So it's not as satisfying as you'd think, or as you'd hope. But it was all right.”
Yeah. All right.
You know, beginning with my late-February visit to Bradenton and carrying through that above-.500 blip last Tuesday, my stance on this team's 2021 outlook hasn't changed much at all: I loved the bullpen, saw modest potential in the rotation, and was as skeptical as possible of the offense. Even when that offense occasionally came through with some clutch, chiefly from Colin Moran, I kept sounding the same note. For the simple reason that clutch is far less relevant to scoring runs than having people on base in the first place.
Now, here we are: The Pirates haven't touched home in 20 consecutive innings, they haven't touched 'em all in 41 consecutive innings -- no home runs since the back-to-backers by Erik Gonzalez and Jacob Stallings against the Royals -- and they're pretty much taking up residence near the bottom of Major League Baseball's offensive rankings: Their .652 team OPS and their 20 home runs both are second-lowest in the game.
Plainly put, they aren't getting enough guys aboard, and they don't have a Plan B via the one-man RBI.
I broached this with Derek Shelton after this game, and he came back with candor.
"I think the concern is that we need to create more baserunners," he began, "because, as I think you've seen, when we win games, we have the ability to move and hit-and-run and do things. When you don’t have a lot of baserunners, it’s harder to do that, because we’re not going to sit and bang with anybody. We have to make sure that we’re trying to create more run-scoring opportunities and, tonight, we just didn’t."
Not at all. Their four hits included one by Anderson, for crying out loud.
So, even though Shelton might be right that "the game changes" if not for this run-stealing stab by San Diego's Ha-Seong Kim in the second inning ...
... that's again looking more toward situational hitting rather than steady hitting.
And sorry, I don't know how or where that'll improve this summer. I just don't.
The return of Ke'Bryan Hayes from the wrist injury obviously would stand out. He's on this trip, he's hitting off soft tosses both in the cage and on the field, and I watched him field cleanly during infield work. That's encouraging, but it seemed encouraging the first time, too.
How much has he been missed?
I put that to Shelton, too, and he answered without hesitation or apology, "Every day you see him around, it's a reminder of how special of a kid he is and that we just have to make sure that we work to get him back. Anytime you lose guys that are important to you, it's challenging."
Hayes is special. He's missed. To deny that would be silly.
But what of the rest?
Bryan Reynolds doubled in this game, and his .807 OPS tops the team. He looks so much more like 2019 than 2020, and that's a credit to all concerned. But for every Reynolds, it's seemed, there's a Kevin Newman, whose latest featherweight 0-for-3 has his average at .191 and, ideally, his grip on the shortstop job at tenuous.
I don't trust these hitters and, for that matter, I don't trust the impact Rick Eckstein's having on these hitters in his third year. And with no help on the horizon, that's the scariest single thought, I'd say, for the summer ahead.
• Heck, this wasn't even mentioning that the Padres, down three starters to injury, were forced to recall a middling reliever, Miguel Diaz, from their alternate-site camp to make a spot start in a bullpen game. Diaz's promotion was greeted by San Diego fans on social media with all the affection they tend to reserve in these parts for earthquakes and wildfires.
And he'd walk off a hero after contributing his three zeroes to the cause:
Miguel Diaz was asked if he could put into words what it meant to pitch tonight after all he's been through over the past few years: pic.twitter.com/s4Oud0SP2K
— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) May 4, 2021
Don't overthink the common denominator. Especially not since it looks like the Padres will be forced to take the same approach again Tuesday.
• With how Anderson pitched -- command of everything, changing up timing/balance to righties/lefties, even overpowering upstairs when needed -- this should've been the mismatch of mismatches.
"Yeah, he’s been outstanding," Shelton responded to my question on Anderson. "Obviously, that’s a playoff-caliber lineup and probably about as good of a lineup as we’re going to face, especially for him with all the right-handers in there ... and he was outstanding. Six no-hit, then he gave up the one ball off the end of the bat. He did an unbelievable job."
• Some will applaud this from Shelton on observing Anderson while the no-hitter was still on: "I wasn’t worried about the pitch count at all. Didn’t even enter my mind."
• Anderson's 31. He's a starting pitcher. He's a lefty. He's on a one-year contract.
Don't make me say it.
• Just picture the Dodgers' scouts salivating over this pitch that buckled Fernando Tatis Jr. to one knee ...
... and we're definitely on the same page.
• The still photo atop this column captures the moment in the ninth inning that Phillip Evans slid hard into second base and took out Tatis, upending him in the process. But no sooner did the spirited crowd of 15,250 begin booing than the young Mr. Franchise himself reached up to offer Evans a pat on the rump. And right after that, Manny Machado did the same as Evans headed to the dugout.
Why?
Clean slide. Completely.
Loved seeing both the slide and the sportsmanship.
• The roar from that crowd that followed Austin Nola's double later in the seventh was the loudest sound I'd experienced at a sporting event since pre-pandemic. And my goodness, was that wonderful in its own way.
• When the tabulation's finally done for all the failed outfielders the Pirates will have pumped through this system, let's not omit Brian Goodwin from the group of Anthony Alford, Dustin Fowler and still-working-on-it-but-he'll-get-there Ka'ai Tom. Goodwin was formally released Tuesday and can now become a free agent no one will claim, as happened Alford and Fowler, as will happen to Tom.
Anyone else have their thumb on the fast-forward button here?
Enough already. Get moving on whichever plan involves Cole Tucker, Jared Oliva or both. This is benefiting no one, and there are at-bats a young player can be utilizing in the bigs right now.
• No, Jacob Stallings hasn't given the night off because of any setback related to being hit by a pitch to the face -- to the nose, mostly -- Sunday at PNC Park, but it did influence which game of these three he'd assign to Michael Perez.
"He's good. He's fine," Shelton elaborated on Stallings. "He was only going to catch two of these three games. It just felt like right time to get him off his feet and give him a little bit of a blow. He looked good today, was moving around. He tested out good before we got on the plane."
Nice. But now, imagine how much nicer it'd be if there wasn't a chasm offensively between the starter and backup at the position, with Stallings slashing .246/.388/.400 and Perez a wretched 4 for 30 with 10 strikeouts.
• It doesn't feel fair to omit that Gregory Polanco exhibited as much raw athleticism on this one night as I'd seen from him in probably two years: He stole second and third, made a fun running grab in Petco's spacious right-center and -- gasp of all gasps -- cut loose with a solid throw to second following the game's decisive sac fly in the seventh.
• W-L records can lie. Run differentials don't. The Pirates' minus-28 figure is the worst in the National League by a dozen, and it's second-worst in the majors only through the grace of the horrific Tigers at minus-62. And we're a long, long way removed from blaming that differential on three nightmares in Cincinnati.
• Don't worry, Mitch Keller's got the next one Tuesday night. He's at least likely to change the subject, if not the trend.

GETTY
Tyler Anderson pitches in the sixth inning Monday night in San Diego.
THE ESSENTIALS
Boxscore
Scoreboard
Standings
Statistics
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
Adam Frazier, 2B
Bryan Reynolds, CF
Colin Moran, 1B
Erik Gonzalez, 3B
Phillip Evans, LF
Gregory Polanco, RF
Kevin Newman, SS
Michael Perez, C
Tyler Anderson, P
And for Jayce Tingler's Padres:
Trent Grisham, CF
Fernando Tatis Jr., SS
Manny Machado, 3B
Wil Myers, RF
Tommy Pham, LF
Jake Cronenworth, 1B
Austin Nola, C
Ha-Seong Kim, 2B
Miguel Diaz, P
THE SCHEDULE
Middle game Tuesday, with a 10:10 p.m. Eastern first pitch, and yet another chance for Keller. Tingler declined after the Monday game to identify the Padres' starter Tuesday, though he promised to do so by the morning. Shelton's expected to speak with media at 8 p.m.
THE CONTENT
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