DENVER -- Not going to lie: This lineup's been clipped and saved.
Years from now -- heck, minutes from now -- I'll never believe a team took to a big-league field with a Nos. 4-8 as pathetic as what these Pirates put forth in falling to the Rockies, 6-2, on this otherwise wonderful Wednesday afternoon at sunsplashed Coors Field.
Visual proof that it's flying home with me:
DK'S LONG RIGHT ARM
Evidence at hand, loaded onto United flight 1212.
Visual proof of the bulk of the order beyond Adam Frazier, Ke'Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds, which was, without a doubt, the worst I've witnessed in a lifetime of loving baseball:
4. Ben Gamel, RF: 0 for 4, 3 Ks, .210
5. Phillip Evans, 1B: 0 for 4, 1 K, .203
6. Kevin Newman, SS, 0 for 3, .208
7. Michael Perez, C: 0 for 4, .147
8. Ka'ai Tom, LF: 1 for 3, 2 Ks, .143
That's 1 for 18 with six strikeouts, and the only stunner in there was the Tom double. The other four hits came from -- gasp -- Frazier and Reynolds, with two each, including Reynolds' 14th home run.
Cumulatively, for this three-game series that the home team casually swept, the visitors' Nos. 4-9 hitters (excluding the starting pitchers, so just the pinch-hitters there) went 6 for 54 with Tom's garbage-time double being the only extra-base hit, with 17 strikeouts, three walks, and enough wind whipped up to bug the skiers on the nearby slopes.
Once more, from the mountaintop: At. Coors. Field.
To repeat from the Wednesday Grind, that's embarrassing.
And it's got to stop.
"We didn't take very good swings today after that first inning," Derek Shelton would say afterward before adding the familiar refrain, "with the exception of Reynolds and Frazier."
"It’s just kinda baseball," Reynolds would scrounge up later. "We couldn’t get any timely hits or anything like that."
Hey, at least the latter did this:
Shelton makes out the lineup, but he doesn't make the roster. That's on Ben Cherington. And for as much acclaim as he's rightly receiving for the Pirates' system soaring to No. 4 in the ESPN minor-league rankings released this week, that's exactly the panning he'll deserve if he doesn't address this.
This series happened two time zones away, but the next two are at PNC Park. As is a whole lot of the second half of the season. And this management team can't keep rolling out collective garbage like this and expect to sell anyone anywhere on the concept that progress is being made.
Sure, it's perception. And perception can be unfair, even cruel. But that doesn't make it less real or, in this instance, less damaging to what's being built from the bottom up.
People will give up on the good if all they see is bad. Losses are one thing, but these lineups are embarrassments.
Jettison the following players ... like, yesterday: Evans, Tom and, yes, even Newman.
I've got zero joy in including the latter, but enough's enough: Since his richly encouraging rookie output in 2019, he's now .214/.263/.269 with two home runs over 118 games spanning 2020 and 2021. I love his work ethic, character and, for that matter, his dependable glove. It's just time to turn those at-bats over to ... well, Erik Gonzalez has been almost as bad, and Cole Tucker's at the Mendoza Line with Class AAA Indianapolis, so ... I don't know.
OK, never mind.
But the other two, boom, gone. Like before first pitch Thursday. Evans is in a 22-for-140 free fall since a solid first couple weeks of April, and Tom is ... come on, do I really need to run those numbers?
Find hitters. Four-A guys. Waiver wire. From the Pittsburgh Fed League. From open tryouts for anyone who brings a bat, spikes and a vaccination card to the North Shore this weekend.
Also, where Shelton's concerned, stop worrying about positional versatility and other elements that don't matter in this setting. Let's not pretend any of these awful hitters are strong in the field, save for Newman and Gonzalez. The defense, for the most part, has been fine overall.
I happen to believe in the plan Cherington's crafted. I've applauded the execution to date. But the belief needs to be buttressed at the top level.
Let this card be the one we cite in 2023 or 2024 with a big laugh. But not now. It isn't funny now.
GETTY
The Rockies' Charlie Blackmon congratulates Raimel Tapia after he scored on a Garrett Hampson double in the fifth inning.
THE GAME
• Seriously, there's a need to hear more?
OK, thought not.
• Well, Alex Stumpf insists I don't slack, so ...
• Chad Kuhl fared well through three innings before a blister popped up.
"It started bothering me in the fourth, and then in the fifth, it broke off," Kuhl said. "So I just have like a raw chunk of skin."
The same thing happened to him in Kansas City last year, which was by far his worst start of 2020.
He tried to pitch through this one, but was tagged for a couple runs and pulled after getting just one out. That would be enough for the Rockies to take control.
"Just poor timing and some bad luck," he said.
• Sam Howard returned from the injured list and allowed three hits over 2/3 of an inning, allowed an inherited runner to score, then was charged with a run himself.
This was his first appearance since that meltdown against the Indians.
"Just rusty," Shelton said. "I mean, it's been 11 days besides a side session and we wanted to get him in there. He just looked a tad rusty. He ended up executing a couple good sliders at the end."
• The beat guys kept busy today. Alex has news on Roansy Contreras and Quinn Priester going to the All-Star Futures Game and Frazier's improving chances of returning to Denver for the All-Star Game next month, and Gerard Gilberto has an injury update.
There, that should be enough to keep Alex off my back.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Adam Frazier, 2B
2. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Ben Gamel, RF
5. Phillip Evans, 1B
6. Kevin Newman, SS
7. Michael Perez, C
8. Ka'ai Tom, LF
9. Chad Kuhl, RHP
And for Bud Black's Rockies:
1. Raimel Tapia, LF
2. Garrett Hampson, CF
3. Charlie Blackmon, RF
4. C.J. Cron, 1B
5. Ryan McMahon, 2B
6. Brendan Rodgers, SS
7. Joshua Fuentes, 3B
8. Dom Nunez, C
9. Jon Gray, RHP
THE SCHEDULE
That's the end of this seven-game trip, and now there are seven in a row at PNC Park, beginning with four against the Brewers. Wil Crowe (1-4, 6.50) vs. Corbin Burnes (3-4, 2.53) open up Thursday, 7:05 p.m. I'm flying home. With that lineup.
IN THE SYSTEM
THE CONTENT
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