The massive shadow that’s hung over the Pirates in this city met an unfortunate end on an unpleasant and rainy night that cast a literal darkness over PNC Park on Wednesday. It was probably a fairly accurate omen for what’s left in the Pittsburgh sports world for the rest of the summer.
Things have been bad for the Pirates, but the ship is not sinking swiftly. That’s not to say things are looking up. There are breaches to that particular hull. Plenty of them. And while they may not be sealed effectively in 2021, there is a respectable amount of bubblegum and duct tape getting the job done.
But, even so, on Wednesday the Buccos fell to the Cubs, 4-1, to drop their fifth consecutive game and fall to 18-30 on the season. Wil Crowe suffered his worst outing as a big leaguer, Adam Frazier took an 0-for-4 to snap a 10-game losing streak and Chris Stratton surrendered a run for the first time all month.
The bad certainly outweighs the good. But take for instance the continuation of a season-long effort from the bullpen that can rival just about any relief unit in the game. There were very few cracks in those walls. But a consistent disappointment among that group, at least since late April, has been Duane Underwood Jr.
The 26-year-old righty had struggled to a 7.11 ERA over his past nine outings, but more importantly, he had allowed 10 of his 11 inherited runners to score this season.
But for the second time in three outings, Underwood was pushed into the deep end. Last week in St. Louis, he sank. On Wednesday, he swam.
The veteran reliever kept the Cubs off the board for 3 ⅔ innings in relief of Crowe. He yielded a hit and a walk but did not allow either of his inherited runners to score in the second inning.
This was an important hill for Underwood to climb.
“I’ve been struggling [with inherited runners]. I know it. It’s something I’m consciously trying to take better control of,” Underwood said. “And today, I did a good job of it. I want to continue doing that going forward. Like I said, anything to keep the team in the ballgame, that’s my job and that’s what I’m here to do.”
Trying to prepare or properly recreate those situations in between appearances is like trying to swim on dry land.
Underwood allowed all three inherited runners to score when he came into the game for Trevor Cahill with nobody out in the second inning against the Cardinals after the 33-year-old suffered a calf injury. That’s his best frame of reference for those situations, if only because it’s the most recent.
Underwood talked like there was really only one lesson to learn from that experience. And, based on what he did Wednesday, he was probably right.
“You can either step up to the challenge or back down from it, and I’ve never been one to back down from anything, so whatever opportunities I get afforded, I expect to do well and I’m going to put my best foot forward and keep moving,” Underwood said.
These are the little fixes that’s going to make most of these games tolerable. Underwood, and then eventually Stratton, Chasen Shreve and Clay Holmes, at the very least kept the Pirates in the game.
“Bullpen was outstanding,” Derek Shelton said. “Underwood picked us up big time, picking up those innings. Gave us a chance to win, and we just didn't get anything going."
Pair Wednesday night and his latest scoreless inning in Atlanta, and Underwood is a minor fix. A nice positive addition to the one that just has not been a problem for the Pirates all year. But it’s still a success that’s dwarfed mightily by their issues at the plate.
The offense has been particularly bad all season and has trended toward the bottom of the league in just about every category. But during their present five-game skid, the Pirates are batting .209 as a team with seven total runs scored.
“I think lack of aggressiveness ... of the swings is what showed up,” Shelton said of an offense that’s dead last in baseball with 30 total homers this season. “We have to be able to create opportunities, and when we have those opportunities, we have to capitalize on them. Right now, the few that we're creating we're not capitalizing on."
They mustered just three hits against former Pirate Trevor Williams for six innings Wednesday. Ben Gamel got two more hits out of the No. 2 spot in the order, including a first-inning triple. But that represented the only Pirates’ baserunner until Kevin Newman started the sixth with a double down the line in left. Both Gamel and Newman finished with two hits.
But Frazier can’t do it all by himself, and Bryan Reynolds’ issues with non-fastballs are certainly something worth keeping an eye on. But it now seems last week’s fix with Gregory Polanco was purely temporary. Bubblegum and duct tape.
After combining to go 4-for-7 with a homer, a pair of walks and four RBIs in the two games against the Cardinals, Polanco is 2-for-23 with 11 strikeouts over the past six games. Polanco said he and Rick Eckstein worked to shorten his swing and be quicker to the ball ahead of the series in St. Louis. But Shelton seems to have a theory about why all that work has worn off.
“I think the timing's in between, and when your timing gets in between, you can have a little lengthier swing, and I think that's what we're seeing right now," the skipper said.
Polanco struck out in each of his four at-bats Wednesday night, including the final out of the game.
If there are ever sustainable solutions for these bigger problems, there might be a viable product at PNC Park in 2021. But that already seems very, very unlikely. So it’s the little fixes, like Underwood that might help keep things from spinning out of control.
If 12 games under .500 looks bad, remember, it’s only May.
• After his latest start in Atlanta, which came in the Pirates’ latest victory five days ago, Crowe explained that he was over the “get-to-know-ya” stage he was in with major-league hitters, and was preparing to enter the “dominance stage.”
But on Wednesday night, Crowe was faced with a similar problem from the point in time when he was just getting his feet wet. But this time he didn’t figure out a contingency.
Crowe recorded just four outs before Shelton gave him the quick hook. Had this game not required a 26-minute delay to start, his night might’ve been over before most of the out-of-town games even began.
On May 2, Crowe’s second turn in the rotation since opening day starter Chad Kuhl went down with a shoulder injury came right at the start of an eventually steep downhill slide during what was still a promising time for the Pirates. Crowe took the mound in a getaway day game against the Cardinals, and the only runs he’d allow came on Harrison Bader’s three-run shot in the second.
After the game, he and Shelton both admitted that he simply did not have feel for his breaking and off-speed pitches and had to ride his fastball through five frames. That wasn’t something that was easy to accomplish, and it took a keen eye to identify that problem, and some savvy to make that incredibly limiting plan work in his favor.
So he’s shown once that he can figure out how to lean on the fastball, but on Wednesday, he didn’t have that working either.
“I think it was more of a collective, whole thing,” Crowe said. “From the beginning, I didn't think I was able to get into a rhythm, get comfortable.”
Crowe only walked a pair, but the damage was done after he, again, struggled with command of his breaking pitches and left too many fastballs in the zone. David Bote’s homer came on a 2-2 fastball that got way too much plate. Crowe had to come into the zone again after falling behind, 3-0, on sliders and changeups to Kris Bryant. The Cubs’ third baseman ended Crowe’s night with a liner back through the middle to score another run.
He was waiting for something to click, and it just never happened. Crowe said that it can come on any pitch, any count, any situation. But it just wasn’t in the cards Wednesday.
“I didn't feel like myself out there tonight. And, that's just how it went,” Crowe said.
Crowe’s ERA inflated to 5.67 this season, and 5.47 as a starter.
THE ESSENTIALS
Box score
Video Highlights
Scoreboard
Standings
Statistics
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
Adam Frazier, 2B
Ben Gamel, LF
Bryan Reynolds, CF
Jacob Stallings, C
Gregory Polanco, RF
Will Craig, 1B
Wilmer Difo, 3B
Kevin Newman, SS
Wil Crowe, P
And for David Ross' Cubs:
Joc Pederson, RF
Kris Bryant, 1B
Javier Baez, SS
Ian Happ, CF
Willson Contreras, C
Rafael Ortega, LF
David Bote, 3B
Eric Sogard, 2B
Trevor Williams, P
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates finish up their fourth series of the year against the Cubs on Thursday afternoon. Right now the season series sits at 4-7 in favor of the Cubs. Tyler Anderson looks to bounce back from his worst outing of the year in Atlanta against Kyle Hendricks with first pitch scheduled for 12:35 p.m. After the finale, the Pirates welcome the Rockies to PNC Park for a three-game set this weekend.
THE CONTENT
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